2026 DL Jude Okeleke Gets Look At Reach Of Notre Dame

Jude Okeleke‍ wasn’t able to make it back out to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game this fall, but the 2026 Connecticut defensive lineman made sure to make the shorter drive down to the Bronx to see the Irish play Army at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

“It was great,” the Taft School standout told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “The energy was awesome. It was a great day and it was a great game. The energy was there.”

Okeleke was impressed by what he saw from the Irish during their 49-14 blowout of Army.

“They're tough,” he said. “They're one of the best teams in the country and it's not just a football thing. It's different.”

The 6-foot-3, 290-pounder also gained a greater understanding of the magnitude of Notre Dame Football.

“It just tells you that Notre Dame is like America's team,” he said of the atmosphere for the Irish’s annual Shamrock Series Game. “Everybody was talking about the game. I could see old people coming out to the game. 

“It was more than football. It was just all family, people around together and stuff. We were just like, 'Oh yeah, I like that.'”

Okeleke was one of the standouts at Irish Invasion this summer.

“I went down there and they treated me like family, so it's cool,” he said.

He plans to return sometime next year.

“Oh yeah,” he said “Definitely. Definitely.”

For now, though, Okeleke is focused on just remaining in touch.

“I'm just going to keep talking to them,” he said. “Right now, I'm just taking it step by step.”

He’s had conversations with multiple Irish coaches.

“The d-line coach, Coach (Al Washington,” he said. “ I've talked to the defensive coordinator (Al Golden). I've talked to the assistant d-line coach (Nick Sebastian). I've talked to most of the staff.

“They were like, I'm still in the game. They're still recruiting me. They still want me. I should just be patient. They're still assessing me. That's what he says. Just to keep put my head down and work. That's what it is.”

Okeleke has offers from schools like West Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, UConn and Minnesota among others. Penn State has also begun recruiting him just recently.