BREAKING | 2025 S Ethan Long Commits To Notre Dame
When Notre Dame offered Ethan Long back in May, the Irish immediately felt like the team to beat.
On Monday, the 2025 Connecticut safety announced the Irish had won, when he let everybody know he was committing to Notre Dame.
“They've done everything right in the recruitment,” the Brunswick School standout told Irish Sports Daily prior to his announcement.
“They've shown that Notre Dame will set me up for my future, my 4 For 40. They are a great football program that is on the rise and they're building something special over there.”
Long gives Notre Dame 13 verbal commitments in the Class of 2025 and joins Florida’s Ivan Taylor to give the Irish a pair of their top safety targets early.
Long visited South Bend back in April, shortly before he received the offer, but his interest in the Irish goes all of the way back 10 years to when his cousin, Austin Webster, was a walk-on receiver for Notre Dame.
Since then, Notre Dame has always been one of Long’s dream schools.
“Austin is one of my biggest role models in life,” said Long. “It means a lot to go somewhere where he left a big impact and somewhere that means so much to him.”
Notre Dame safeties coach Chris O’Leary was certainly a huge factor in Long choosing the Irish over his other finalists; Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State.
“Coach O'Leary he's like an older brother, maybe like a father to me, but he's not that old,” Long laughed. “He's energetic. He's shown that he can produce the best of the best. He's put two safeties in the Pro Bowl, two All-Americans.
“He's obviously doing something right. He's looking at me and told me that he wants to get me on the field as a freshman. His words saying that I'm like Kyle Hamilton means a lot because he saw Kyle Hamilton grow. Having him is a blessing that I'm grateful for.”
And now that he’s a committed prospect, Long plans to go from recruit to recruiter.
He won’t have to go far as one of his closest friends and Brunswick teammates, 2025 offensive lineman Matty Augustine, is another prospect extremely high on Notre Dame’s list.
“Matty is definitely going to be one of my top targets. I love him. He's like a brother to me and I am going to try to get him to be my teammate again.”
Long is also close with another top safety target, North Carolina’s JaDon Blair. A trio of Long, Taylor and Blair at safety this cycle would qualify as a home run for the Irish.
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