Notre Dame currently has just one commitment from a wide receiver for the class of 2022 among their 18 verbal commitments, but they took a step towards changing that on Wednesday. CJ Williams, a top-100 overall prospect out of California, named Notre Dame one of his finalists. At the same time, more Crystal Ball predictions were made for the Irish to land the talented wide receiver.
Notre Dame was joined by Alabama, USC, Texas, and Stanford as a finalist for the product of perennial powerhouse Mater Dei in Southern California.
Notre Dame has been trending for CJ Williams for a while now. Shortly after Williams announced his finalists, well-known west coast recruiting analyst Greg Biggins placed a Crystal Ball prediction for Williams to Notre Dame.
In recent weeks the Crystal Ball has been beyond fickle for Notre Dame. A few weeks ago, Crystal Ball predictions came flying in for Notre Dame for top-100 running back Nicholas Singleton, who ultimately committed to Penn State yesterday. However, those same Crystal Balls all trended towards Washington for 4-star corner Benjamin Morrison over the last few weeks, only to start to trend back to Notre Dame this week.
In short, don’t any Crystal Ball prediction until a recruit publicly commits and then signs a letter of intent. That said, it is certainly better to be in a position of trending for a recruit than away from one after they name their finalists.
Following a string of transfers from the Notre Dame wide receiver room, Notre Dame needs to add more pass-catchers to the class of 2022. The only receiver currently committed is fast-rising Amorion Walker. Walker is technically the lowest-rated commit in the class right now, but after picking up offers from Alabama and LSU recently, that ranking is likely to change.
It looked like Notre Dame might add 4-star receiver Nicholas Anderson to the class in June. Still, after a strong visit to Notre Dame that had the Irish in a good position, Anderson abruptly committed to Oregon following his visit to Eugene.
Notre Dame will ideally add four total receivers, including Walker, before the class of 2022 is all signed, sealed, and delivered. Adding Williams shortly would certainly be a shot in the arm for recruiting at the one position that still needs to add the bulk of its members – most other positions have been mostly filled and are waiting for finishing touches. Wide receiver recruiting still needs its framing, with Walker serving as the foundation.
If Notre Dame can add Williams along with 4-star Tobias Merriweather, who the Irish are also trending for, in the summer, they’d be in a great position heading into the fall where they could focus on landing one final piece to the receiver room. Most experts agree that Notre Dame is in excellent shape for both but still need to get them both to pull the trigger.
Crystal ball trending is beginning to look like political polling more and more.
Some will tell you what they think you want to hear to get rid of you.
And then until they sign the NLi they can flip. Most of them are not even 20, so they will.
It’s something to read, but following the White Sox will get me through until September.