2020 Mass. LB Kalel Mullings Has Eyes Opened At Notre Dame

Kalel Mullings‍ didn’t know what to expect when he visited Notre Dame on Friday. Or maybe the 2020 Massachusetts linebacker thought he knew what to expect.

Either way, he was pleasantly surprised.

“It was great,” Mullings said of his first trip to South Bend. “I came in, honestly, expecting to be surrounded by cornfields and just have Notre Dame in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t anything like that. It was great. It was a lot. It blew me away.

“The campus was a lot bigger than I expected. Even South Bend wasn’t really what I expected. The school itself is breathtaking. All of the architecture was great and the brick they use with all of the buildings, it’s all Notre Dame and it’s all the same color. It was just cool; the history of all of it, everything had a nickname. It was just great. It was breathtaking.”

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder has an impressive early offer sheet that includes schools like Boston College, Rutgers, Syracuse, Maryland, UCLA, Michigan and Northwestern, which he picked up during a visit on Thursday.

The Boston native spent a good portion of his time on Friday with Notre Dame graduate assistant Brandon Lemon, but also had a chance to meet with defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Clark Lea.

“They were great meetings,” Mullings said. “Coach Lea and I went over some film, he showed me a couple of things. It was great.”

Mullings also had the chance to meet with some academic advisors.

“We were able to talk about a few things and talk about the transition and how Notre Dame is like a true balance of academics and athletics,” the Milton Academy star explained. “Some of these other schools, you either have one that’s really academic and not so much football. Then, you have another school that could be all football and not too much academics. They talked about how Notre Dame was really a true balance.”

For Mullings, that balance is “extremely important.”

“Everyone talks about the 40-year decision and how it’s not just a four-year decision,” he said. “What I’ve learned through my high school experience at prep school is that a lot of your life is going to be about who you know. Obviously, going to a school like Notre Dame with a great alumni base, you have to network. Obviously, you’ll be able to do that at a great institution such as Notre Dame.”

Mullings is visiting Michigan on Saturday, but plans to get back to South Bend in the months to come.

“I’m hopefully going to get out this summer and probably camp there or go to a game. Obviously, I’ll stay in contact with the coaches.”