Category: Notre Dame Recruiting

Big Ten team trying to snag key Notre Dame staff member

Will he stay or will he go?

As much as the transfer portal has changed college football, recruiting is still the lifeblood of any successful program. Notre Dame has shown gains in recruiting under Marcus Freeman, and the Wisconsin football program has taken notice.

According to multiple reports, including our colleagues at Badgers Wire, Wisconsin is targeting Notre Dame’s top recruiting staffer, Carter Auman, to become its new director of player personnel

When you run a successful program, others are going to come for your staff; that’s just part of the territory. Whether Auman goes to Wisconsin or stays at Notre Dame remains to be seen, but the fact he’s being targeted shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the success he’s helped Notre Dame achieve on the recruiting trail.

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Notre Dame Recruits Post Epic Steelers Legacy Photo

Steelers legacies pose with fathers on latest official Notre Dame visits.

Notre Dame’s recent run of landing recruiting commitments from the sons of former NFL players has been impressive.  The sons of several former NFL stars have chosen to wear blue and gold in recent years from the likes of Kennedy Urlacher (Brian), Bryant Young, Jr., James Flanagan (Jim), and several others.

There are three players currently committed in the 2025 recruiting class that don’t only each have fathers that played in the NFL, but fathers that specifically starred for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Those three posed together over the weekend, along with their fathers for a truly epic photo of the old guard and new.

[autotag]Elijah Burress[/autotag] posted the photo as he sits on the left side, in front of his dad Plaxico.  [autotag]Ivan Taylor[/autotag], Notre Dame‘s top-ranked recruit currently in the 2025 class sits in front of his dad Ike Taylor.  And on the right side is of course [autotag]Jerome Bettis, Jr[/autotag]. seated in front of his Pro Football Hall of Fame father, Jerome, Sr.

Happy Father’s Day, in blue and gold or black and yellow, indeed.

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Marcus Freeman Visits Indianapolis Prospect

A huge in-state target for Notre Dame…

Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class is off to a fantastic start as most outlets have the Fighting Irish ranked as the top class nationally.  It’s clearly early and Notre Dame is a program that usually falls the closer to signing day we get, so the importance of stacking a strong class early is that much more important.

With all of that in mind, Marcus Freeman is doing his best to continue to load up the Fighting Irish secondary.  He was in Indianapolis on Friday night to take in Ben Davis High School’s basketball game.  There he watched Notre Dame target Mark Zackery.

Zackery is listed as a four-star prospect on 247Sports.  The outlet ranks him as the 62nd overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting class while the 247Sports composite ranks him 179th overall.

You can see Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph seated next to Freeman.

Zackery named Notre Dame as one of his 10 finalists earlier this month and was on campus for junior weekend last weekend.

Key Notre Dame Target Lands Ohio State Offer

The name Bralan Womack will be a huge one in the 2026 college football recruiting cycle and another powerhouse program just offered him.

Last weekend saw Notre Dame play host to several prospects as part of their Irish Invasion visits and one of the standouts to receive a scholarship offer was 2026 safety [autotag]Bralan Womack[/autotag] of Mississippi.

It’s early, but Womack rates as one of the nation’s top safeties in the 2026 cycles by various different outlets.  Shortly after announcing his scholarship offer from Notre Dame, multiple national recruiting analysts gave crystal ball predictions for him to ultimately commit to the Fighting Irish.

As expected, there will be big-time competition to land Womack’s commitment.  On Wednesday, Womack announced that Ohio State had offered him a scholarship.

Womack recently mentioned to Irish Breakdown that the programs that have him impressed him the most so far as well as Notre Dame are Ohio State, Alabama, Louisville, and Georgia.

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Notre Dame makes top six for elite 2025 linebacker

Notre Dame makes the cut for a standout linebacker

Notre Dame has had their share of great linebackers recently but the skill across the position has often left a bit to be desired.

As [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag], [autotag]Al Golden[/autotag], and the rest of the Notre Dame work to improve that, they received good news on Sunday as one of their biggest remaining targets in the 2025 recruiting class announced the Fighting Irish in his top-six.

Notre Dame joined the likes of Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oregon, and Stanford in Gavin Nix’s top-six.

247Sports has Nix pegged as a four-star player in the 2025 recruiting cycle and their 88th ranked player overall regardless of position.

Nix finished his junior season at national powerhouse IMG Academy with the second most tackles on the team with 42 total tackles.

Nix have given no indication when he will make his next cut or final decision as to where he’ll play college football.

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Notre Dame offers one of nation’s top 2026 safeties

Notre Dame was once said to have to shop in a different aisle for recruits. A target like this would seem to only further break that mold.

One of the very top safeties in the 2026 recruiting cycle has a new scholarship offer from Notre Dame.

[autotag]Bralan Womack[/autotag], a top 20 overall player and third overall safety in the 2026 recruiting cycle (per 247Sports composite rankings) received an offer during the Irish Invasion camp that was held this weekend.

Harlan is listed at 5-11, 185-pounds and already has offers from several top programs including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and others.

The Hartfield Academy (Flowood, Miss.) star announced his scholarship offer on social media late Sunday afternoon after wrapping up camp.

Quarterback Noah Grubbs of Lake Mary, Flor. became Notre Dame’s second commitment in the 2026 recruiting class over the weekend.

 

Duece Knight clearly looks ready to flip from Notre Dame to Ole Miss

Seems pretty obvious…

If you missed it last week, the recruiting world of Notre Dame football had a little drama with 2025 quarterback Deuce Knight at the center of attention.

David Johnson of Inside the Rebels made a crystal ball prediction for the 247Sports family that Knight, a Mississippi product, would ultimately be committing to Ole Miss.

Knight committed to Notre Dame last September and although the offers have continued to pour in from around the nation, has remained committed to the Irish.

Knight then spent this weekend doing what any elite player about to flip their Notre Dame commitment would do:

Spent his weekend in South Bend, Indiana.

Nobody has ever confused me with Nostradamus but I’m starting to think that crystal ball might just be a miss.

Related: Meet Notre Dame’s Loaded 2025 Recruiting Class

New Crystal Ball Pick Has Big-Time Notre Dame Quarterback Prospect Flipping to SEC

Will he stay or will he go?

The talent Notre Dame is bringing in with their recent recruiting classes has been well documented and to date their 2025 recruiting class appears like it could be the best of the recent bunch.

A cornerstone of that class is four-star quarterback [autotag]Deuce Knight[/autotag] of Ludedale, Miss., who made his pledge to Notre Dame official back in September of 2023.

As is the case with elite talent however, coaches from other big-time programs have stayed in communication and pursuit of Knight.  With that in mind, earlier this week David Johnson of Inside the Rebels made a crystal ball pick for Knight to flip his commitment from Notre Dame to Ole Miss.

247 Sports national recruiting insider Tom Loy’s pick remains with Knight to stay with Notre Dame but this is obviously a home-state target that Lane Kiffin will be trying to keep in Mississippi until he officially signs.

I’m not going to say I know either way what Knight is thinking but the fact of the matter is if it wasn’t Ole Miss that it’d be someone else knocking hard on his door trying to get his commitment flipped.  That’s just the way recruiting in big-time college football is, like it or not, and it’s something Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame do to already committed prospects elsewhere, too.

As for how much to put behind Johnson’s pick for Knight?

Johnson has hit on 69.19% of his recruiting crystal ball picks all-time while Loy has connected on 80.75% while making over 1,200 more picks.

I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Related: Scout’s View on Duece Knight’s Notre Dame Commitment

Notre Dame’s Starting Quarterbacks Through the Years

Notre Dame in Top Five for Five-Star Wide Receiver

This would be a huge get for the Irish. Both figuratively and literally.

Notre Dame football has had an uptick in recruiting the wide receiver position recently but still has room to grow. That’s what the Fighting Irish are looking to do with one of the few remaining spots in their top-ranked 2025 recruiting class.

The good news for the Fighting Irish and wide receivers coach Mike Brown is that Notre Dame is in the running for one of the nation’s very best in the 2025 recruiting class.

[autotag]Derek Meadows[/autotag], who 247Sports recently rated as a five-star wideout, has Notre Dame in his final top-five and is set to make an official summer visit this June.  Meadows has previously participated in Notre Dame’s Irish Invasion camp last June.

Notre Dame has a seat at the table but will have to outwork several bluebloods as Michigan, Georgia, LSU, and Alabama are also set to host Meadows this summer.

Meadows is listed at 6-5, 200-pounds and hails from national powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.  He helped lead Gorman to their latest national championship in 2023, hauling in 15 receptions as a sophomore.  Over half of those went for a touchdown as he scored eight last fall and averaged over 26-yards per reception.

Whoever ends up with Meadows will have an elite talent that will instantly upgrade even the best of wide receiver groups.

SEC powerhouse offers Notre Dame quarterback commit

One of the nation’s top-ranked quarterbacks in the 2025 recruiting class picked up a big time offer despite being committed to Notre Dame.

In a story we’ve seen before, Alabama has offered a top-ranked Notre Dame commitment in an upcoming class.

This time it was quarterback Deuce Knight, the top-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the 2025 recruiting cycle. Alabama offered him on Monday.  Knight committed to Notre Dame in September 2023.

Knight checks in at 6 feet, 4 inches and 195 pounds. He has received offers from Auburn, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and plenty of others.

Knight hails from Lucedale, Mississippi, and has was on campus for junior weekend at Notre Dame this past weekend.  He has been a leader in the recruitment of other top targets in the 2025 class, but as we know all too well, an offer from Alabama tends to carry a lot of weight regardless of a commitment status.

Nick Saban not being head coach there anymore obviously takes away some of the bigness but certainly not all of it.