Recruiting Week In Review
With programs recruiting three and – in some cases even four – classes of prospects at all times, recruiting truly never does stop these days.
But it can certainly kick into high gear at different points in the calendar.
With Notre Dame making a habit of signing its entire recruiting classes during the December period, the Irish are able to truly take things up a notch with the current high school juniors in January.
The Irish staff has been out on the road, checking in on prospects and extending scholarship offers at a dizzying pace and it can be difficult to keep track.
We understand that and wanted to create a regular rundown of what happened in case you couldn’t keep up.
This isn’t meant to be – and will not be – an exhaustive list of all the prospects visited or offered and doesn’t even outline all of the recruits who will be seriously considering the Irish. It’s simply a collection of notes on some of the players we believe are worth taking note of.
2024 UTAH SAFTEY SERIOUS ABOUT ND: As we noted immediately after he announced it on Wednesday afternoon, Davis Andrews was floored by the offer he received from the Irish.
He started communicating with Irish safeties coach Chris O’Leary within the last few weeks, culminating with yesterday’s offer.
It can be difficult to land kids from Utah, especially when the Pac-12 schools and BYU are involved, as is the case here, but Andrews is serious about Notre Dame.
He’s already set a visit to be in South Bend for the Blue-Gold Game in April.
YUP, THAT URLACHER FAMILY: Usually the answer is no, when we’re asked, ‘Any relation to…?’
But in the case of Kennedy Urlacher, the 2024 Arizona safety is indeed the son of former All-Pro Brian Urlacher.
Urlacher told ISD’s Matt Freeman that his “lips were quivering” upon hearing he’d been offered by the Irish on Monday.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder also has offers from schools like Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State and Kentucky among several others.
Anybody familiar with his father’s background will wonder about the possibility that he grows into a linebacker, including some college coaches. But for now, Urlacher is comfortable at safety.
After learning even more about Notre Dame this week, he says he will “definitely” make his way to South Bend soon.
OTHER ARIZONA STOPS PAY OFF: In addition to visiting Urlacher at Chandler High School, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive line coach Al Washington made stops at Salpointe Catholic and Yuma Catholic to see defensive linemen Elijah Rushing and Jaxson Jones, respectively.
The Irish got Rushing on campus twice early in the process, but with things getting more serious now, getting him back is crucial. Rushing told ISD that he will “definitely” get back to South Bend after reconnecting with Notre Dame and is looking forward to spending time around the current players. He’ll be at Washington this weekend and has tentative plans to get to Miami in March. Arizona is likely going to be in the race along with Ohio State and others.
When Freeman and Washington went to check out Jones on Monday, Jones was committed to Washington. By the end of the day, Jones backed off that pledge. Considering Notre Dame offered Jones a while back and the two sides have always professed mutual interest, we don’t believe he was coerced to reopen his recruitment, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
OTHER KEY STOPS: It’s been obvious for a while now that the Irish are looking to bring in another tight end in the 2024 class to pair with current commit Jack Larsen Jack Larsen.
There are multiple targets out there, but a case could be made that Nebraska’s Carter Nelson is the best possibility at this point. Freeman and Gerard Parker were out to see him on Monday. Nelson is focused on his basketball season right now, but when he does hit the road again, he intends to return to South Bend.
You may not have heard a ton about him over the past few months, but rest assured Emmett Mosley is extremely high on the Irish’s wish list at receiver and will work extremely hard to land the legacy target. Freeman was at Santa Margarita Catholic to see him on Tuesday.
That same day, Deland McCullough was down in Florida checking in on receiver Bredell Richardson, another prospect who the Irish are high on and has professed a serious interest of his own. Current 2024 cornerback commit Karson Hobbs pointed to Richardson as his top target after playing 7-on-7 tohether in the past.
Washington was down in Texas on Tuesday checking in on Loghan Thomas, who has become everybody’s favorite edge rusher target since he blew up at the National Combine a few weeks ago. The interest there is legit on both sides.
We noted it in last week’s ISD Intel, but elite Georgia athlete Mike Matthews blew Notre Dame away during his basketball game last week. They’re going to come after him hard and Parker was at his school on Wednesday. If the Irish were fortunate enough to land him, we’d expect the offensive and defensive staffs to both make serious pleas to put him on their side of the ball.
SMITH TWINS ANNOUNCE TOP 10: It was no surprise to see Jacob Smith and Jerod Smith release their Top 10 on Wednesday night and even less of a surprise to see Notre Dame on the list.
They have done a good job of keeping some things close to the vest, but the Loomis Chaffee standouts have made it clear that a couple of schools have been standing out; Notre Dame and Alabama.
The Crimson Tide were also included as were Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Penn State and Texas.
They’ve made two trips to South Bend already and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the twins make multiple return trips in the future.
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