2024 Texas LB Payton Pierce "Super Interested" In Notre Dame

Payton Pierce‍ was back in South Bend this weekend and the 2024 linebacker is glad he again made the trip all of the way up from Texas.

“It was great,” Pierce told Irish Sports Daily. “It was awesome. We had a blast. We flew into Chicago, drove from there to South Bend, and we stayed all day and then went to the game. We had a blast. It was a great time.”

The Lovejoy High School standout visited Notre Dame back in June and landed an offer from the Irish about a week later.

After securing a Notre Dame sweatshirt to properly equip him for the South Bend weather, Pierce and his father headed to the indoor complex.

“They had a bunch of food and stuff, and they had a cool little presentation with the players and they talked about the benefits of Notre Dame,” Pierce explained. “We got to do a lot of cool things in the indoor recruiting-wise and eat. There was a lot of good food and stuff.”

Then, the group headed over to Notre Dame Stadium to watch the players walk over from Mass.

“After that, we got to sit in this little recruiting lounge area in the stadium, and then went over to the actual stadium and got to watch warmups, which was awesome,” he said. “That was really cool seeing all the players down on the field warming up.”

Pierce had the chance to speak with Irish graduate assistant James Laurinaitis a couple of times before the game.

“He came up to us when the players were walking in and I talked to him for about five minutes,” said Pierce. “Then, when the players were warming up, he came back over and talked to me and my dad for about 10, 15 minutes, just talking about everything.

“It was good meeting with him a bunch because he's really who I talk to the most at Notre Dame. He was just explaining what it's like on game day and stuff like that, just showing what they do as linebackers and how they approach their warmups and game day, what it's like, just the experience.”

Pierce also has offers from schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU and Oregon among others.

But, it’s obvious Notre Dame has his interest and said when defensive coordinator Al Golden first invited him to campus in June, “we couldn’t say no.”

“I mean, it's Notre Dame,” he continued. “My dad is a big fan and we love Notre Dame. It has a really good tradition and they've been successful in the past and one of the top programs in the country. Academically, it's one of the best programs in the country too. It's a really cool place to visit and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go check it out, so that's why we headed up there.”

Of course, he’s already proven visiting isn’t technically a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” at least not for him.

He’s also made visits to Oklahoma, Texas and the Oklahoma-Texas game this fall as well as a stop at Wisconsin. He’s planning trips to Tennessee and Texas A&M as well.

Still, the Irish will have his attention moving forward.

“They're just at the top with the other ones,” said Pierce. “I'm just as interested in them as any other school. There's a reason why I'm coming back up again all this way for a game. They're one of my top schools and I'm super interested in them. I don't think I'd go back up here if they weren't one of my top schools.”

He plans to cut his list sometime after his season and then make another cut before a final decision.

“I'm just along for the ride,” he said. “As long as Notre Dame is into me, I'm into them. They're a really good school that I like, so they're right at the top.”

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