It was an extremely busy month of June for the Notre Dame staff. With multiple commits since our last update, the Irish have been reaping the benefits from those three weeks of official visits — and they’re not done yet. The Irish are still expecting a couple of more commits in the near future, and then we’ll likely experience a bit of a lull in 2022 defensive recruiting while the staff tries to close on it’s top remaining targets.
The Defense Board
A reminder on how we do this – we’ll include the entire big board table but only review prospects who are above “Cold” status and who have had actual developments of late. Speaking of which, the temperature scale:
- Hot means the prospect is on commit watch.
- Warm means the prospect has Notre Dame in a small final group and/or is a possible Irish lean.
- Mild/Mild+ means the prospect is in regular contact with the staff and has visited or has firm visit plans.
- Cool means the prospect has some level of contact with the staff and/or vague visit plans; also the default temperature for most new offers.
- Cold is a known (or reasonably safely assumed) lack of contact with the staff and/or an elimination.
Also, on the 247 Composite scores: Roughly speaking above .9830 is a five star, above .9500 is a top 100 prospect, above .9200 is a top 200 prospect, and above .8900 is a four star. Those slide around a little within a cycle and from one cycle to the next, but they’re pretty solid ballpark numbers.
Remember that of course we don’t have perfect information on all prospects – we don’t know for sure whether a prospect has or hasn’t talked to the staff outside of what’s reported elsewhere. We don’t know for sure how high prospects are on the staff’s board. We try to make highly-educated guesses at all of it, but we don’t know.
| Unit | Position | 247C | First Name | Last Name | Temp |
| D | CB | 0.9948 | Denver | Harris | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9835 | Jeadyn | Lukus | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9565 | Earl | Little Jr. | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9507 | Keenan | Nelson | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9220 | Austin | Jordan | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9214 | Ephesians | Prysock | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9062 | Dillon | Tatum | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.9016 | Cam | Miller | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.8958 | Benjamin | Morrison | HOT |
| D | CB | 0.8946 | Austin | Ausberry | Cold |
| D | CB | 0.8630 | Avery | Powell | Cold |
| D | DT | 0.9645 | Hero | Kanu | Cool |
| D | DT | 0.9637 | Anthony | Lucas | Warm |
| D | DT | 0.9623 | Caden | Curry | Cold |
| D | ILB | 0.9742 | Shawn | Murphy | Cold |
| D | ILB | 0.9741 | Jaishawn | Barham | Cold |
| D | OLB | 0.9911 | Harold | Perkins | Cold |
| D | OLB | 0.9704 | Jaylen | Sneed | HOT |
| D | OLB | 0.9721 | David | Bailey | Cold |
| D | OLB | 0.9482 | Sebastian | Cheeks | Cool |
| D | OLB | 0.9355 | Devon | Jackson | Cool |
| D | OLB | 0.9114 | Tevarua | Tafiti | Cool |
| D | OLB | 0.9041 | Lander | Barton | Cold |
| D | OLB | 0.9038 | Robby | Snelling | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9861 | Kamari | Wilson | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9803 | Bryce | Anderson | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9784 | Zion | Branch | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9700 | Xavier | Nwankpa | Warm |
| D | S | 0.9543 | Kamari | Ramsey | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9168 | Cristian | Driver | Cold |
| D | S | 0.9000 | Jaden | Mangham | Cool |
| D | S | 0.8889 | Jake | Pope | Warm |
| D | S | 0.8850 | Cooper | Barkate | Cold |
| D | S | 0.8678 | Kevin | Winston | Cold |
| D | SDE | 0.9946 | Shemar | Stewart | Cold |
| D | SDE | 0.9690 | Derrick | Moore | Cold |
| D | SDE | 0.9730 | Dani | Dennis-Sutton | Cold |
| D | SDE | 0.9424 | Ernest | Cooper IV | Cold |
| D | SDE | 0.8975 | Isaac | Hamm | Cold |
| D | WDE | 0.9820 | Enai | White | Cold |
| D | WDE | 0.9762 | Cyrus | Moss | Warm |
| D | WDE | 0.9663 | Kenyatta | Jackson | Cold |
| D | WDE | 0.9289 | DJ | Wesolak | Cool |
| D | WDE | 0.8797 | Darren | Agu | Cold |
| D | WDE | 0.8566 | Alex | Bauman | Cold |
Defensive End
Commits: Tyson Ford, 0.9456 #137 overall/#23 DL; Aiden Gobaira, 0.9075 #250 overall/#33 DL
Slots: 3-4
In an unexpected move last night, European defensive end Darren Agu has decommitted from Notre Dame. At this point we’re not sure if the Irish will try to circle back around to DJ Wesolak or Tevarua Tafiti, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Freeman and Elston would likely have some work to do to get back in the running for either prospect.
Cyrus Moss had his official visit to Notre Dame in June and by all reports it went well. He’s a tough read, though. If he has a leader at this point, it is probably Oregon. But his recruitment is probably gong to last late into the recruiting cycle, so the Irish are in it for the long haul.
Defensive Tackle
Commits: Donovan Hinish, .8797, #485 overall/#75 DL
Slots: 1-2
We have a new name on the board as Top 100 defensive tackle Hero Kanu received an offer from Mike Elston over the weekend. Hero is originally from Germany and had some of the same coaches as current Irish defensive end Alex Ahrensberger.
Ernest Cooper‘s official visit to Notre Dame never ended up happening and he won’t be a target moving forward.
Anthony Lucas took his official visit to Notre Dame in June and the Irish impressed. It looks like his recruitment is likely to come down Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Right now it’s close and I’m not sure if he has a definitive leader, but this recruitment will probably last into the winter regardless.
Linebacker
Commits: Nuiafe Tuihalamaka, 0.9545, #107 overall/#11 LB; Josh Burnham, 0.9515, #112 overall/#12 LB; Nolan Ziegler, 0.8958, #314 overall/#35 LB
Slots: 4
Since our last update, the Irish have added a commitment from 4-star linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka. More good news is expected tonight with Jaylen Sneed set to announce at 7 pm. If Sneed commits to the Irish as expected, Notre Dame will have completed arguably the best haul of linebackers in the entire country for the 2022 cycle.
Defensive Back
Commits: Jaden Mickey, 0.9129, #229 overall/#26 CB; Devin Moore, 0.8850, #421 overall/#29 S; Jayden Bellamy, 0.8830, #450 overall/#42 CB
Slots: 4-5
The key updates here since our last update are the commitments of Jayden Bellamy and Devin Moore to Notre Dame. A couple of other Notre Dame targets committed elsewhere in Nikai Martinez (UCF) and Sherrod Covil (Clemson). Kevin Winston is also no longer a target at safety, but he was lower on the staff’s priority list at defensive back. Jyaire Brown has been removed from the board as well as he has shut down his recruitment and will stick with Ohio State. Realistic targets still on the board include Benjamin Morrison, Jake Pope, and Xavier Nwankpa.
Jake Pope will be announcing within the next week or two. The Irish impressed during his official visit but it sounds like he’s still probably headed elsewhere.
Benjamin Morrison doesn’t have a specific date set, but he will be making a commitment in the near future as well. His recruitment has been a bit of a pendulum swing over the last few weeks — going from Notre Dame in the lead, to Washington, and now back to Notre Dame. He’s on commit watch.
Xavier Nwankpa‘s official visit to Notre Dame went almost as well as we could have hoped. It might be a while before he makes a decision yet, but it looks like Notre Dame has pulled even with Ohio State. Hopefully things continue to trend in the right direction for the Irish.
Does the offer to Kanu mean they are not very confident in Lucas coming? Or is it with Agu decommitting there’s an extra spot and maybe Kanu just took care of the academic side or something like that? He’s a top 100 player so why wouldn’t they have offered him earlier if they wanted him?
Kanu reclassified from ’23 to ’22 – he’s only 16 – and wants to enroll early, so my guess would be that there were some things that had to be cleared with admissions. Maybe Agu’s departure had something to do with making it an easier call on space too.
wow that’s young for a DL – esp. one so highly ranked.
Hopeful about Sneed and Morrison, then hopefully steal 1-2 of Lucas, nwankpa or hero. Not many top 50 guys but still a pretty clear upgrade from previous defensive recruiting. So much balance and flexibility across the board, at least in it with top 50 defensive guys and a ton of top 200 defensive guys.
Overall it just so refreshing that the defense won’t have any blatant holes on it the old d line and cb boards have looked
Thanks for the update — these are always appreciated!
With Pope and Nwankpa either leaning elsewhere or 50/50 at best, what is your guess as to the staff’s backup plans at safety? Is it these two guys or nothing?
Also, it seems like they landed (and are landing) a large group of corners last year and this year, so are they confident in moving a couple of them over to safety if these two recruits choose other schools?
Pope is leaning elsewhere; if I really had to guess I’d say UNC for him. I actually think he might have a better future at receiver, but who knows. Nwankpa, not sure – I think at the very least we gave him a lot to think about and are now definitely in it. He’s an ND kid but he’s also an NFL kid so it’s not only as simple as finding a cultural fit.
If we land Morrison I do think that it’ll be Nwankpa or nothing at “pure” safety; I don’t expect us to expand the board further. Mickey is a pure corner. Morrison, Moore, and Bellamy could all end at corner or safety, and as you note they signed five DBs last year with some swing guys in that group too.
Bummer about Pope. Can’t shake the feeling that Nwankpa is going to be the guy who really, really considers ND but they just can’t close the deal and he ends up at tOSU. (Same feeling for Lucas, though not ending up at tOSU). But we shall see!
yea that’s our history at ND recently. But with Freeman now, one never knows. To pick up another (assuming Sneed already) top 100 defender would be huge. We’ve just been missing these elite players. The most needed would probably be Nwankpa.
True. I kinda feel like Nwankpa/Lucas are just bonus at this point. Especially for 2023 where it’s trending towards three 5 stars on defense as of right now. Everything on defense is very strong and very positive, IMO, and it’s like the rare ND spot where future commits is only going to add to that. Which is like the opposite of offense with no Singleton and if they don’t get over the finish line with Williams and Merriweather and keep Walker too…Yikes.
Bonus compared to our normal recruiting. But absolute needs if we want to close the gap.
From what I’ve seen though we are looking good for Williams and Merriweather.
Kind of amazing. We get a decommit at DE, and nobody is particularly upset. I even saw on one site that it was not considered a position of need. Is this the first time we can say that about DE?
My guess is that it is a combo of him being the lowest ranked DE and the fact that there are two blue chippers already committing for next year.
If I remember correctly, I think that the 247 article on Agu said that he is looking at Northwestern or Vandy because (a) he values academics, and (b) wants to play right away.
That’s exactly it. We are a kind of set right now. He’s a kind of high upside player but not highly ranked. And frankly with the kind of tear that Freeman has been on I’d rather Freeman get a chance to pick someone out/recruit on one more recruit than not.
Yeah, I mean honestly he probably did Notre Dame a favor by freeing up a spot…It’s probably time to shift gears at DE from taking 4-5 year Elston projects to hope for a great senior year (with a 50% hit rate for them not making it) and going for the 4 or 5 star players that are in the 2022 and 2023 class. ND has enough capital now with making it to playoffs and sending DE to the league and the Freeman factor to get higher-end players, and they pretty much are.
Maybe the same with Aupiu already leaving before his freshman year, though I think that was actual family stuff related so hopefully everything goes well for him there.
Less Aupiu/Agu types and more Vernon/Keeley is a positive path that they’re on.
With Agu out (and seemingly not considering ND going forward), I’d like to see us circle back with DJ Wesolak. Although perhaps the two early commits for ’23 at DE changes the priorities for the staff and they’re satisfied to proceed with a “Moss or bust” plan in this class.