Notre Dame has another monster recruiting weekend underway on campus a week after the Irish hosted eight of the country’s highest-rated uncommitted recruits in addition to more than half of their current commits for 2023. This weekend the numbers aren’t quite as high, but the visitors who arrived on campus yesterday as just as important.
We dove a lot into recruiting on the most recent podcast as well.
UHND.com’s Notre Dame football and recruiting podcast hosted by Frank Vitovitch and Greg Flammang. Come for the football, stay for Greg campaigning for Kyle to play offense.
After a long hiatus, Frank and Greg are back at it to talk about the last two games of the year and look back at what has become a disappointing season. The lads discussed:
- Why the offense has been so bad
- What are the reasons for hope in the future?
- Does Notre Dame need to make a change at OC
- Should Notre Dame take a portal QB?
- The Cheating Cheaters of the North – Michigan
Jaden Greathouse, 4-Star / WR
We’ve talked about wide receiver recruiting almost ad naseum on the pod over the last few months, so it should be no surprise that Greathouse is one of the most essential recruits on campus this weekend. There was a lot of optimism that this one might end soon with Notre Dame victorious, but there has since been word that Greathouse might stretch his recruitment into the fall. That would not be good news for the Irish so expect Marcus Freeman, Chansi Stuckey, and Tommy Rees to pull out all the stops for Greathouse this weekend.
Greathouse already officially visited South Carolina and Oklahoma and has an official to Texas scheduled next weekend, so if he does stretch things into the fall, he’d only have one official left to use. He already made an unofficial visit to Notre Dame in April, so a return in the fall, if it got to that, likely wouldn’t be an issue. However, Notre Dame doesn’t want it to get to that and will try to lock this up over the summer.
The On3 predictor currently has Notre Dame at 93.7%.
Jeremiyah Love, 4-Star / RB
Notre Dame already has one running back committed for 2023 in Jayden Limar but wants to add another – preferably an elite, dynamic back like Love, who is one of the fastest rising prospects in the country. In February, the 247Sports Composite ranked Love as the #526 rated prospect in the country. Four months later, Love has skyrocketed all the way up to #72 in the country.
Love was at Texas A&M and Michigan the last two weekends and is scheduled to visit Alabama next. Still, Notre Dame entered the weekend as the favorite according to the On3 Predictor – albeit by a slim margin. That’s still a very good place for Notre Dame, considering he already visited A&M and Michigan. Alabama is viewed as the favorite for 5-star RB Richard Young, who Notre Dame rolled out the red carpet, and a Ferrari, for earlier this week.
If Notre Dame can land either Love or Young to pair with Limar, the Irish will be absolutely set at running back in this cycle.
Micah Bell, 4-star / CB
Of all the recruits visiting this weekend, Bell is the most likely to be officially in the 2023 class in the near future. Bell has a July 1 commitment date set with his official visit to Notre Dame as his only official visit. From the outside looking in, that sure seems like a damn good sign for Notre Dame. In fact, Notre Dame is sitting at 97.5% in the On3 Predictor heading into the visit.
Bell ranks as the #120 overall prospect in the 247 Composite, and with Notre Dame’s need at corner, he’s an important recruit for the Irish. Notre Dame lost Justyn Rhett to Georiga earlier this year. Replacing him with Bell would be a heck of a recovery.
Three Crystal Ball predictions are in for Bell, and all point to Notre Dame.
Jasiah Wagoner, 4-star / CB
Another 4-star corner on campus this weekend, Jasiah Wagonr only picked up his Notre Dame offer last month. Wagoner quickly set up a visit to Notre Dame even though he only has one other official visit scheduled – Cal next weekend.
Notre Dame is looking to add two more corners to the class of 2023, and they could certainly do a lot worse than Bell and Wagoner, who ranks #185 overall in the 247 Composite. In addition to his Notre Dame offer, Wagoner has offers from Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, Washington, and Miami.
Notre Dame already has one commitment from a prospect from Washington (Limar) and would love to add another in Wagoner.
Charles Jagusah, 4-star / OT (Monday visit)
Offensive line recruiting has been interesting to watch – also something we dove into on this week’s podcast. Notre Dame already has four linemen committed for 2023, but their two top-rated prospects – Jagusah and Monroe Freeling – remain uncommitted. Freeling visited last weekend, and Jagusah will be on campus for his official starting Monday.
Notre Dame is a heavy favorite heading into the visit at 90.9% on the On3 predictor. He visited Arkansas and Missouri already this month and is currently visiting Michigan. After his early week visit to Notre Dame, Jagusah does not have any other visits scheduled.
Most have felt that Notre Dame was a lock for Jagusah for a while and that it was only a matter of time. We’ll see how true that is after he visits with no other visits lined up. There are four Crystal Ball predictions for Jagusah on 247, and all of them are for Notre Dame.
If Notre Dame can lock up Jagusah on his visit, the only question left for Notre Dame on the offensive line for 2023 will be whether or not the Irish take six and keep pushing for Freeling.
Committed Prospects Visiting
In addition to the uncommitted prospects visiting this weekend, three of Notre Dame’s current commits for 2023 are also on campus.
- Cooper Flanagan, 4-star / TE – One of Notre Dame’s longest committed prospects, Flanagan is rock solid with the Irish. He was supposed to visit last weekend but pushed his visit to this weekend, so there were more commits on campus around the uncommitted ones.
- Brenan Vernon, 4-star / DL – Another one of Notre Dame’s early commits who is, by all accounts, rock solid in his commitment.
- Boubacar Traore, 4-star / DL – Tarore unofficially visited Boston College, the school he was once committed to, so this will be a big visit for Notre Dame. There was not a ton of concern following his unofficial, bust the Irish still need to lock this one down.
Freeman could work his ass off and recruit better than anyone ever has at ND.
But several SEC programs….including the one headed by ‘Connie Fraudster’……will pull in as good/better without breaking a sweat.
Learning to be a great head coach, superior at developing the kids he does get, is far more critical for Freeman’s success.