Tag: college football recruiting

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.

Notre Dame Makes Yet Another ’21 Defensive Lineman a Scholarship Offer

Thursday morning saw David Abiari, a 6-4, 240 pound defensive end from Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas announce his scholarship offer from Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame staff.

Rinse, repeat.

For the fourth straight day Notre Dame has made at least one scholarship offer to a defensive player in the 2021 recruiting class.

Thursday morning saw David Abiari, a 6-4, 240 pound defensive end from Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas announce his scholarship offer from Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame staff.

ESPN ranks Abiari the 289th best player in the 2021 recruiting class while 247Sports ranks him at 318.

Abiari has already received offers from the likes of Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin and others while he announced an offer from Northwestern shortly after announcing the Notre Dame offer early Thursday.

 

Hot Route! – Make That Four Offers to Georgia DL from Notre Dame on Tuesday

Victoine Brown is listed at 6-4, 225 pounds on his Rivals profile page.  The strong-side defensive end grades out as a three-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports. — @BrownVictoine

At this point it appears Notre Dame’s defensive line coach Mike Elston is considering purchasing real estate in the state of Georgia.

News came out in the late morning Tuesday that Elston and Notre Dame had offered scholarships to three different defensive line prospects in the 2021 recruiting class.

As it turns out there were actually four.

While you’re busy firing up Ray Charles’s “Georgia on my Mind” or perhaps Alan Jackson’s “Chatahoochee”, here’s a bit of information on the fourth, and we believe final, Georgia high schooler to be offered by Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Victoine Brown is listed at 6-4, 225 pounds on his Rivals profile page.  The strong-side defensive end grades out as a three-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports.

Brown hails from Loganville, Georgia and already holds scholarship offers from the likes of Florida, LSU, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Louisville and Georgia Tech among plenty of others.

Rivals currently ranks Brown as the 29th top strong-side defensive end in the 2021 recruiting class.

Brown was one of four Georgia high school defensive linemen to receive scholarship offers from Notre Dame on Tuesday.  The list of who joins him includes:

Others include:
Noah Collins – Weakside Defensive End
Jonathan Jefferson – Defensive Tackle
Joshua Robinson – Weakside Defensive End

Notre Dame Offers Three Tuesday – Third and Final Writeup is of (Other) ’21 Georgia Defensive End

Collins was one of four defensive linemen from the state of Georgia to receive an offer from Mike Elston and Notre Dame on Tuesday. 

If you’ve been paying attention to Notre Dame recruiting at all this Tuesday you’ve seen a very busy day for Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish.

High school teammates and defensive linemates Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Jefferson were offered Tuesday as defensive line coach Mike Elston attempts to stack his defensive line prospects in the 2021 class.

Joining both Robinson and Jefferson was Noah Collins, a taller but thinner defensive end prospect also from Snellville, Georgia.

Collins has an impressive list of programs pursuing his services as Florida, LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Nebraska, Michigan State and plenty of others have already offered him scholarships.

Collins was one of four defensive linemen from the state of Georgia to receive an offer from Mike Elston and Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Others include:
Victoine Brown – Strong-Side Defensive End
Jonathan Jefferson – Defensive Tackle
Joshua Robinson – Weakside Defensive End

How a Notre Dame OL Commit is Reminding Me of Louis Nix

Does a Notre Dame Commit already know Will Shipley’s future plans or is @BFisher54_ just teasing everyone?

Blake Fisher is among the top high school football talents graduating in 2021 and has already committed to Brian Kelly’s program at Notre Dame.

Fisher committed last June, is listed at 6-5, 336 pounds and is regarded as one of the top offensive tackles in the nation in regards to the 2021 recruiting class.

After a tweet Fisher sent out Friday afternoon, we can now sit and ponder this weekend if he knows something Notre Dame are craving more information on.

Is the nation’s No. 1 All Purpose Back Will Shipley headed to South Bend in 2021, too?

Notre Dame Run Game Coordinator Lance Taylor was again in North Carolina to visit the much-desired Shipley today which was at least the sixth time a visit has been made between Shipley and the Irish.

Fisher has been open about wanting do his part in attracting more talent to Notre Dame’s 2021 class, something he’s already played a part in.

“Nothing like a connection between a RB and his lineman!!”

Indeed there isn’t.

If you’re wondering how Shipley responded to the message, wonder no more.

It wasn’t a commitment I’m assuming Taylor’s latest visit at least didn’t go poorly after seeing that.

Whether Shipley ends up at Notre Dame or not a move like this reminds me a bit of when Louis Nix committed despite a head coach not even being in place.

Nix would go on to a great career in South Bend while also being a tremendous pitchman for the university and football program.

We can only hope Fisher’s career at Notre Dame goes just as well.

Notre Dame Football: Another Visit Planned for Top Running Back Target

Taylor was only a hired last January but already made an impact, perhaps the biggest way being in bringing in talent to the running back position that hasn’t been seen in the Brian Kelly era.

The less-discussed news of Tuesday’s coaching moves at Notre Dame was that running backs coach Lance Taylor had been promoted to run game coordinator.

Taylor was only a hired last January but already made an impact, perhaps the biggest way being in bringing in talent to the running back position that hasn’t been seen in the Brian Kelly era.

Chris Tyree signed his letter of intent in December and was immediately the highest ranked running back to choose Notre Dame in Kelly’s now decade on the job.  Fast-forward a month and the Irish and Taylor specifically, appear set on getting a commitment from another highly-couveted all purpose back.

According to a Mike Singer report at Blue Gold Illustrated, Taylor will be in North Carolina on Friday when the recruiting dead period is lifted and is expected to make a visit to see Will Shipley, the nation’s number-one all purpose back in 2021.

Taylor has already met face-to-face with Shipley five times according to the same report, most of those meetings coming in North Carolina.

Shipley is listed at 6-1, 220 pounds and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina after a junior season that saw him rush for more than 2000 yards and 30 touchdowns while hauling in 582 receiving yards and eight more scores by reception.  It all led to Weddington’s second-straight state championship.

Will Shipley may not choose Notre Dame ultimately but it won’t be because of a lack of an effort by Lance Taylor.

Notre Dame Football Offers ’21 5-Star Texas Defensive End

Wednesday night saw the Fighting Irish make an offer to one of the most sought-after defensive ends in the country for the 2021 recruiting class.

Brian Kelly spoke ahead of the Camping World Bowl that Notre Dame was ready to start taking an extra step in recruiting. Kelly pretty much stated he saw it as good, but far from elite.

Well, winning the commitment of a new target of the Irish would be a step towards elite.

Wednesday night saw Kelly and the Fighting Irish make an offer to one of the most sought-after defensive ends in the country for the 2021 recruiting class.

Tunmise Adeleye is a five-star defensive end per 247Sports and a four-star by the Rivals rankings and is the latest player to receive a full-ride scholarship offer to Notre Dame.

Whichever the case, both rank him in the top 50 players in the class of 2021 as he checks in at 26 on 247Sports and 43 on Rivals.

Adeleye would be a massive get for the Irish who still have just one defensive commitment in their highly-regarded 2021 class.

As you’d expect, all of the traditional big dogs are in pursuit of Adeleye as the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and plenty of others have already offered the 6-4, 255 pound defensive end.

The Katy, Texas (Hopkins) product has as an impressive amount of highlights just like you’d expect that can be found on his MaxPreps Page.

Notre Dame Football Offers Top 200(ish) 2021 Wide Receiver

Brian Kelly and his staff remain busy on the recruiting trail as they officially entered their names in the sweepstakes for a highly-coveted wide receiver from Fort Lauderdale.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and his staff remain busy on the recruiting trail as they officially entered their names in the sweepstakes for a highly-coveted wide receiver from Fort Lauderdale.

Wednesday saw Troy Stellato of Cardinal Gibbons in Fort Lauderdale, Florida picked up his 31st scholarship offer, this one coming from Notre Dame.

Rivals lists Stellato as a four-star prospect and the 36th best wide receiver in the 2021 class.  They also rate him as the 201st overall prospect in the class.

Stellato has offers from 30 other schools including Alabama, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, USC and Wisconsin.  He’s already made visits to Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio State (twice) and Tennessee.

The 2021 Notre Dame recruiting class already has verbal commitments from a pair of four-star wide receivers in Lorenzo Styles of Ohio and Deion Colzie of Georgia.

Notre Dame Football: 2020 Recruiting Class Not Complete After All?

As a result, Martinez, who was recruited by Ohio State as a defensive back, is yet to put his commitment in paper.

A week before Christmas, Notre Dame signed 18 high school seniors on the early National Signing Day and Ohio State transfer, safety Isaiah Pryor.

Shortly after they added Northwestern transfer, wide receiver Bennett Skowronek to help fill the enormous hole left with Chase Claypool’s departure.

The 20 new additions to the Fighting Irish appeared to be it for the 2020 recruiting class but the deeper we get into January, the more we see that possibly not being the case.

Cameron Martinez, a 5-11, 183 pound athlete from Muskegon, Michigan had committed to Ohio State on the Fourth of July.

Funny this is however, the early signing period came and went without Martinez signing with Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes.

So enter Notre Dame.

What appears to have happened is Ohio State’s defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley took the head coaching job at Boston College. As a result, Martinez, who was recruited by Ohio State as a defensive back, is yet to put his commitment in paper.

So Notre Dame has jumped back in and we assume they’re not the only ones again interested.

Martinez, who starred at quarterback in high school and was an incredible playmaker. So much in fact he was named Michigan’s Gatorade Player of the Year this past fall and he may want to play offense in college instead of defense where it sounds like most coaches have guided him towards.

Like Ohio State, Notre Dame is currently operating without a certain secondary coach as Todd Lyght has stepped down since the season’s conclusion.

Because of that I’m not letting myself get too excited about a potential extra member in this class, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.

It may be easy to request Brian Kelly and his staff to offer Martinez to come play offense, but that’d be also ignoring the holes that remain at the corner position.

For what it’s worth I’m still not at a place where I expect Martinez to flip from Ohio State but it’s refreshing to hear Notre Dame still being linked to him and the 2020 class possibly still being able to grow by one.

Phil Jurkovec – Boston College Bound?

And if he does ultimately end up at Boston College, he could very well be their starting quarterback when the Eagles play Notre Dame next, which is scheduled for 2022.

News came down earlier this week that Phil Jurkovec might not be the savior at quarterback at Notre Dame after all and that he may be taking his talents elsewhere as he’s officially entered the transfer portal.

Jurkovec is wasting no time trying to find his potential landing spot as 247Sports is reporting the former four-star recruit is spending this weekend on an official visit to Boston College.

Boston College quarterback Anthony Brown entered the transfer portal himself not all that long ago, possibly because of the hiring of new head coach Jeff Hafley.

If able to secure a waiver from the NCAA to be eligible to play in 2020, Jurkovec would have three years of eligibility left.

And if he does ultimately end up at Boston College, he could very well be their starting quarterback when the Eagles play Notre Dame next, which is scheduled for 2022.

I wish nothing but the best for Jurkovec in the future and don’t understand the die-hard fans that think he’s some sort of traitor.  He’s still young and things weren’t going as planned.  The world will continue to rotate.

Just as long as Jurkovec doesn’t ever lead BC to an upset win against Notre Dame, anyway.