2025 LB Gavin Nix Impressed With Notre Dame, Will Be Back

Gavin Nix‍ hasn’t taken many visits this spring, so it was telling that the 2025 Florida linebacker made time to get up to South Bend to check out Notre Dame this past weekend.

“It went great,” the IMG Academy star said. “Beautiful campus, they're real deep in tradition. It was my first time going up there, so it was great to experience it.”

The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder was able to speak with several coaches during the trip, including head coach Marcus Freeman, defensive coordinator Al Golden, graduate assistant Max Bullough and Director of Recruiting Chad Bowden.

“I actually was able to chop it up with Coach Freeman,” Nix explained. “I saw him when he was walking out to the scrimmage.

“It was great. He's a real down to earth, humble guy. With him being a linebacker, we made a few jokes about that. It's real humbling to see what he did so far and where he's at. It was great to see him and talk to him.”

The Irish offered Nix a scholarship during the trip, adding themselves to a list that also includes schools like Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Texas, Penn State, Michigan and Oregon among others.

“It's really all a blessing,” he said. “To be in the position I am, it's just all a blessing. It's something great that I can just soak in. But, I know there are still plenty out there, so it's nothing too much for me. I'm just trying to stay down, stay humble and keep working as best as I can.”

Golden was impressed with the understanding of the game Nix displayed during Chalk Talk sessions.

“He said, I was really sharp,” Nix said of Golden. “He liked how sharp I was, how I was on top of my stuff in the classroom and on the field. He loved the type of person I was, not just only as a football player, but he loved the type of person I was.”

Nix was impressed with Golden’s view of the game from a players’ point of view.

“He teaches guys to not play like robots,” Nix explained. “A lot of coaches like their guys to stay and play in the system, but he likes to let his guys just play. As a player, that's something that we would want to hear because sometimes with installs and a lot of calls that we get, it can get tough in certain situations to get everything set up, or making sure we're exactly right, playing like a robot.

“If we can just play, it allows us to play a lot looser and quicker, faster. He's real understanding of that. He's real loose with how he coaches and he's real understanding of how he coaches. I feel like he coaches from the player's perspective, not just a system or coaching of 'Do what's on paper-type of perspective.'

Nix’s only other visits this spring were to Florida and Central Florida and while he expects to hit the road in the summer, he doesn’t have any other trips locked in yet.

After his trip this past weekend, the Irish will be right in the mix for Nix moving forward.

“I loved it,” he said. “The next step is for me to just continue to building a great relationship with those guys and most definitely trying to get back up here, but just continue to build a great relationship.

“They'll always be pretty high because like I said, they're deep in tradition, a very prestigious school and academics, so they always be pretty high on my list.”

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