After visiting Notre Dame this weekend, Brian Bonner knows he wants to get back again.
“It was great,” the 2026 California running back told Irish Sports Daily afterward.
“I got to see their spring practice. I got to see all the players practice and then I got to spend time with the coaches and just hang out and have a good time.”
The Valencia High School star called practice “awesome.”
“I really liked the way they practice,” he said. “I liked how they get through everything they need to and do it quickly and efficiently. The pace of practice, I like how they run practice.”
The 6-foot, 190-pounder was impressed with the Irish running backs, but also believes he’d have a good chance of making an impact if he went to Notre Dame.
“The running back room is pretty stacked right now,” he said. “They have Jeremiyah Love and they got some good guys in there. They're really good.
“They're probably going to go to the NFL soon, so they're going to be losing some guys, so I think it'll be a good opportunity for me to go to a school like Notre Dame and be able to fill in a spot.”
While in South Bend, Bonner spent plenty of time with running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and head coach Marcus Freeman.
He’s been in touch with Seider dating back to the running back coach’s days at Penn State, but getting to spend extended time in person was welcome.
“It was great because I'm farther away,” said Bonner. “I don't get to go there often because of the distance, so being able to spend time with Coach Seider and talk to him in person instead of on the phone was great.”
Bonner liked what he heard from Freeman.
“He was talking about their program and just talking to me about more than just football; telling me that Notre Dame is not just about football,” said Bonner. “You can get a good education there and there's a whole bunch more to learn.
“He's a very genuine coach. I just really like the way he runs his team and operates. I have a really good impression of Coach Freeman.”
Bonner said his next step would be getting back to Notre Dame for an official visit.
“I don't have that date yet, but I want to get everything set up because I would like to go back for an official,” he said. “I'll take my other officials to my other schools and then from there, I'll kind of know where I want to go and then make my decision.
“I want to be able to spend more time with the players. I talked to some of the players after their practice, but I want to be able to spend time around the players and to see what their opinion on the school is, because that's probably the best way I could find out a lot of information.”
Bonner said he’ll be taking officials to Washington, UCLA and Nebraska and potentially others.
The Irish certainly helped themselves this weekend.
“They're ranking on my list went up a lot. They're a top school for me and I want to keep building my relationship with the coaches and keep learning more about them.”
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