Top 2024 LB Target Anthony Speca Impressed By Short Notre Dame Stop

It may still be pretty early in the recruitment of Anthony Speca‍, but the 2024 Pennsylvania linebacker is at the point where he doesn’t really need the pageantry of the process anymore.

That’s why Speca hurried out to South Bend on Saturday and back on Sunday even though he wouldn’t be able to participate in many of the recruiting activities.

“We had a game Saturday morning, it was our Senior Recognition,” the Central Catholic High School standout explained. “I left probably around 1 on Saturday, so I didn't really get to do all the recruiting stuff. I got there at game time.

“It's not all about the whole recruiting thing to me, you know what I mean? It's all about the school. I like Notre Dame Football and I like to watch the game. The most important part about going to Notre Dame is the football team and the games. I needed to make sure I got there to see them play at least one game and that was a pretty big game to go to in my opinion. So, I thought I needed to be out there for that.”

And Speca, who was the first prospect in the Class of 2024 to report an Irish offer, said Saturday’s game against USC checked that box for him.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “It was definitely satisfactory.”

He did get a brief chance to speak with defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and senior analyst Chad Bowden prior to kickoff.

“The chat with Coach Bowden and was more friendly, just catching up a little bit because I haven't seen him since like July,” said Speca. “With Coach Freeman, he was just saying 'What's up man? Glad you're here.' That was it because it was right before kickoff, so he had to hurry up.

Speca was impressed with the Irish’s performance during their 31-16 win over the Trojans.

“It was awesome,” he said. “The defense looked was really good, especially the linebackers. Bo Bauer played a great game.”

Afterward, he had the chance to go in the locker room for the postgame celebration.

“Listening to Coach (Brian) Kelly's postgame speech and seeing Kyren (Williams) get the game ball was pretty cool,” said Speca. “It's just kind of like in any other locker room. They're all real close, so it's kind of cool just to see that even though they're in college, they still have like that locker room brotherhood feeling. So that was kind of cool.”

This was Speca’s third trip to South Bend since the summer and he isn’t exactly sure what’s next.

“I need to talk to Chad, but I'll probably visit again,” he said. “They'll probably come down to my school and see me, but definitely keep in touch with them as always.”

He’s headed to Pittsburgh for its game against Miami this week, then he’ll be at Penn State for the Nittany Lions’ game against Michigan on Nov. 13th and to Michigan for the Wolverines’ game against Ohio State on Nov. 27th.