Notre Dame Returns To Nolan Catholic
Notre Dame assistant coach Jeff Quinn is in Texas and while in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Irish offensive line coach made a stop at NaNa Osafo-Mensah’s former stomping grounds.
Osafo-Mensah, a 2019 Notre Dame early enrollee, helped put Nolan Catholic High School on the national recruiting radar, but the Vikings have multiple underclassman prospects who should help them stay there, led by 2022 running back/linebacker Emeka Megwa.
The 6-foot, 215-pound sophomore has blown up over the last several weeks, landing offers from schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU, Ohio State, Nebraska, Florida, Duke and Georgia Tech among many others.
Nolan Catholic head coach Dave Beaudin anticipated this kind of reception for Megwa during the Evaluation Period when we spoke to him back in December. Beaudin also pointed to Megwa as a kid who possessed many of the same qualities that helped lead Osafo-Mensah to South Bend.
“He comes from a Catholic family,” the coach said. “He has an amazing family, originally from Nigeria, they’re really big on education, faith, family values. All of that stuff aligns with Notre Dame. NaNa was a big influence for him and was a mentor for him.”
But while Megwa seems a lock to keep Nolan Catholic in the national headlines for the next couple of years, the program features other prospects destined to play big-time college football.
The Vikings added several transfers before last summer’s camp following the cancellation of the football program at nearby Young Men’s Leadership Academy. The tiny charter school was placed in the highly competitive 6A division and often had to play schools that had more players in their programs than YMLA’s entire student body. Often overmatched and always outnumbered, the school decided to shut down the program for safety’s sake as much as anything.
While Nolan Catholic’s roster has certainly benefit from those players, kids like J'Dan Burnett have obviously benefited from becoming a part of the Vikings’ program as well.
The 2021 defensive end/outside linebacker learned how major programs go about their business on the practice field and in the film room and is starting to land on the radar of national colleges.
“He’s just kind of getting on the map,” Beaudin said of the 6-foot-1, 198-pounder. “At this point, he’s piqued everyone’s interest, but he doesn’t have any offers yet. Everyone from Ohio State to you name it has said, "Oh Wow, this guy definitely has a chance!’”
Texas, Texas A&M and other major Power Five programs have expressed serious interest, especially after Burnett registered a 4.49 in the 40-yard dash at The Opening Dallas Regional back in March.
“Anybody playing defensive end who is also the anchor on a 4x1 team that placed fourth in the state will have a shot,” said Beaudin. “That Opening time, obviously, everyone was like, ‘Who the heck is this kid?’
“Not only can he run, he’s super twitchy. He’s the real deal and a great young man."
Burnett backed up Osafo-Mensah last season and will take over at defensive end this fall, although there’s a good chance he’ll move back to outside linebacker as a senior, which would help him prepare for college.
“That’s where he’s going to be, that weakside standup rush/drop end kid,” said Beaudin. “He’s really long. He’s young. He’s got super long arms, high-waist kid.”
Burnett certainly seems like the kind of prospect the Irish would want to take a look at.
2020 cornerback Devin Thomas also made the switch from YMLA to Nolan Catholic last season and while he may not be a guy who ends up on Notre Dame’s radar, he’s another potential Power Five kid who has benefited from the move.