Notre Dame in Gant's Top 5

Fresh off a big recruiting weekend, Notre Dame continued to roll with positive momentum on the recruiting trail as 2018 St. John’s (Ohio) linebacker Dallas Gant put the Irish in his Top 5 along with Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State.

Also, Gant announced he will be committing on May 16th, which is his birthday. 

The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has been a frequent visitor to South Bend over the past year, so it comes as no shock that Notre Dame sits high with the Toledo native.

Gant picked up an offer from Notre Dame after Irish Invasion last June and then returned for two games in the fall. The Ohio native was most recently on campus for Notre Dame’s Junior Day on February 11th.

The visit for Junior Day was huge for Notre Dame as it was the first time Gant got to meet new defensive coordinator Mike Elko and linebackers coach Clark Lea.

“They came off as a great people and coaches,” said Gant. “They’ve done a lot of special things with their defense at Bowling Green and Wake Forest. They excel at defense and the scheme they are putting in at Notre Dame is really cool.”

While getting to know the coaches was a point of emphasis, the ability to see the vision of Notre Dame’s plan for him was a big sticking point.

“I got to talk to Coach Elko where I would play, and I spoke to Coach Lea about how he coaches his linebackers,” Gant explained. “Coach Elko has me playing at the outside/weak linebacker position. It’s called the Buck position, and it does various things there.

“I think that position would be pretty cool. Coach Lea does a lot of different things to help train his athletes to do those positions. He trains them to play inside or outside. I think it would be a really cool position to play.”