2024 Notre Dame Target Kaj Sanders Ready To Flash

Vito Campanile’s Bergen Catholic High School program is annually stocked with some of the most talented players in the state of New Jersey. Attend a practice and it won’t take you long to spot freshmen and sophomores likely to become national recruits in a matter of years or even months.

But the head coach doesn’t push the process before it takes its natural course.

“We're big into making guys prove it on the field before they get crazy,” Campanile says.

“Kaj has already done that.”

Kaj is Kaj Sanders‍.

A talented 2024 safety/running back who would have been a featured player on a lesser squad, Sanders took advantage of every chance he got to see the field for an undefeated state champion last season.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder is poised for a much larger role this upcoming season.

“He'll be one of two kids that plays both ways for us this year,” Campanile says. “He's a super player. He's run 10.7 already in the 100 meters as a 10th grader.

“He's like a superhero. There are not too many guys walking around who can do that.”

Sanders landed an offer from Notre Dame in March and also has offers from schools like Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Duke and Boston College among others.

“The only thing I'm not sure of with him is how big is he going to get,” says Campanile. “His dad's 6-3, he's still only 16 years old. He's a legitimate sophomore. Some of these other guys are sophomores, but they're 20 years old already. He's a legitimate sophomore. His upside is off the charts.

“I think he's a safety unless he goes 6-3 plus. He's over 6-foot, just about 6-1 right now. You could see him being like a Kyle Hamilton-type, just a long, lean, fast guy. Obviously, that guy had a pretty good run at it out there.”

Sanders made a trip to South Bend last month and left impressed.

“He loves it,” Campanile says. “It'll be a short list for this kid. Academics is important to him. He's a really dedicated kid. He wakes up before 5 o'clock to come to school every day. He's a lot like Jayden Bellamy and they're actually from the same hometown.”

A former Bergen Catholic star, Bellamy enrolled at Notre Dame this January.

“Obviously playing with Jayden, Jayden's kind of being like a mentor and big brother to him in the secondary. I think that that is certainly going to help his recruiting out there.”

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