Tag: alabama recruiting target

Notre Dame Offers Top 10 ‘22 Running Back

Gi’Bran Payne, a 5-10, 190 pound running back from La Salle High School in Cincinnati was given a scholarship offer by the Fighting Irish on Thursday

One day after landing their next running back in class of 2021 commitment Logan Diggs, Notre Dame got right back after it on the recruiting trail as they made an offer to one of the top backs in the ’22 class.

Gi’Bran Payne, a 5-10, 190 pound running back from La Salle High School in Cincinnati was given a scholarship offer by the Fighting Irish on Thursday.

247Sports ranks Payne as a four-star talent and the tenth best running back nationwide in the entire 2022 recruiting class.  They also rank only four players in the entire talent-rich state of Ohio ahead of him in that class.

Payne has roughly 15 scholarship offers and on the Fourth of July named his then top ten teams which included Alabama, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia and Wisconsin.  It’s worth noting he did say in that announcement that his recruitment remains 100% open.

Payne averaged over 10 yards per carry as a high school sophomore, totaling 790 yards on 77 carries.  He also totaled 13 touchdowns (9 rushing, 3 receiving and an interception return) despite missing three games.

Related:  Meet Notre Dame’s 2022 Recruiting Class Commitments

Notre Dame Offers Four-Star ’21 Iowa Defensive End

Notre Dame is looking for depth at defensive end in the 2021 class, offering one of the best Iowa prospects in the class earlier this week.

Notre Dame became the 20th team to offer a scholarship to four-star weak-side defensive end TJ Bollers earlier this week.  The Tiffin, Iowa (Clear Creek Amana) product is a top 150 player nationally on the 247Sports composite ratings (147) and a top ten weak-side defensive end (eight).

Among the 20 to make scholarship offers are Alabama, Iowa State, Nebraska and Wisconsin that are listed as the favorites to eventually land his commitment, something he told 247Sports he thought he was close to making before the Notre Dame offer came in.

“I had thought about making a decision sooner rather than later but that stuff can change depending on how things go with Notre Dame” – TJ Bollers to 247Sports

Bollers checks in at 6-3, 250 pounds and ranks as the second prospect in all of Iowa for the 2021 class.  Bollers participated in Notre Dame’s camp in June of 2018 and told 247Sports that he’s already made a gameday visit to South Bend as well.

It may seem like Notre Dame is late to the party for Bollers in terms of offering but it also sounds like the offer coming in got him to rethink a few things if nothing else.