Irvington HS To Be Led By DBs; Notre Dame Commit & Irish Target

A year after winning the school’s first-ever state title, the goal for the Irvington (N.J.) High School team is a clear one.

Win another state championship.

Irvington head coach Smoke Pierre will once again be leaning on elite safety Adon Shuler‍, but will be asking for more than just on-field contributions now that Shuler is a senior.

“I want to see him lead, lead us to another state championship,” Pierre says. “I think he's getting better. I think some guys still have a long way to go, but I think he's going to grow as the days go, as the weeks go. I think he understands what he has to do.”

Shuler, who has been committed to Notre Dame for more than a year now, is part of a group of seniors who want to go out on top.

“We don't want to put that much pressure on him, but not just him, there's a bunch of senior guys who been here with us during this last three years,” says Pierre. “He understands what it takes. He understands what it takes to win. That's kind of what we want to see from him.

“Ball-wise, he's a phenomenal football player like we all know, but I think leadership is what we want to see.”

Pierre and Shuler are also expecting big things from junior safety Vaboue Toure‍.

“Grow,” Pierre says. “We want to see him grow.”

Toure already has offers from multiple Power-5 programs, including Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida State, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Wisconsin, Duke, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Pitt and Rutgers among others.

“Vaboue is peaking right where we want him to peak,” says Pierre.

“He's getting stronger, getting bigger, getting fast, getting smarter. He's no longer a young guy. He is now one of the older guys in the room. So we just want to see him peak and can continue to progress.”

The Knights open up the season on Friday, Sept. 2nd, against Millville.

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