Notre Dame inked 20 early signings earlier this week in what can only be described as a near flawless attempt at the first Early Signing Period in college football. Notre Dame is far from finished with recruiting for the class of 2018 though. The Irish will look to add more elite talent to the class over the next month and a half and have at least 12 prospects left on the board .
Wide Receiver
Notre Dame already has a pair of wide receivers in the class with Micah Jones and Kevin Austin. Jones projects more as a boundary receiver in the mold of Miles Boykin while Brian Kelly raved about Austin’s ability to play all three wide receiver positions on Wednesday. Notre Dame will look to add two more receivers to this class though.
Braden Lenzy – Announcing later tonight, the one time Notre Dame commitment who had flipped to Oregon only to come back into the fold could end up giving Notre Dame the speed receiver they have been looking for following the decommitment of Geordon Porter. Lenzy is fast. Like really, really fast. In fact, his original decommitment resulted from his uncertainty over his ability participate in track at Notre Dame. The Irish have overcome those concerns and now appear poised to add Lenzy back. With the new uncertainty over the career of Kevin Stepherson, Lenzy would be a huge addition to the Irish roster as Notre Dame will not have anyone on the roster next year with Lenzy’s speed if Stepherson’s time at Notre Dame is indeed over.
Amon-Ra St. Brown – The younger brother of Equanimeous St. Brown is no stranger to Notre Dame fans. The Irish have been recruiting him for a long time and have actually made huge strides in his recruitment over the last couple months. Notre Dame is still not considered to be the favorite here though and have more ground to make up. A huge game from Brandon Wimbush and the elder St. Brown in the Citrus Bowl would go a huge way towards winning over arguably the best wide receiver in the country this year. Notre Dame needs to show the younger St. Brown that it’s quarterback position is headed in the right direction if they are to have any chance here. Still, this one appears to be a long shot but Notre Dame should be in this one until the very end.
Lawrence Keys – Notre Dame has been rumored to be one of the leaders for the dynamic wide receiver from Louisiana for a while now. Keys will have a busy January though with official visits to LSU and Notre Dame planned. Keys isn’t a pure burner like Lenzy but is an all around good wide receiver who would round out this class of receivers very well if Notre Dame isn’t able to sway St. Brown.
Tommy Bush – Notre Dame appeared dead in the water for a while in the recruitment of Bush, but things started to pick up in December and now it appears as though Bush will take an official to Notre Dame in January. Notre Dame has ground to make up here, but if they can get him on campus in January they will have a chance.
Offensive Line
Despite Notre Dame’s string of success recruiting and producing NFL offensive linemen, the Irish offensive line class that signed earlier this week is much more under the radar than Notre Dame has attracted in the past. Part of the problem is an overall down year in offensive line recruiting, but coming on the heels of winning the Joe Moore Award, you’d think that Notre Dame would have had an easier time recruiting the position in the early signing period. It’s clear Notre Dame still wants to add another OL in the class.
Luke Jones – Currently committed to Arkansas, the dismissal of Bret Bielema opened the door for Notre Dame here. The 3-star OL decided not to make a decision in the early signing period and will instead sign during the traditional Signing Day in February. Notre Dame is now in a battle with Arkansas.
Nick Petit-Frere – If Notre Dame were to be able to add Petit-Frere to this class it would be a major coup. He is an elite OL in the mold we have become accustomed to during Notre Dame’s string of impressive OL recruiting. Notre Dame is in a battle here with the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Ohio State, and Michigan. Adding Petit-Frere would ease a lot of concerns Notre Dame fans have over the current offensive line class. It will take an all out effort from the staff here to pull this off though.
Defensive Line
Notre Dame did a great job of locking up three defensive linemen in the early Signing Period with the Ademilola twins and Ja’Mion Franklin. Jayson Ademilola and Franklin project on the inside of the line while Justin Ademilola will likely end up as a strong-side DE in the mold of an Isaac Rochell size end. Where Notre Dame missed early is an edge rusher. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Notre Dame will land one later either unless a new name pops up. Notre Dame is, however, still recruiting a couple interior DL and another SDE.
Moro Ojomo – Notre Dame just offered the 3-star prospect from Texas on Thursday. He currently holds offers from Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M among other major programs. At 6-3, 265 lbs already he definitely projects as an interior DL. That offer also suggests that Ojomo is on the higher end of 3-star DTs.
Otito Ogobonnia – Another interior DL from Texas offered by Notre Dame this week. Ogobonnia holds offers from Ole Miss, Texas Tech, and UCLA. He will be visiting Notre Dame on November 19.
Malik Langham – The future SDE visited Notre Dame for the Echoes weekend and things looked really good for Notre Dame. Then came renewed interest from Southern schools for the Alabama native and now Notre Dame is in a heated recruiting battle.
Linebacker
Notre Dame has already landed an elite set of four linebackers: Jack Lamb, Bo Bauer, Shayne Simon, and Ovie Oghoufo but there is still one elite name left on the board that Notre Dame would welcome with open arms.
Solomon Tuliaupupu – The Mater Dei linebacker is one of the best linebackers in the country and is still heavily considering Notre Dame. He visited Notre Dame back on October 21 for the USC game but the Trojans are still considered the favorite. Notre Dame isn’t out of the mix but do have work to do here. With so many of their recruits already signed, sealed, and delivered though; the Notre Dame staff can give him a lot of attention.
Defensive Back
Notre Dame lost out in the race for 4-star CB Kyler Gordon last night with the Washington native deciding to stay home at UW. Notre Dame already has had a hell of a haul here though and could add nother elite talent to the mix in February.
Julius Irvin – At one point earlier this week it looked like Notre Dame was poised to add the elite California defensive back, but a family emergency ended up delaying his decision until the traditional Signing Day. Now Notre Dame will be in a dogfight for Irvin with USC for the next month and a half. Most sites have Irvin listed as a safety but the thought is he would play corner for Notre Dame. If Notre Dame added Irvin to this class, they would have three top 100 DB’s in a single class.
Noah Boykin – At one time it looked like Boykin would be jumping on board with Notre Dame as well, but now it appears like a 50/50 toss up with Maryland who he originally committed to. The good news for Notre Dame is he just visited Maryland last weekend and decided to delay his decision until February. Boykin is a 4-star prospect, but isn’t rated quite as high as Irvin.
If Notre Dame adds either Irvin or Boykin to go with Houstin Griffith, Tariq Bracy, Joe Wilkins, Derrik Allen, and Paul Moala; they will have one of the best defensive back classes in the entire country.
I listened to the interview with amon st brown on rivals. Maybe I’m reading too much into this but my gut says he is going to pick Notre Dame. I know most all crystal balls point to usc but he said some things that make me think he may choose Notre Dame. First , he said Notre Dames in home visit was the best he ever had. .Also talked about trusting the coaches and loving Notre Dame. But what really got me thinking he may be irish is what he said in answer to if equnimious was pressuruing him to go to Notre Dame . He said no, he will let me pick them on my own and then he quickly covered himself and said he will let me pick whoever I want to go. Maybe I’m reading to much here but he sounded like he said I’m going to pick Notre Dame but then realized what he said and quickly covered it up. Again I maybe reaching here. Darn I would love Notre Dame to get this kid.
Irvin would be a great sign, never had a problem with a player from Servite. Would be special to raid SoCal of Solomon and Amon-Ra.