Notre Dame has checked the boxes for Amarri Irvin for a while.
And now, the elite 2027 IMG linebacker has decided the Irish have enough of those boxes, which is why he announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Wednesday afternoon.
“I felt good with the decision,” he told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “Notre Dame feels like family. I feel like it's right for me and my family and us talking over it and that it fit me well.
“There was really no need to wait.”
The 6-foot, 215-pounder gives the Irish seven commits in the Class of 2027 and more importantly yet another very high-valued target.
Irvin chose Notre Dame over offers from schools like Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio State, Texas, Stanford and Oregon among several others.
Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, linebackers coach Max Bullough and the entire Notre Dame staff were crucial in this recruitment.
“Anytime you talk to Coach Freeman, it's like a powerful speech,” said Irvin. “You can really learn from him.
“I appreciate everybody at Notre Dame.”
After visiting in the summer, Irvin returned to South Bend for the Irish’s game against NC State last month, when he got to experience a gameday environment at Notre Dame.
“Seeing all the songs and the tradition of Notre Dame, what it's like for a Notre Dame gameday experience,” he said of what stood out. “It was great. It kind of gave an old school vibe, but the stadium was packed…and it was great to see and be a part of it.”
As much as anything, though, he got a chance to see the Irish defense in person and identify it as a potential fit for himself. He was particularly struck by the performances of Kyngston Viliamu-Asa and Drayk Bowen.
“I feel like the way they use their linebackers, they can put them in coverage, play them in the box and put them on the line,” he said. “They blitz them a lot. They just really utilize the linebackers a lot and I just like that.
“I feel like I have a lot of traits in my game that could be accessible to that.”
And now they will be.
Irvin is the son of former Michigan State running back Sedrick Irvin and the younger brother of one-time Irish running back commit Sedrick Irvin Jr., who ended up at Stanford.
The Irish now have a pair of highly-rated linebackers in the class as Irvin joins Ellis McGaskin. They also have an elite quarterback in Teddy Jarrard, a legacy offensive lineman with an extremely high ceiling in James Halter as well as safety Khalil Terry, defensive lineman Richie Flanigan - another legacy prospect - and long snapper Sean Kraft.
Notre Dame is poised to sign its best class in recent memory next Wednesday with the 2026 group, but the 2027 class could end up challenging it a year from now.
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