Tag: Notre Dame recruiting

Four-star LB Niuafe Tuihalamaka commits to Notre Dame over Arizona State, Stanford, and Texas

Niuafe Tuihalamaka announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Saturday. A four-star prospect, he chose over Arizona State, Stanford, and UT.

The last two weekends have been successful for Steve Sarkisian. He has landed four players after making visits. Three 2022 commits and running back Keilan Robinson from the transfer portal.

Sadly, not everything can go in favor of Texas, as a top priority defensive prospect went a different direction.

Linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. A four-star prospect, the California native chose the Fighting Irish over Arizona State, Stanford, and Texas.

Tuihalamaka was in Austin on an official visit the first weekend of June. He said Austin “felt like home” and wanted to eventually come back. The Longhorns seemed to have made up ground for the linebacker, but a trip to South Bend sealed the deal for Notre Dame.

On the 247Sports composite, Tuihalamaka ranks as the No. 11 linebacker in the country. He will play middle linebacker for newly hired defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. The four-star is the No. 10 player from his home state of California and No. 102 in the country.

For Texas, the key remaining linebacker target is Sebastian Cheeks. Notre Dame was thought to be a player for Cheeks but with the commitment of Tuihalamaka, there will be no room.

Jeff Choate has already taken a commitment from three-star Trevell Johnson as well. Landing him and Cheeks would be a successful cycle for Texas’ linebacking core.

Notre Dame one of four finalists for safety recruit Sherrod Covil

Will Notre Dame beat out three ACC schools for Covil’s services?

Notre Dame has made the final cut for safety recruit Sherrod Covil’s college choices. Also among his final choices are ACC schools Miami, North Carolina and Clemson. He will announce his decision Thursday on Rivals. Ahead of this big day, Covil spoke with Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney, who asked for Covil’s thoughts about each of the programs eagerly awaiting his announcement:

The fact that Covil considers Notre Dame one of his top-two choices gives the Irish reason for optimism. He particularly gives credit to senior defensive analyst Nick Lezynski for being aggressive in his pursuit of him. It shows how it truly takes an entire coaching staff to bring talent in.

Exports for both Rivals and 247Sports believe it’s a certainty that Covil will choose Clemson. If that’s the case, he put on a nice poker face for his interview. Then again, no recruit really is going to say where they want to go until they make their official announcement. And so, we wait.

Notre Dame gives offer to guard recruit Lawrent Rice

The Irish are after a combo guard.

With Prentiss Hubb entering his senior season, Notre Dame might be a little anxious to figure out its future point guard situation. Whatever the case, the Irish are not waiting for someone in the wings to suddenly appear out of nowhere and say they’ll be all right at that position after Hubb leaves. In fact, they’re going a step further and going after a combo guard. They have presented an offer to Lawrent Rice, who will be going into his junior year at Wayne, which is not far from Dayton, Ohio:

Hours later, Rice announced an offer from Arizona State. It shouldn’t be surprising that he also has received an offer from Dayton along with fellow Buckeye State programs Ohio State and Ohio. He also has offers lined up from such programs as Louisville, Purdue, Marquette, West Virginia and VCU. There’s little doubt that more offers are coming his way, and he has a lot of time to consider his options.

Notre Dame cornerback target AJ Harris visits campus

Notre Dame just received a visit from a recruit everyone wants.

With school out for the summer, recruits continue to make the rounds for colleges and universities interested in them. The latest to visit Notre Dame is cornerback recruit AJ Harris, who received an offer from the Irish on Feb. 26. Harris, who is going into his junior year at Glenwood School in Phenix City, Alabama, got pretty much the entire inside look at the Irish. Based on this tweet, it’s hard to conclude otherwise:

It’s already been an eventful summer for Harris. Earlier this month, he paid visits to Alabama, Clemson and Georgia, all of which are considered major contenders for him. Ohio State also is considered one of the leading players for him. There’s no doubt Notre Dame has its work cut out as far as trying to bring Harris to South Bend. It’s part of a long list of schools that have given offers to Harris, including Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland, USC, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas.

Notre Dame gives offer to safety recruit Peyton Woodyard

How would you like to see this guy patrolling the Irish’s secondary?

When Kyle Hamilton leaves Notre Dame, he will leave a big gap to fill in the Irish’s secondary. Even if he isn’t around for the distant future, his legacy will be felt, at least in the short term. That’s why new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman must prepare for that inevitability. To that end, he has presented an offer to Peyton Woodyard, a safety recruit out of St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California:

Woodyard only has completed his freshman season, so his potential time in South Bend wouldn’t overlap with that of Hamilton, who’s about to begin his junior year. Still, he’s getting a taste of what it’s like to play for a school with a rich athletic history, which he is at St. John Bosco with alumni like D.J. Uiagalelei and Josh Rosen. With his school’s reputation and his talent, he’s already gotten offers from programs like Florida State, Alabama, Georgia, USC, Michigan, Arizona State and Penn State. This undoubtedly is an exciting time for him.

Notre Dame gives offer to power forward recruit Jalen Washington

The Irish could use some size in the future.

When Anthony Solomon returned to Mike Brey’s staff, it was fair to wonder how soon he would pay dividends. While we don’t know yet as far as landing recruits, we now know as far as presenting offers to them. Jalen Washington, a power forward going into his senior season at West Side in Gary, Indiana, can add Notre Dame to the list of offers he’s already gotten. He credited both Brey and Solomon for their interest in him:

Washington has received over a dozen offers so far. The schools he’s mostly trending towards are North Carolina, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Stanford and Alabama. He visited the Tar Heels on June 2 and is scheduled to meet with the Cardinal on Saturday. The other schools in the mix are Louisville, Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, DePaul and Oklahoma.

The Irish really need some depth with their size, and Washington would fit the bill perfectly.

Notre Dame QB commit Angeli gives thoughts on 2021 starting job debate

Who do you think will win the starting job?

Notre Dame is betting big on quarterback commit Steve Angeli, who will join the Irish for the 2022 season. Their high hopes for him have to be ascended after the performance he’s put on at Rivals camp this week. It’s interesting to watch given that the Irish still aren’t sure who will start at quarterback for them in 2021. Angeli was asked about it at the camp, and here’s what he had to say:

Yeah, it’s not a very exciting answer, but given that he’s mostly on the outside looking in aside from conversations with Tommy Rees, it shouldn’t be a surprise. The truth is the Irish have very viable candidates in Jack Coan, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner, and none of them emerged as a lead candidate during the spring practices. It’s possible we won’t get an answer until shortly before the Irish open their season in prime time at Florida State. While you might not want to hear that, it is what it is.

Notre Dame offers receiver recruit Ryan Wingo

The Irish are after a speedy receiver who’s just getting started in high school.

While it would be nice to see Notre Dame improve its receiver situation from last year quickly, improvement often comes to those who wait. Tommy Rees is looking far down the road for his offense, or at least that of the Irish. As strong as the offensive line was during the 2020 season, receiver is among Notre Dame’s biggest areas of need. That’s why Rees has given an offer to Ryan Wingo, a receiver at St. Louis University High School in St. Louis with only his first year of prep football under his belt:

Like many recruits his age, Wingo only has a few offers so far. In addition to Notre Dame, he’s drawn interest from Illinois, Iowa State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri and UCF. Every program that comes after him will appreciate his speed, especially after he won four gold medals in a recent track meet for 100- and 200-meter events as well as two relay events. He’s only going to get better as he progresses through high school, and that’s a scary thought.

Notre Dame makes offer to defensive end recruit Kennedy McDowell

Another defensive end recruit is offered by Notre Dame.

Earlier this week, Notre Dame made an offer to strong-side defensive end recruit Nigel Smith. Now, the Irish have decided it’s time to continue shoring up that position for the future. Mike Elston had a conversation with Kennedy McDowell of Memorial in Frisco, Texas, and it led to an offer. From the sound of this tweet, it appears McDowell is serious about both the athletic and academic side of his collegiate career:

Only seven programs have made offers to McDowell, so it’s obviously early in the recruiting process for him. At this point, the other schools competing for his services are Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Kansas, FIU, Colorado and SMU.

In addition to playing football, McDowell recently was a state qualifier in the 110-meter hurdles. It’s safe to say that whoever lands him is going to be getting quite an athlete. Opposing offenses are going to have to keep a close eye on him because this is a kid meant to compete at the next level and make big plays to boot.

Notre Dame gives offer to defensive end recruit Nigel Smith

The Irish are after a young recruit to shore up their defensive line.

We’re now at the point where programs start making offers to recruits who have completed their freshman season. Notre Dame now is one of them. The Irish’s latest offer takes them to Melissa, Texas, where they are pursuing strong-side defensive end Nigel Smith:

Over the previous few minutes of making the Notre Dame offer public, Smith also announced he had received offers from North Texas and UTSA. While those programs obviously would keep him closer to home, neither Conference USA school has anything close to the history or reputation of Notre Dame. Of course, it will take more than that to convince Smith to come to South Bend.

Notre Dame already has a pair of strong-side defensive ends coming in for the 2022 season in Tyson Ford and Aiden Gobaira. They’ll also add a weak-side defensive end in Darren Agu. Here’s hoping they will be good mentors for Smith by the time he arrives if that’s indeed what happens.

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