Top-100 Notre Dame LB Target Jaylen Sneed Announcing Monday
Notre Dame football could be getting some more good news on Monday. Top-100 overall linebacker prospect Jaylen Sneed will announce his college decision then with Notre Dame and Oregon the reported finalists for his commitment. Notre Dame is believed to be in the driver’s seat heading into the announcement.
Sneed is the #8 linebacker and #70 overall prospect in the country according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
Oklahoma and Tennessee are listed as finalists as well, but Sneed only visited Notre Dame and Oregon, and the two are widely considered the only serious contenders in Sneed’s recruitment.
The Crystal Balls at 247 have been beyond fickle for Notre Dame over the last month, but at the moment, the CB’s all point in Notre Dame’s favor. Anything can happen in recruiting, of course, but all signs point to good news for Notre Dame on Monday.
Should Sneed select the Irish, new Notre Dame defensive coordinator, Marcus Freeman will have pulled off one of the single best linebacker hauls in recent Notre Dame history. Notre Dame already has secured commitments from Joshua Burnham, Nolan Zieger, and Nuiafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka are all on board already. All three are 4-star players, with Burnham and Tuihalamaka just outside the top-100 overall.
Freeman’s blueprints are all over linebacker recruiting too. Burnham was not thought to be a Notre Dame lean before Freeman got on the case. Shortly after, Burnham committed to Notre Dame. Freeman was all over Tuihalamaka and Sneed as well. Only Ziegler was committed before Freeman was hired.
Should Sneed commit to Notre Dame on Monday, the Irish will move back into 2nd place in the 247Sports Team Rankings – assuming no other major commitments from the schools around them until then.
Notre Dame is getting close to finished on the defensive side of the ball. After that, it’s Sneed or bust at linebacker. In the secondary, Notre Dame awaits decisions from Benjamin Morrison, Jake Pope, and Xavier Nwankpa. The first two should come soon, while Nwankpa’s will likely linger into the fall. Notre Dame is also still pursuing edge rusher Cyrus Moss. His recruitment will stretch into the fall as well.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
I think Kelly needs a Marcus Freeman on offense. I have no doubt Notredame will be good on defense this year and depending how long Freemon is around they will be really good to maybe even great down the road. The problem is to win national championships and beat Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama etc you need to have a great unstoppable 40 to 50 points a game offense. Even Nick Saban said with the no huddle uptempo spread pro’s and skilled explosive talent with these high school kids playing and having personal coaching at a young age these quarterbacks are so good coming out of high school and these receivers and running backs doing the camp circuits it is very difficult to co train these guys.