2024 OL Kyle Rakers Looking Forward To Notre Dame Visit

Apparently, Brian Mason didn’t hit too many schools in the area, but Dowling Catholic was one of his stops while on the road in January.

While there, the Notre Dame’s special teams coordinator was able to check in on 2024 Iowa offensive lineman Kyle Rakers‍ and the two were able to talk later.

“He told me he only went to one other school in the Des Moines area, but I'm sure he made other stops on his way,” Rakers says. “We've had a little bit of communication every once in a while and sent me the spring ball practice dates.”

Rakers found a date that works for him and he’ll be in South Bend on March 31st for a spring practice.

“It's going to be fun,” he says.

Mason let the 6-foot-4, 285-pounder know the Irish have been intrigued by his tape.

“Most of it was that he watched my film and liked my film and he wanted me to get down and meet the o-line coach at the time,” Rakers says. “I know since then it's changed and they haven't hired a new guy yet, but I'm excited to see who they'll end up hiring.

“Really, he just said he liked my film and they were interested in me and they wanted to get me down for the spring.”

Rakers’ current offer sheet currently schools like Iowa State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, UNLV, Miami-Ohio and Northern Illinois, but he’s made it clear Notre Dame would be a huge one for him.

“Notre Dame would be a dream come true, really, like any opportunity from there,” he says. “Notre Dame, that's every boy's dream I feel like. That's one of the premier programs, one of the top schools in the nation.

“There's really nothing bad about it. Everything about Notre Dame would be great. So just having the opportunity, it was almost surreal, seeing him at school and talking to him and realizing the type of situation I could potentially be in, it was really surreal.”

Rakers is planning a busy spring period.

“I'm going to try to hit up a lot of schools during spring ball,” he says. “This is still kind of pending. It'll shake around a little bit, but I'm going to try to hit a bunch of schools up.”

He’s planning to be at Missouri the first weekend of the month before heading to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State next. Then, he’ll visit Notre Dame and Illinois and is looking to set up stops at Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa State as well.

“I think it's about 10 schools,” he says. “All schools that I want to see just to continue building relationships and seeing what each program has to offer. I just want to find my right fit and I'm just going to take advantage of it the best way I can.”

He isn’t going to rush a decision, but isn’t going to delay it if he finds the right place either.

“I'd love to make a decision before my senior season at some point, it has to feel right,” he says. “Right now, I'd have to imagine that I'm going to want to take some officials in the summer. At least a couple in the summer. I'll probably save a few in case I don't find my fit.

“If something feels like home, feels right, or I get an opportunity from a school that just really feels like home and feels great, like something I can't pass up, then I would make that decision. But I'm not going to rush it and it has to be to the right school. So, could it be after the spring? Potentially. But, I don't have a set timeline that I'm like stuck on.”

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