2028 LB Brayden Bonik Building Strong Relationships With Notre Dame
Brayden Bonik's relationship with Notre Dame continues moving in the right direction.
The 2028 Texas linebacker has built strong connections with recruiting analyst Tim Brown Jr. and assistant linebackers coach Tre Reader, who for their part are making Bonik feel like a priority heading into his junior season at Fort Bend Ridge Point.
Those relationships have become some of the strongest in Bonik's recruitment as communication has increased throughout the summer.
"It's been going great," Bonik told Irish Sports Daily. "Since the contact period opened, I've been very satisfied with who I've been in contact with. It's getting me real excited for my junior year."
Bonik said Brown and Reader’s personalities have helped make those conversations feel different than some conversations he’s had with others.
"With them being younger guys, it's kind of like I got a friend in them, you know what I mean?" he said. "Instead of it being like I'm talking to a coach, I can talk to them like I'm talking to one of my buddies."
The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder picked up his Notre Dame offer back in March and also holds offers from schools like Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Penn State, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Wisconsin among others.
Notre Dame's message has remained consistent.
"It's just been harping on the winning culture there and tradition, what Coach (Marcus) Freeman is doing there and what Notre Dame will be able to provide for me when I get there on the educational side,” he said.
Bonik hasn't finalized any plans to visit South Bend this fall yet, largely because of his own Friday night schedule at Ridge Point High School.
"I haven't officially made any dates yet for this season with my games being on Friday," he said. "For recovery purposes, I don't want to have to travel after a late Friday night game, but maybe on a bye week or if we have a Thursday game. But I haven't set anything yet."
The Missouri City, Texas, native isn't ruling out a later visit if he can't make it during the season.
Whenever that visit takes place, he'd like to spend more time learning exactly how he'd fit into Notre Dame's defense.
"Probably just talk with some more players and maybe go over some more scheme stuff, just seeing where I fit and whatnot and getting a feel for how I could play in the defense,” he explained.
Bonik remains in regular contact with several other national programs, including Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, SMU, Nebraska, Arizona State, Texas A&M, Iowa State and Georgia Tech, which has discussed the possibility of playing him at multiple positions.
"They're kind of recruiting me as an athlete, kind of leaning more towards running back a little bit,” he said of the Yellow Jackets.
Bonik may have an internal list of favorites later this year, but isn’t planning to make it public.
"I probably won't put out a list," he said. "I will be staying in contact with coaches, letting them know X, Y and Z.
“I just want to play out my junior year to see where I stand for schools. I don't want to start cutting guys off and I can't even go to schools that I'm keeping."
He does know how he’ll evaluate those schools.
"Where do I fit in the program when I first get there? The scheme, the education, how will it be when I get my degree, what value does it hold? Coaching stability, the players I have around me, like the chemistry, and that's it."
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