BREAKING | Sullivan Absher Commits To Notre Dame
On the Saturday of Notre Dame’s major recruiting weekend last month, the entire group went out to dinner.
Current Irish commits like Drayk Bowen, Keon Keeley and Sedrick Irvin Jr. were seated at their own table when 2023 North Carolina offensive lineman Sullivan Absher approached to let them know that he probably should be at the table as well.
“I'm like, ‘Boys, I think Notre Dame has another silent commit,’” Absher recalls. “At first they were all like, 'What? What's he what's he talking about?'
“Then it dawned on them and we were just all laughing and hugging and high-fiving.”
Earlier in the day, Absher had given a private commitment to Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, choosing Notre Dame over schools like Clemson and NC State among others.
Absher went public with that decision on Friday, giving Notre Dame 13 commits in the Class of 2023 and joining fellow North Carolina native Sam Pendleton to give the Irish a pair of offensive linemen in the class.
“You've got Coach Hiestand, the best in the business, his knowledge, his method of coaching,” Absher told Irish Sports Daily prior to his public announcement. “Then, the tradition and history of Notre Dame Football.
“Then, you've got Coach Freeman, who's building something special. Then, on the other side of things, you've got the Notre Dame degree, which I believe carries a lot of weight.”
The 6-foot-7, 290-pounder is excited about getting coached in South Bend and the chance to adapt to a different offensive system.
“I think I'm a very versatile player, whether that means playing guard, tackle either left or right side of the ball,” he said. “I think I'm just a very versatile player.”
Absher and Pendleton are now working on trying to get top South Carolina offensive lineman Monroe Freeling, who is also considering Clemson, to join them.
“It'd be great,” Absher said. “I think it'd make a lot of people mad, which would be pretty funny.
“We keep up with each other on Twitter and Instagram and we've got group chats and all that stuff. Me and Sam are trying to recruit Monroe at this point. We're going after him hard. If we could go three-for-three with the Carolina boys, that would be something special.”
Absher said getting the announcement out of the way would be “a relief” and noted that the 2023 Irish commits are “a family already.”
The celebration of his commitment that Saturday night didn’t last all that long.
“We got to work, I guess you could say,” Absher said. “Starting to recruit other guys like I mentioned before. Now we're going after Monroe. We've got our group chat, we're picking out our targets, like Dante Moore and Monroe and Charles (Jagusah) and all those guys.”
Film Don’t Lie | Sullivan Absher
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