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Notre Dame Football Recruiting

2020 LB Ozzie Nicholas "Definitely" Trying To Visit Notre Dame

January 9, 2019
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Ozzie Nicholas has received some early interest from Notre Dame and the 2020 California linebacker was even invited to South Bend for an unofficial visit this past fall.

Nicholas planned on making the trip, but eventually had to cancel those plans.

“As the time got closer to actually go, I got really busy with family and football,” the La Costa Canyon High School standout said. “That weekend was just a bad weekend, so I had to cancel it. I’m definitely going to try to get up there soon because I really like Notre Dame and want to check it out for sure.

“I’m definitely going to try to get out there.”

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound junior already has a positive impression of Notre Dame and the school’s tradition.

“I know it’s kind of like a linebacker paradise, I’ve heard that before,” he said. “I know a lot of good linebackers have come out of there. That would be a really cool place to play.”

Still, he admitted he has more to learn, which is one reason why he wants to get to South Bend.

“Just see how they do things out there because I’ve never been really anywhere outside of the Pac-12 so far,” he said. “That would be cool and just see if there’s any differences between them and the schools I’ve already been to.”

Nicholas has already taken visits to Washington, Cal and Stanford

“They were all great trips,” he said. “They were all really impressive schools.”

He doesn’t have any future visits set yet, but coaches are working to get him to their campuses.

“I think I’m going to try to get up to Washington State because they offered me a while ago,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll go back up to the schools I’ve already been to. I’m not sure yet. I’m just playing it by ear right now.”

In addition to the Cougars, Nicholas’ offer sheet also includes Cal, Arizona, Oregon State, San Diego State, Penn and Dartmouth.

“It’s definitely really cool,” he said of the early offers. “It’s something that I’ve always dreamed about and was definitely a goal of mine. It’s really cool that some of these schools are giving me the opportunity. It comes from hard work…It’s definitely real exciting.”

The Encinitas, Calif., native has been told by college coaches that they like the way he gets after it on the field.

“They really like my speed to the running back,” he said. “I’m a downhill player. They mostly say they could see me in their defenses, the way they run their defenses with their middle linebackers flowing to the ball, reading the guards, dropping back in the middle. They mostly like my speed, I’m a hard hitter. Between the tackles, not much is getting out of there.”

He’ll be looking at a variety of factors when he’s making his final decision.

“It’s kind of hard to prioritize one thing over the others,” he said. “It’s probably going to be if I could actually see myself playing there, see myself fitting in with the defense and the chemistry I feel with the coaches, just somewhere I feel like I’m at home almost, somewhere I feel good about naturally.”

He does hope to have a decision before the end of the summer.

“I’ve talked about it with my dad a little bit. I’m going to try to be committed verbally before my senior year and go for the early signing after that. That’s my goal.”

 
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