Tag: ND Football Recruiting

Notre Dame offers stud 2023 receiver Tate

Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees goes a little west over to Illinois and offers 2023 wide receiver Carnell Tate.

It may have seemed like the onus was going to be solely on the 2022 class today, see as increased contact was allow by the NCAA starting today. (Check out some of the prospects from ‘22 that got some love from Brian Kelly and his recruiting staff).

That didn’t stop them from going to Chicago, Illinois and offering one of the most talented wide receivers in the country in Carnell Tate.

It was a conversation with new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees that spurred the offer, which for the 6-foot-2-inch and 170-pound was his fourth to date. This is a big one as Tate shows a very high ceiling for such a young player. He showed a bit of everything during his freshman campaign, which is why Tate is getting attention from Power Five school’s already. Tate runs crisp routes, has great hands, and shows big play ability after the catch. Check out his highlights here.

Tate is the first offer that the Irish have made on offense for the 2023 class, showing how they feel about his skill level and what he could turn out to be. With Brian Kelly and Rees already getting the attention of Tate at this early juncture in his recruitment will hopefully yield dividends down the road.

Irish recruiting coordinator Polian excited for next step with ‘22 class

Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Brian Polian is excited to have more access to recruits in the 2022 class starting tomorrow.

The Notre Dame recruiting class of 2021 has not yet been signed, sealed or delivered, but that isn’t going to stop the staff from going after the next group of talented prospects in the 2022 class. September 1st means that college coaches can up the contact with the ‘22 players, and Notre Dame’s recruiting coordinator and special teams coach Brian Polian is excited.

As Polian points out that Brian Kelly’s coaching staff can now text, send direct messages via social media accounts, and go old school and send mail. You might be thinking mailers still in the internet age? That’s typically an edit, where they superimpose the prospect in uniform, on campus or some other creative way.

This is very popular among recruiting circles and although a bit archaic to send mailers, it’s still a key part of the recruiting process.

Right now the Irish staff has done a great job with limited contact in the ‘22 class, already securing three commitments for a top rated class. Instate offensive tackle Joey Tanona, tight end Jack Nickel and safety Nolan Ziegler comprise the commits, the trio are ranked 4th by 247Sports, while the other two major services (ESPN and Rivals) have yet to rank the teams classes.

The Irish have offered 96 prospects in the ‘22 class and expect that number to rise in the coming weeks. As an example the ‘21 class has offered 143 players while the ‘20 class offered 161. Stay tuned for more recruiting news in the future, as Notre Dame will try and bring in yet another highly regarded recruiting class.

Rivals compares Irish commit Styles Jr. to who?

Mike Farrell of Rivals, compares current Notre Dame commit Lorenzo Styles Jr. to a former five-star.

Fresh off of an opening day win for his Pickering Central team (check out his highlights here), Lorenzo Styles Jr. along with the rest of their updated Top 50 prospects were looked at who they most resemble at the next level.

The comparison that Rival’s Director of Recruiting Mike Farrell gave Styles Jr. was to former South Carolina Gamecock Chris Culliver. You maybe wondering why Styles Jr. has been compared to a defensive back in Culliver, but Farrell seems similarities in their projections as “Culliver was a five-star out of high school, who focused on offense but ended up as a defender in the NFL.”

This is not a bad thing for Styles Jr., as positional versatility is so important for players. Take a look at one of the best corners currently in the NFL in San Francisco’s Richard Sherman. While at Stanford, Sherman was a wide receiver for his first two years before moving over to cornerback his junior year. Fast forward to now and Sherman has a Super Bowl ring, 5 times he’s been to a Pro-Bowl and named to the NFL’s all-decade team for 2010’s. Sherman should end up in Canton as well, so it’s safe to say the move for him went well.

The Culliver comparison has more to do with ability than off-the-field antics, where the former Gamecock has had plenty of issues. Farrell sees Styles Jr. as having the same “speed and shiftiness” as Culliver’s.

The ceiling is high for Styles Jr., as he could end up playing on either side of the ball, but Farrell notes that he “will likely stay on offense.” Regardless, Blue and Gold nation are happy he’s going to suit up for the good guys next fall. Stay tuned as Rivals continues this series and Irish offensive tackle commit Blake Fisher is compared to a former collegiate star as well.

Notre Dame Recruiting: Irish in Top 10 for North Carolina linebacker Walker

The Irish have advanced to the next stage of North Carolina linebacker Jalon Walker’s recruitment.

The Notre Dame coaching staff knows that in order to take the next step and join the nations elite elite programs they must do it on the recruiting trail. The 2021 class is 13th in the nation according to the 247Sports composite, but the 2022 class is off to a fast start. Three early commits have the Irish 4th nationally and go some good news over the weekend from North Carolina linebacker Jalon Walker.

As you can see Walker is a wanted prospect, some of the best schools in the country are after his signature. He is the kind of player that would help the Irish ascend to where schools like Clemson and Alabama are. Currently Walker is rated as the 41st best player overall and 2nd outside linebacker by the composite player rankings of 247Sports.

Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Clark Lea will need to put the full-court recruiting press on Walker. He is the rightest rated outside linebacker they are pursuing, so going hard after him makes plenty of sense. We will have a better sense if Walker is a viable option when he inevitably trims his list down. Hopefully the Irish will make it on to the next stage of his recruitment, if not they will have to focus their efforts on other players, albeit not quite as talented according to the recruiting experts.

Notre Dame Football offers top defensive end in ‘23 class M’Pemba

The Irish look a few classes ahead and offer one of the most intriguing athletes in the 2023 recruiting class, Missouri’s Samuel M’Pemba.

To this date, Brian Kelly and his coaching staff have focused their recruiting efforts in the 2021 and 2022 class. It’s not to say the staff has forgotten about the 2023 class, but they have been much more selective as to who they are offering. After a talk with defensive line coach Mike Elston, the number one weak-side defensive end Samuel M’Pemba was verbally offered.

The Missouri native stands 6-foot-4-inches and weighs 216-pounds is seeing his recruitment blow up. Just this month M’Pemba has added offers from Georgia, Michigan, Arizona State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Arkansas, and Missouri while he previously held offers from Texas, California and others.

M’Pemba is quite an intriguing prospect as he did a little of everything in during his freshman campaign. He showed an array of skills, as he rushed the passer as a defensive end, then would flip to the other side of the ball and catch passes from his quarterback. You don’t see many players having the skill set that allows you to be productive at both of those positions. Check out his highlight reel here.

M’Pemba is a prospect that oozes with talent, almost anywhere you put him. Kelly and Elston obviously see his as a defensive end in the future, but who knows with such an impressive athlete that M’Pemba is. Either way we would love to see him in the Blue and Gold in the future.

Watch: Irish commit Styles Jr. helps team win opener

Check out some highlight from Notre Dame Football commit Lorenzo Styles Jr’s season opening win on ESPN2.

In a separate side of the city battle, Notre Dame commit Lorenzo Styles Jr.’s Pickering Central team defeated Pickering North 35-9 during a nationally televised contest on ESPN2. Although Styles Jr. There was plenty of big time prospects on the field, even without Ohio State commit Jack Sawyer, who decided to skip his senior year and prepare to enroll early.

Check out these highlight in the game from Styles Jr., not all of them on the offensive side. He plays both sides for his Tiger team, something that could benefit him in his Irish career if wide receiver doesn’t work out. Don’t forget special teams as well, Styles Jr. was returning punts today as well.

It’s great to see Styles Jr. making clutch plays early in games. It shows he’s focused and ready to go.

These are the defensive skills we noticed. Styles Jr. is a threat on both sides of the ball.

The toughness really showed on this play, as Styles Jr. just did not want to be taken down and kept battling for the first down.

At the end of the day, the Irish commit made plays all over the field, as the broadcast team raved about the speed of Styles Jr. It should be noted at the his younger brother, Sonny, is also a very good prospect as he showed many schools that his future is bright as well. Hopefully, Brian Kelly and his staff noticed and could potentially reunite with his brother at the next level.

Why the Big Ten’s fumbling of fall football is Notre Dame’s gain

Seeing the Big Ten go back and forth on a fall football season is beneficial to the Fighting Irish. Find out why.

First year commissioner Kevin Warren has seen the good and bad of being a major conference commish. He was applauded when the Big Ten was one of the first conferences to cancel their basketball tournament, acting swiftly in the midst of a global pandemic. Warren did not allow fans for the games played and Mark Emmett, the NCAA President, would later that Thursday cancel all NCAA games going forward.

At this point in time it looked like the conference was in good hands, but that would soon change as time went by. Warren was very cautious to bring sports back to his conference, as the NCAA would continue their interruption of athletics due to COVID-19. Warren kept putting some doubt on a season, always having a caveat of “if we will have sports in the fall.” It seemed like he was hell bent on being overtly cautious with athletics going forward.

When Warren announced the cancelation of non-conference games, he told Mike Hall in an interview on the Big Ten Network that “this decision would allow us to, one, do the right thing by our student-athletes, keep them at the forefront of all of our decisions, and make sure we create an environment to give us the best chance to play.”

They were never given that chance, as Warren would later go to a ten game schedule along with a championship game. Less than a week later and the day before Warren would announce the cancelation of his conferences play, rumors swirled that they would do just so. Or they wouldn’t. Conflicting reports of what the Big Ten would do flooded the web, as they claimed no vote to cancel the season had taken place. Warren would then announce the next morning the conference fall sports season was “postponed” not canceled. The Pac-12 would follow, but their commissioner, Larry Scott, come out with a strong statement and nobody questioned their decision.

Immediate reactions from players, their parents, coaches and fans wondered why the Big Ten had made this decision. Warren kept citing uncertainty as he once again spoke with Hall, becoming the first conference in the country to do so. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields set up a petition to try and get the conference to play in the fall, stars like Penn State linebacker Micah Parson, Purdue’s Rondale Moore and Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman opted out of a potential spring season. Parents would march to protest the decision at the Big Ten offices in suburban Chicago, later establishing the Big Ten Parents United group that will continued their efforts to get football back to the spring. Yesterday, 8 Nebraska players decided to sue the conference over the decision to not play in the fall.

Today, more rumors surfaced that the conference could play fall football once again, looking the the fools of major college football. The back and forth really showed a lack of leadership which reflects directly on Warren, although in his first year, big decisions like this are the norm for major college commissioners.

How does this help the Irish you ask? Well, elite college football teams are built on recruiting and Notre Dame is smack dab in the middle of the Big Ten footprint. Brian Kelly has a national reach, but with plenty of Midwest talent, the Big Ten’s collective fumbling of spring football should be Notre Dame’s gain. They might not reap the benefit’s right away, but the lack of leadership will eventually bite them in the ass. Since the Big Ten has looked like a clown conference, Notre Dame has gotten commits from: Rocco Spindler of Michigan, Mitchell Evans from Ohio, flipped California’s Will Schweitzer from Nebraska, and Minnesota’s Joe Alt in the 2021 class. Instate Joey Tanona and Nolan Ziegler from Michigan committed in the ’22 class, all of these prospects holding Big Ten offers.

The willingness of Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick to act swiftly to join the ACC for a season showed that the Irish meant business. They want to play college football, we want to watch college football. Flexibility with the ACC has proven to be extremely beneficial, even if for just one year on the gridiron. Notre Dame showed their athletes, perspective one’s too, that they will do what’s best for them, now and in the future.

Notre Dames offers Bishop Gorman ‘22 athlete Ross

The Irish offer high school powerhouse athlete prospect Fabian Ross from Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman.

The Notre Dame coaching staff has gone back to Las Vegas’ premier football high school, Bishop Gorman, and offered athlete Fabian Ross late last night.

The Irish have had some very good luck with Bishop Gorman prospects, as they have signed 4 total players from the private Catholic high school. Ronnie Stanley and Alize Mack are the biggest standouts, as Gorman typically has multiple Division I players on their team each year.

Ross is a great prospect, one that most likely start on the defensive side of the ball at cornerback. He shows great closing speed, is comfortable playing out on an island and has a great frame at 6-feet tall and 180-pounds. Ross has a very solid collection of offers at the moment, as the Irish joined Michigan, USC, Oregon, Penn State and others. He is rated at the 176th overall prospect and the 22nd corner in the country by the 247Sports composite rankings.

Brian Kelly and cornerback coach Mike Mickens would love to get another Gael on his roster and Ross would look great in the Blue and Gold. He is the 13th true cornerback that Notre Dame is recruiting in the 2022 class, but there are no commits at his position. Michigan’s Nolan Ziegler is a secondary commit, but he will play safety for the Irish. With three total commit in the ‘22 class, Notre Dame is off to a great start, as they have the 4th best class so far.

Notre Dame commits move in updated Rivals Top 250

Plenty of Irish commits saw movement with Rivals updated Top 250 prospects in the 2021 recruiting class.

We knew yesterday that Notre Dame commit Blake Fisher had earned the coveted 5th star, but what we didn’t know what where the rest of the Irish class would land in Rivals updated Top 250.

We know now where they landed and here is their movement, the ranking on the left was prior to the update.

Offensive tackle Blake Fisher 22 -> 18

Wide receiver Lorenzo style Jr. 39 -> 41

Quarterback Tyler Buchner 46 -> 80

Offensive guard Rocco Spindler 56 -> 59

Defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio 99 -> 100

Cornerback Philip Riley unranked-> 240

The majority of Notre Dame commits stayed in about the same range except Buchner, who fell 34 spots. Mike Farrell, Rivals national director of recruiting, explained Buchner’s fall as he “clearly changed his throwing style and gave us pause but we didn’t want to free fall him.” It wasn’t a free fall, but dropping that far in the rankings is still concerning.

Fisher made just a three spot move up, but enough to get him the 5th star. Farrell said this about the offensive tackles upward movement on their rankings: “Fisher was my call for the most part as I love his size and aggressive nature. He’s thinned down some and if he add some flexibility he could be the next great offensive lineman at Notre Dame.” Pretty high praise for Indiana’s best prospect.

It was also nice to see cornerback Philip Riley get some love. He looks like a prospect that is still rated way too low at this moment.

Even with this update, the Irish did not move much inside the team rankings, as they checked in at 11th nationally. With 18 commits, there might be room for a few more prospects that will be added to the 2021 class. Either way, Brian Kelly should be fairly happy with the recruiting effort in ‘21.

Notre Dame Football: Irish offer 5-Star corner Lukus

The Irish go out to South Carolina and offer elite cornerback Jeadyn Lukus.

Brian Kelly and his coaching staff have turned their attention to the 2022 recruiting class and are making a concerned effort to recruit some of the best prospects in the nation that fit the Notre Dame profile. Well, they found a good one in South Carolina’s cornerback Jeadyn Lukus who was offered yesterday.

Lukus has the prototypical modern corner frame at 6-foot-1-inch and 175-pounds and uses his elite frame to lock down opposing wide receivers. It’s not just Lukus’ coverage skills that stand out, he has a willingness to come up and make the big hit. Lukus’ is the compete package as an cornerback. You can watch Lukas’ highlights here.

It should come to no one’s surprise that Lukus’ is a nationally recruited prospect, as Notre Dame joined schools like Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State. He is currently ranked as the 30th player nationally and the 6th corner in the country by the 247Sports composite rankings.

Recently committed linebacker Will Schweitzer has already put on his recruiting hat. Schweitzer just flipped his commitment to the Irish from Nebraska on August 16th, but already is using twitter to recruit for the Irish’s advantage.

This is the 12th offer to a true cornerback in the 2022 class. The Irish have just one commit on the defensive side of the ball, Nolan Ziegler a safety, who just committed over the weekend. The Irish have three total commits in the ‘22 class at the moment, ranking the 4th nationally, although it is very early in this cycle.