Ovie Sees Major Improvements From Irish Defense

The only thing that went wrong with Ovie Oghoufo‍'s latest visit to Notre Dame was the one-point loss the Irish suffered at the hands of Georgia on Saturday night.

“It went really good,” the 2018 Irish linebacker commit said. “I liked it. I just wish we would have came out with the win. Other than that, everything was smooth.”

The biggest thing the 6-foot-3, 207-pounder took away from the game was the improvement of the Irish’s defense under new coordinator Mike Elko.

“I felt like the defense played really good,” said Oghoufo. “I really liked the defense. They made a good jump from last year. They’ve definitely made a noticeable improvement.

“That’s good for me definitely because I can tell this university doesn’t strive for anything less than excellent. It’s a big jump, so it shows they’re really about their business.”

Oghoufo isn’t sure exactly what position he’ll end up at when he arrives in South Bend for good, so he kept his eyes on all of the Irish linebackers.

“I tried to watch Drue Tranquill a lot,” he said. “He made a lot of plays. I pretty much watched all of the linebackers, but I really focused on (Te’von) Coney a lot, the way he was taking on blocks, shedding blocks and getting in the backfield. I saw Nyles (Morgan) make a couple plays, so it was good watching all of the linebackers.”

The Farmington, Mich., native was struck by the atmosphere inside Notre Dame Stadium for the primetime matchip.

“It was big-time,” he said. “I liked it. It’s always like that every time I come down there. Georgia fans were there, there were a lot of Georgia fans. They filled the stadium, but it was great. They treated us right. It was the same. It’s always amazing when I go down there.”

He also enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with his fellow 2018 commits who were in town.

“That’s crucial, essential,” said Oghoufo. “A lot of them were down there, so it was great to catch up with them again because it won’t be long before I play with them. It was just great.”

And he put in time recruiting uncommitted prospects who were visiting, specifically one-time cornerback commit Kalon Gervin and safety target Julius Irvin.

“We’re trying to get Gerv back,” he said. “It’s looking pretty good. He’s about to take a couple more official visits and hopefully he chooses us.

“I felt like (Irvin) liked it a lot. I was just watching body language really.”

Oghoufo expects to be back in town for the USC game next month.