Category: Notre Dame

Where the current Irish commits rank inside the top 247 prior to their update

Where Notre Dame’s recruits rank inside 247Sports prior to their final updated rankings.

Tomorrow 247Sports will release their final update to the 2020 recruiting class rankings, re-ranking the top 247 players in the country. At the current moment, the Fighting Irish have the #14 ranked class nationally according to the 247Sports composite, which complies the rankings of major recruiting services such as Rivals, ESPN, and their own. You can see their team rankings right here.

With just 17 commits in the 2020 class after the release of Landen Bartleson, all of them having signed in the early period, there might not be much room for Brian Kelly to add any prospects. There are currently 88 players on scholarship, the max being 85, so with the NFL declaration deadline having passed and without players entering the transfer portal, Kelly does not have much wiggle room to add any new prospects.

So, prior to 247Sport’s release of their updated top 247, which can be seen here, this is where the currently signed Irish class is ranked who are ranked inside the top 247 players in the country:

ILB Jordan Botelho – 43

OT Tosh Baker – 44

RB Chris Tyree – 61

WR Jordan Johnson – 63

TE Michael Mayer – 69

OT Michael Carmondy – 109

ESPN predicts how Notre Dame wins the National Title in the 2020 season

Earlier this morning ESPN released an article on how each of the Top 25 teams could individually win the National Title in the 2021 campaign ( read here). As a projected top 10 team, the Irish have a very realistic chance at competing for a title …

Earlier this morning ESPN released an article on how each of the Top 25 teams could individually win the National Title in the 2021 campaign (read here). As a projected top 10 team, the Irish have a very realistic chance at competing for a title this coming season. With the return of Ian Book at quarterback and a schedule that features enough quality games to get the into the College Football Playoff’s top 4 and have a shot at winning the Coaches Trophy.

Tom VanHaaren made it out to be very simple on how Notre Dame will be able to win the championship next year:

“Without a conference championship game, Notre Dame can’t afford any mistakes in 2020. Without a win against Clemson that late in the season, the chances at a national championship are slim.”

I believe that VanHaaren is spot on with his projection of how the Irish can be atop the college football world at the end of the year. The season very much hinges on how the Clemson game plays out in South Bend. He also mentions the Wisconsin game, the Badgers will be losing a lot of talent, most notably RB Jonathan Taylor and LB Zack Baun. VanHaaren also brings up the Stanford game, but they have been gutted with players transferring out of the program, a whopping 14 Cardinals have entered the transfer portal. One game that VanHaaren fails to mention is the finale against USC, which is always a dog fight, especially in the Coliseum.

This coming season should be a prosperous one for Brian Kelly and crew and if things go right, we could be seeing the Irish playing in the College Football Playoff once again.

Taylor at it again, offering ’22 RB Megwa from Texas

A verbal offer out to a star Texas sophomore running back Emeka Megwa announced today.

Running back’s coach Lance Taylor has been all over the country this weekend, starting Friday along with Tommy Rees visiting ’21 5-Star Will Shipley, made a call out to Texas and offered yet another star running back in Emeka Megwa. The class of 2022 star stands six-feet tall and weighs 200 pounds, gigantic for a player so young, preps at the same high school as current freshman DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah and tagged him when Megwa announced his offer via Twitter.

Megwa absolutely dominated competition this past year, earning District MVP, 1st team All-Star and All-District, rushing for over 1,600 yards and scoring 25 touchdowns against Texas high school competition. For a sophomore those are extremely impressive numbers, ones that have clearly caught the eyes of many schools, holding offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma and more at this early stage of his recruitment.

You can never get enough talent at running back, having multiple backs that can do different things is an excellent way to diversify your offense and luring safeties into the box which enables more deep shots to wide receivers. With a reported forty time of 4.4, Megwa is a burner and would look great in Blue and Gold.

Okwara projected into NFL Draft’s First Round

Notre Dame’s DE Julian Okwara has been projected as a first round pick in the NFL Draft.

Now that the college football season is officially over with the conclusion of the Senior Bowl, multiple outlets will be posting their mock drafts and that’s exactly what SB Nations Dan Kadar did yesterday. Kader had only one former Golden Domer in his mock, DE Julian Okwara being selected 27th overall by the Seattle Seahawks.

Kader, however, wasn’t sure if Seattle would even be in that spot to select Okwara: “Chances are the Seahawks won’t be picking here on draft weekend considering general manager John Schneider’s usual transactional gymnastics. If the Seahawks happen to stay at No. 27, they could target a pass rusher. Okwara should test off the charts with the analytics community, and good coaching will take advantage of his traits.”

Many of these are just best guesses as the current moment, as the NFL’s version of a job hunt, the underwear Olympics, AKA the NFL combine won’t start until February 23rd and concludes on March 2nd. Pro day’s will be after that, then the big day, the NFL Draft on April 23-25, held on water. Yes, you read that right, it’s going to be on water this year, with the possibility that Okwara could be ferried out to the stage in the Fountain of Bellagio.

Saturday Evening Recruiting Update

It was a busy day recruiting for the Irish, here is a quick update on a few players of note.

Terry Joseph was down in Texas today and verbally offered Deuce Harmon a scholarship. Harman is a corner back from Denton standing five-foot-ten and weighing 190 pounds. A reported 4.4 forty-yard dash for the Guyer High star is impressive and when you put his 40-inch vertical along with his forty time, Harmon is an elite athlete.

Harmon typically lines up on the outside and the young man is a ball hawk, consistently getting into passing lanes and either making the interception or breaking the pass up. He is more than willing to come up and be physical with a wideout and seems very comfortable playing on an island. Recruiting is just picking up for Harmon, adding offers from Mississippi State and Memphis this week, so Joseph and Brian Kelly getting in on Harmon early bodes well for the Irish.

There was also news of 5-Star OT Landon Tengwall making a visit to South Bend in March and scheduling an official visit as well. Tengwall visited Penn State today, and also announced in September that his top three were PSU, Michigan and Notre Dame. The massive six-foot-six tackle said he would visit each school multiple times before making a decision prior to his senior campaign.

Tengwall clearly loves the tradition the Fighting Irish have on the offensive line and hopefully Jeff Quinn can show him enough of our storied programs offensive line history to sway him to join the program. Just looking at his offer list, which obviously includes UM, PSU along with Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Ohio State, securing a commitment from one of the top tackles in the nation would be a colossal win for the program.

Reporting like a Champion

As you may have noticed Fighting Irish fans, there has been a new writer bringing you content on Irish Wire. It’s me, Michael Chen, and I am very excited for the opportunity that Patrick and Nick have given me to contribute to the site. A little …

As you may have noticed Fighting Irish fans, there has been a new writer bringing you content on Irish Wire. It’s me, Michael Chen, and I am very excited for the opportunity that Patrick and Nick have given me to contribute to the site.

A little background on me, I graduated from Ohio State University in 2004, I know, I know, but I have had a love for college football since I can remember and clearly a shared hatred of Michigan. I’ve always loved the traditions and pageantry that the NFL doesn’t offer to fans, which was a big draw for me. Another part of college football that drew my attention was recruiting, which as you have seen, will be a big part of what I will bring to Irish Wire in the future.

I entered the media industry about 4 years ago, this past year I covered the Big Ten conference for 670 The Score, writing weekly columns and attending games. I played baseball at OSU and will bring coverage of the Irish’s baseball team which is set to being in the middle of next month. I look forward to interacting with you on the site and on Twitter as well where you can find me at @MikeFChen.

The Irish to have multiple national implication games in 2020

There are always big games on Notre Dame’s schedule and this upcoming season is no different.

Notre Dame’s schedule next year has multiple marque games and recently Dean Straka of 247Sports ranked the most important regular season contests for the upcoming season (read here). Upon first view of the schedule for this year’s football season, there are multiple games on the Irish’s schedule that will have a big impact on the race for a top 4 of the College Football Playoffs rankings.

Straka first names the Golden Domer’s visit to historic Lambeau Field on October 3rd to face the Wisconsin Badgers as their first important game in the college football world. It should be noted that the Badgers will be breaking in a new running back and center, after star Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Biadasz left early to the NFL, and two WR’s after Quintez Cephus also left early to play for pay and Aron Cruickshank transfers inside the Big Ten to Rutgers. Linebacker Zach Baun exhausted his eligibility and will move on as well, meaning this is a great year for the Irish to face the Badgers as they have lost plenty of elite talent and Wisconsin Head Coach Paul Chryst will still be trying to replace the productivity of his former stars.

The next game Straka has highlighted is when the CFP runner-up Clemson Tigers come to South Bend on November 7th. The surprise return of RB Travis Etienne makes this contest much more challenging, as Heisman front-runner Trevor Lawrence has lost just one game in his college career up to date. The Tigers have recruited among the best schools in the nation, and while they will lose some talent as well, Dabo Swinney has their program running on all cylinders. As this game is currently the only game on Clemson’s schedule against a top 25 opponent, it will mean a great deal for them, but don’t forget the impact of a win for Brian Kelly would mean. Any team that beats Clemson has to be considered among the best in the nation, and if the Irish would be able to pull this one out at home, it would give them a gigantic boost towards returning to the College Football Playoff.

Which game in Notre Dame’s upcoming schedule are you most excited about?

Taylor and Rees to visit ’21 5-Star NC RB Shipley today

Notre Dame assistants Taylor and Rees will visit 5-Star RB recruit Will Shipley on Friday.

It is shaping up to be a big recruiting weekend for Brian Kelly and the Irish as they will head out to North Carolina to visit 5-Star running back Will Shipley. Previously Lance Taylor had visited the five-foot-eleven 198 pound all-purpose back, but this Friday visit he will bring another assistant along for the trip. Tommy Rees will join Taylor in trying to continue their good relationship with Shipley.

A commit from Shipley would be enormous, due to the fact that his offer list is a who’s who of college football’s elite programs. Already offered by Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and others, Shipley previous said he has the best relationships with the current ’21 class for Notre Dame.

Shipley’s highlight tape is impressive, as he is comfortable out of the shotgun, single-back formations while splitting out wide and creating a mismatch against a linebacker. His versatility makes Shipley as prospect that school all over the country would be salivating to have in their backfield and sometimes split out wide.

In recruiting, it is all about the relationships that you build with your potential teammates, along with your position coach, Taylor, and right now you would have to believe that due to that fact the Irish are more than contending for Shipley, they are leading the pack. The hope here is that with the visit from Taylor and Rees, the North Carolina star will continue his affection for the Blue and Gold and ultimately give his pledge to Kelly and the Irish.

Notre Dame offers 4-Star LB Mondon from Georgia

On Thursday evening, Notre Dame extended in offer to class of ’21 LB Smael Mondon.

Recruiting never sleeps and the Irish are at it again, this time offering Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon Jr, from Paulding High School Thursday evening. The four star outside linebacker stands six-foot-three and weighs 210 pounds.

The Irish currently do not have any commits at the position in their 2021 class, and if they were to add Mondon it would be a huge coup for Brian Kelly and Clark Lea.

Mondon also plays running back for the Paulding Patriots, and after his junior year, earned region 7AAAAA Athlete/All-Purpose Player of the Year. A linebacker that can run like Mondon is always in high demand and taking one look at his highlight reel he is quite an impressive prospect. Mondon also excels on special teams, lining up for his Patriots on the edge and blocking multiple field goal attempts. Mondon reads and reacts well in the passing game as well, with his speed shining in that area once again.

Mondon has a very impressive offer list, which include Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma and many others. He is a national recruit and if the Irish are able to pull him out from the South, it would be a fantastic start for the linebacker position in the ’21 class.

Mondon is the type of difference maker that helps win championships, and if Notre Dame expects to compete and win those kinds of games, getting a commit from Mondon will go a long way helping attain that goal.

University of Notre Dame Police Seek Help to Find Missing Student

They ask that anyone who has seen Annrose Jerry since or has any potential information on her whereabouts call the Notre Dame Police Department at 574-631-5555.

Annrose Jerry, a Senior who lives on Notre Dame’s campus has not been seen since the night of January 21 and university police are seeking help from the community to help find her.

The University of Notre Dame tweeted out the following on Thursday night:

In the release on Notre Dame’s website, Annrose Jerry is listed as 5-feet-5-inches in height and has dark hair.

The university states that Jerry was last seen at 8:45 Tuesday night at Coleman-Morse Hall. They ask that anyone who has seen Annrose Jerry since or has any potential information on her whereabouts call the Notre Dame Police Department at 574-631-5555.

Here’s to hoping this ends well.