Notre Dame will open the next recruiting cycle in earnest with a 2019 junior day this Saturday. This is Notre Dame’s first junior day to fall before signing day for the previous cycle; the early signing period probably helped, but this is also a way of keeping up with the Joneses. Junior days have been moving earlier across the country for the last few years. Thankfully, the Irish staff has made an effort to stay current with this national trend; past regimes often trailed trends and it hurt the program.
Another notable point about the 2019 cycle is that the staff already has over 100 offers out, and more are going out each day. This is difficult to verify, as you might imagine, but we believe that’s the most aggressive Notre Dame has ever been this early in a recruiting cycle. Again, a positive sign about setting the market rather than following it.
2019 Junior Day Visitor List
Rankings listed are 247 Composite overall/position. Notre Dame commits are listed in italics.
TE Hudson Henry, AR, #34/#1
WDE NaNa Osafo-Mensah, TX, #91/#6
ATH Ronnie Hickman, NJ, #93/#7
WR Kam Brown, TX, #97/#18 (UCLA commit)
DT Mazi Smith, MI, #102/#8
WR Kyle Ford, CA, #127/#24
SDE Joseph Anderson, TN, #146/#10
DT Jacob Lacey, KY, #167/#11
CB Wesley Walker, TN, #169/#14
ATH Joe Ngata, CA, #176/#15
WR Trey Knox, TN, #180/#30
DT Hunter Spears, TX, #182/#12
WR TJ Sheffield, TN, #201/#33
S Kenyatta Watson, GA, #218/#13
RB Sampson James, IN, #229/#18 (no offer)
WR Jake Smith, AZ, #233/#41
OG Zeke Correll, OH, #275/#9
CB KJ Wallace, GA, #276/#27
WR John Metchie, MD, #731/#101
20 visitors on this list. Five (counting Smith) in the top 100, thirteen in the top 200 (counting Sheffield). That’s a hell of a list.
There are other kids that are probably visiting, but I either can’t confirm it in more than one place or I can only find premium info on them. Those tend to be lower-rated prospects, if you’re curious.
2018 Official Visitors
CB DJ Brown, DC, #1102/#98 (Virginia commit)
SDE Derrick Eason, NC, #1152/#57 (NC State commit)
RB C’Bo Flemister, GA, #1913/#115 (Georgia Tech commit)
2018 Notes
Before we get to the diaper dandies, there are also three key visitors from the 2018 class. You may remember that DJ Brown scheduled an official visit for the football banquet. You may also remember that he cancelled that visit, reportedly after Tariq Bracy and Noah Boykin committed silently. At that point the staff knew Houston Griffith was about to go public, they thought they had Bracy and Boykin in the bag, and they felt good about landing one of Julius Irvin and Kyler Gordon. Two out of five will get you into the Hall in baseball, but…
Brown happens to be a former teammate of 2017 signee Kofi Wardlow. It’s also worth noting that he went on an offer binge shortly after the banquet; since then, Cal, Duke, South Carolina, Clemson, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Ohio State have all offered. Looks a little less like a diamond in the rough at this point.
With Derrick Eason, I’m not sure how seriously interested either side is in each other at this point. However, Notre Dame is clearly recruiting him and he cared enough to visit, so there’s something there. His senior film shows some impressive physical traits. Sure, he’s raw, but he’s strong, fast, and has a great frame with long arms. There’s a lot you can do with that after a couple of years in the gym. He committed to NC State back in July and hasn’t landed any offers or made any visits elsewhere since then. He’s about as off the radar as it gets.
C’Bo Flemister is an interesting case as well. For a long time, his offer list was Georgia Tech and a bunch of Group of Five teams; not surprising, then, that he committed to Georgia Tech in December. He intended to sign early but that changed when Tennessee offered right before the signing period. Then Autry Denson made a big impression on him and secured an official visit. Despite the Tech commitment, I get the sense this will come down to the Irish and the Vols. I like his tape a lot – he’s not a burner, but man, is he a wrecking ball as a runner. He also shows outstanding balance; on almost every run, at least three defenders had to hit him before he would go down. I’d love to get C’Borius in this class, and not just because he’s a shoo-in for the All-Time All-Name Team.
2019 Notes
As for the actual juniors…Â Hudson Henry happens to be 2018 commit Luke Jones’s teammate, and perhaps a relative of Rocky Boiman judging from his headshot. Of course, he’s also the younger brother of current LA Charger (still sounds weird) and former Razorback Hunter Henry. So who knows which pull might be stronger, but his interest in Notre Dame is very legitimate…Â NaNa Osafo-Mensah is the kind of twitchy pass rusher the Irish have desperately needed for, oh, three decades or so. Maybe longer. Pulling him out of Texas won’t be easy, but he has a strong relationship with Mike Elston already and visiting on his own dime says something…
Most believe DePaul’s Ronnie Hickman is leaning to Ohio State. You might remember DePaul from the 2016 recruiting cycle, when then-five-star RB Kareem Walker showed some interest in Notre Dame before committing to Ohio State. Walker later flipped to Michigan, where he has 10 career carries in 3 games. What does any of that have to do with Hickman? Not much… Kam Brown is the son of former Dallas Cowboy standout Larry Brown, and also a UCLA commit. For the moment, anyway; he seems to be pretty open. We should have a good sense of how serious his interest is after this weekend…
Mazi Smith is one of the 18 million many highly-ranked DTs showing interest in the Irish this cycle, and also a guy who is reportedly very high on the staff’s board. I really like our chances with him, although by no means is a commitment imminent… Kyle Ford will make his first visit to ND after considering one last fall. The professed USC fan will be a tough pull out of California, but Polian is on it and has made an early connection… Joseph Anderson will visit for the third time, clearly a good sign for the Irish. It doesn’t hurt at all that current Irish commit Jacob Lacey will also be in town; Anderson and Lacey have built a strong bond over the last year.
Wesley Walker is another guy who tried to get up for a game last season. While that didn’t work out, it’s a positive sign that he made the effort to get here in the offseason. The Irish will be a big player for Walker…Â Joe Ngata has a strong early offer list; it includes Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Penn State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, among others. I’m not sure where he fits in on the field, but the Irish staff would definitely love to pull him out of California…Â Trey Knox goes to a different school, but hails from the same town as Anderson. Hmm. He’s a physical receiver in the mold of a Miles Boykin…
Hunter Spears recently announced a commitment date of September 15th, his birthday. That might play in Notre Dame’s favor, given the number of SDE and DT prospects who have interest today…Â TJ Sheffield ran a 10.95 100M – as a sophomore. He’s a shifty slot receiver with take-the-top-off speed. Del Alexander has done some good work early here, and Sheffield will give the Irish a serious look…Â Kenyatta Watson decommitted from Florida State a few weeks ago and seems to be wide open now; in addition to Notre Dame, he’s mulling a visit to Oregon. I think he might be a tough pull out of the South, but the staff will try…
Sampson James could pick up an offer on this visit. He’s reportedly high on Ohio State’s board, so if the Irish want him it won’t be easy… Expect Jake Smith‘s ranking to rise as the cycle drags on. This kid can F-L-Y and already has at least 27 FBS offers, including Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and USC. He also goes to Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale. Just saying… Zeke Correll earned an offer when he visited for the NC State game last season. Many assume Ohio State is in solid position for him, but I think that’s more based on the fact he’s from Cincinnati than anything else. Ohio State just lost his primary recruiter, Kerry Coombs, he has expressed strong interest in the Irish before, and oh yeah his brother goes to Notre Dame…
KJ Wallace told 247’s Kevin Sinclair that Notre Dame has “always been a school I’ve been looking at.” Wallace basically grew up with Derrik Allen and is also tight with Watson. There are worse things than establishing a Georgia pipeline… John Mitchie is another guy who could blow up soon. He has excellent speed, but is a little more off the radar because he’s from Toronto and just moved to the States a couple of years ago. Since Notre Dame offered a couple of weeks ago, he also picked up offers from Michigan, Mississippi State, and Pitt. He’s Catholic and has mentioned academics as a key factor; I wouldn’t lock him in or anything, but I like our chances to be involved going forward.
Wrapping Up
Phew. That was intense. That’s a big list with a lot of really good prospects on it. I don’t know that we’ll see any commitments, but I’ll watch closely for a handful of things to come out of this:
- Will Na-Na keep us under consideration?
- Will we continue our positive momentum with Mazi Smith and Joseph Anderson?
- Can we make a move for Jake Smith?
- How serious of a threat are we to flip all the 2018 kids? Especially Brown?
Last year’s Junior Day list was solid to good. This list is great. If the Irish staff can put on a show this weekend, it could lay the groundwork for a special class in 2019. Let’s hope.
Thanks for the information, always a great read.
“20 visitors on this list. Five (counting Smith) in the top 100, thirteen in the top 200 (counting Sheffield).”
Seems like a good blueprint to follow, cast a wide net and see which players have interest in probably jumping out of region. Probably about the best to hope for in the current climate. Seems like the program has some good momentum going though on the recruiting front.
Also, sort of off-topic but I guess a bit related to Flemister or adding another RB, are there whispers for a potential path back to the team for Holmes? Whispers on that it seems but not sure how realistic. Would they take an RB no matter what since they lost Adams+McIntosh in recent weeks?
We certainly need a RB badly so anyone that could handle a few snaps a game as a frosh would be helpful.
How many games has Dexter missed on average the last few years for injury? 2.7? And Love got banged up for a few last year. It’s rare to have a RB getting significant time not miss some time.
Does any of our receivers have any experience playing RB? Or have the potential to be moved at least in an emergency situation to RB?
I know that seems like great numbers brining in like 5 in the top 100 but what do the other teams bring in? I just wonder because in one sense the net is not that wide considering that getting 5 commits in the top 100 is near a minimum for top recruiting. I know it’s early and it’s just a beginning but it doesn’t quite seem so wide of a net in this context.
“I know that seems like great numbers brining in like 5 in the top 100 but what do the other teams bring in?”
Maybe so, it is a question worth asking. Obviously at some point the the resources of time/money/space means you can’t have too many at junior day, especially those that just have such low-chance interest in the location, school, program to invite high-end kids that likely aren’t going to be committing. Which to an extent is an uncontrollable aspect for this team. I’d expect that Alabama, Clemson, tOSU, USC, etc get probably more numbers of higher-end prospects at this point because they probably have better pitches for most of those types of kids geographically or program-fit wise.
Other than that, is this staff doing enough? I suppose it’s for debate but the 2018 class tends to make me think they’re doing a pretty good job at attracting interest and also sealing the deal on high-end ‘croots. Could always be doing better, though, of course, but that seems like the story of recruiting in general.
This doesn’t represent our entire offer list or even a majority of the kids who have legitimate interest in us. Generally speaking, a staff will try to get a bunch of kids in for a junior day who they think have or could have serious interest. The idea is to generate some buzz that carries over into the rest of the class. It’s also really hard to coordinate getting a bunch of kids in, since they have to pay for their travel. Keep in mind that 5 kids means one out of every 20 top 100 kids has decided to pay for a trip to South Bend on a specific day in late January. That’s not half bad.
Part of the reason I like this list is also who makes up the numbers – two of those five kids, for example, are an elite WDE and an elite DT. Yes, please. I don’t know what, for example, Michigan’s junior day list looks like, but be honest I don’t really care if they have seven top 100 kids versus our five. This is still a good list. There’s also much stronger quality down the list than we’ve had at recent junior days – we’ll have some top 150 or 200 kids, but then the rankings drop off pretty sharply. There are 18 top 300 kids in for this weekend. That’s a lot.
I was just curious because sometimes a number sounds like a lot but when in comparison to other schools it’s really just ok.
It certainly makes sense too when taking into account a) they are paying their own way and b) scheduling that this is a pretty good haul to bring in. It’s also nice when one of them NaNa is listed as “cool”. I know that changes a lot during the recruiting season but it’s great to get a shot at someone who is not currently super interesting in committing to ND. Getting to campus is a huge deal (esp. for elite DL).
With all the big interest in DL this year we need to bring in an elite haul since it is so hard for us from year to year.
Top guys Currently interested
WDE
Harrison – 4 (national)
Smith – 39
NaNa (cool but coming to junior day) – 91
SDE
Anderson – 145
DT
Briggs – 66
Smith (Junior Day) – 102
Lacey (committed) – 166
Spears – 181
Johnson – 197
I wonder how many top DL are typically interested (“warm”) at this time of year. Certainly the quality must be much higher if not the raw numbers.
What would an elite haul look like 4-5 DL? Looking at the depth chart if 6 wanted to come we should take them (3 DT, 2 WDE and 1 SDE) – Hayes, Okwara, and Kareem will all be in their last year of eligibility when these guys are freshmen and we can never get enough 4 star (or better) DL.
Also how many DT would we take if they all wanted to come (right now predictions favor Johnson, Spears, and Briggs, and are tied with Smith who is coming to junior day)?
For what it’s worth Anderson is tied in the predictions to come to ND vs. Tenn. But no one yet thinks those WDE will come to ND.
The fact that Kareem wasted his redshirt for a few snaps on a 4-8 team is malpractice.
Agreed, but probably not a great time to be making jokes about malpractice
Still not as bad as Romeo Okwara!
In all seriousness, if we had just added Okwara to the team in 2016, we might have won 4 more games that year. And saved Kareem’s redshirt!
FWIW, the guys on the Irish Illustrated podcast said their impression was Holmes could be back on the team with a good spring and summer (presumably meaning staying completely out of trouble).
Also, great write-up Brendan, as per usual.
Thanks! From what I’ve heard Holmes needs to get his academics in order, and he really needs to focus on it. Removing KJ from the equation might help.
Man, I was just going through 247’s final player rankings. They did NOT like our players. Almost everyone dropped from where they were ranked when they committed. Jurkovec ended up their #115 prospect. Allen dropped almost 100 spots. Micah Jones was at one point in their top 200 and ended up #878. Tons of huge drops.
Of course the composite went up on most of the class, especially the guys already towards the high end. Weird that 247 just seemed to hate these guys. All this excludes John Dirksen, who 247 moved up 100 spots, but whose composite dropped 150.
Jurkovec got killed for the Army game, which is stupid beyond belief – he actually looked pretty good in practice, then got five snaps and only one pass attempt because Trevor Lawrence’s HS coach was the East coach and wouldn’t take his kid out. How is that Phil’s fault?? Allen broke his hand late in the season and missed the last few games, then looked a little rusty at the Army game, so he dropped. Equally dumb. Jones was overrated in the top 200 but he probably didn’t deserve to drop all the way down to #878.
They did give Shayne Simon a huge bump, all the way up to #48 overall, based on his performance there. He was under consideration for a fifth star. Jayson Ademilola got a small bump from 50-something to #45. Jack Lamb moved up about 40 spots, I think, to #105. It wasn’t all bad, but yeah, there are definitely some head-scratchers in there.
Plurality of guys from Tennessee. Seems a bit odd. is there a common thread there? Sorry if I missed it.
I think it’s pure chance. We just happen to like a few guys in the state this year.
Probably can’t hurt that UT is such a tire fire too these days
K.J. Wallace just committed.