A few weeks back we kicked off the 2022 defensive Big Board with a comprehensive rundown of where things stood. Fast forward almost a month and we do have some movement, with commitments coming at linebacker and defensive end and official visits being set up for the month of June. We will certainly see some more visits getting set up on both sides of the both over the coming weeks, but I wouldn’t expect many commitments until June when real visits are allowed to occur.

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. 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 ratings, 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 0.9837 Jeadyn Lukus Cold
D CB 0.9826 Daylen Everette Cold
D CB 0.9734 Khamauri Rogers Mild+
D CB 0.9562 Earl Little Jr. Cold
D CB 0.9520 Jyaire Brown Mild+
D CB 0.9516 Keenan Nelson Cold
D CB 0.9437 Terrance Brooks Mild
D CB 0.9409 Jaeden Gould Cool
D CB 0.9264 Toriano Pride Cold
D CB 0.9237 Austin Jordan Cold
D CB 0.9220 Ephesians Prysock Cool
D CB 0.9061 Dillon Tatum Cold
D CB 0.9060 Nikai Martinez Mild
D CB 0.9030 Cam Miller Mild
D CB 0.9002 Benjamin Morrison Mild
D CB 0.8905 Jared Kerr Cold
D CB 0.8839 Jayden Bellamy Mild
D CB 0.8739 Davison Igbinosun Cool
D CB 0.8697 Avery Powell Cool
D CB 0.8628 Ryland Gandy Cool
D DT 0.9852 Mykel Williams Cold
D DT 0.9636 Caden Curry Cold
D DT 0.9503 Anthony Lucas Mild+
D DT 0.8925 KJ Miles Cold
D DT 0.8850 Kaleb Artis Cool
D DT 0.8789 Donovan Hinish Mild+
D ILB 0.9857 Shawn Murphy Cold
D ILB 0.9786 Jaishawn Barham Cold
D ILB 0.9692 Niuafe Tuihalamaka Warm
D OLB 0.9922 Harold Perkins Cold
D OLB 0.9682 Jaylen Sneed Warm
D OLB 0.9638 David Bailey Cold
D OLB 0.9492 Sebastian Cheeks Warm
D OLB 0.9340 Devon Jackson Mild+
D OLB 0.9103 Tevarua Tafiti Mild+
D OLB 0.9047 Lander Barton Cold
D OLB 0.9000 Robby Snelling Cold
D OLB 0.8925 Kip Lewis Cold
D OLB 0.8900 Martrell Harris Cold
D S 0.9863 Kamari Wilson Cold
D S 0.9805 Bryce Anderson Cold
D S 0.9785 Zion Branch Cold
D S 0.9699 Xavier Nwankpa Mild
D S 0.9552 Kamari Ramsey Cold
D S 0.9202 Sherrod Covil Mild+
D S 0.9167 Cristian Driver Cold
D S 0.9067 Taylor Groves Cool
D S 0.9000 Jaden Mangham Mild
D S 0.8889 Jake Pope Cool
D S 0.8850 Cooper Barkate Cold
D S 0.8789 Devin Moore Mild+
D S 0.8678 Kevin Winston Mild+
D SDE 0.9947 Shemar Stewart Cold
D SDE 0.9770 Derrick Moore Cold
D SDE 0.9712 Dani Dennis-Sutton Cold
D SDE 0.9235 Ernest Cooper IV Mild
D SDE 0.8982 Isaac Hamm Cold
D WDE 0.98330 Enai White Cold
D WDE 0.9767 Cyrus Moss Mild
D WDE 0.9651 Kenyatta Jackson Cold
D WDE 0.9400 Wilfredo Aybar Cold
D WDE 0.9295 DJ Wesolak Warm
D WDE 0.8567 Alex Bauman Cold

Defensive End

Commits: WDE Tyson Ford, 0.9489, #123 overall/#8 position; WDE Aiden Gobaira, 0.8830 #434overall/#24 position; WDE Darren Agu, 0.8789, #461 overall/#28 position
Slots: 4

Darren Agu didn’t even leave enough time between receiving an offer from Notre Dame and committing to appear on the Big Board. He skyrocketed up Notre Dame’s board over the last few months after a dominant spring season and one camp appearance.

A few weeks ago, it appeared that DJ Wesolak was close to shutting it down and committing to Notre Dame. He’s since slowed things down a bit and plans on taking his official visits before making a decision (I would guess before the end of summer), but the Irish are still in very good position. Just need to keep the likes of Alabama and Clemson at bay.

Notre Dame is still in good position with Tevarua Tafiti,  but he’s probably lower on the board than Wesolak and Cyrus Moss at this point and the Irish may not have room by the time Tafiti is ready to make a decision. Speaking of Cyrus Moss, he’s probably still a longshot to end up at Notre Dame but the Irish aren’t out of it yet.

Defensive Tackle

Commits: None
Slots: 1-2

Anthony Lucas remains the top target at defensive tackle for Notre Dame. He recently released a Top 10 that of course included the Irish. Notre Dame is in good position but this one is likely far from over. He’s expected to take an official visit to South Bend the weekend of June 11-13. Ernest Cooper released a Top 5 of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford, Oregon, and Texas A&M a few days ago.

There hasn’t been much info recently on Donovan Hinish or Kaleb Artis, but the Irish would probably land either one if the staff considers them takes. We’ll likely find out about some official visits being planned within the next few weeks.

Linebacker

Commits: OLB Josh Burnham, .9515, #114 overall/#9 position; S Nolan Ziegler, 0.9000, #302 overall/#18 position
Slots: 4

Josh Burnham committed to Notre Dame over Michigan shortly after our last Big Board update. With two 4-star linebackers in the fold, Notre Dame has themselves in position to be very picky moving forward.

Jaylen Sneed took an independent visit to Notre Dame on March 22nd, and that visit likely set Notre Dame in pole position. He’s expected to be back on campus for an official visit the weekend of June 11-13, though I don’t think that date is completely locked in yet. I’d expect the Irish staff to try to secure a commitment when his official visit occurs.

Junior Tuihalamaka is also expected to take his official visit to Notre Dame the weekend of June 11-13, and he will be going into decision mode after that — making a commitment on June 18th. Stanford, Texas, and Michigan are all still involved to varying degrees, but this recruitment is Notre Dame’s to lose.

Notre Dame has had a huge lead for Sebastian Cheeks for what seems like forever, but he’s remained consistent in wanting to take his time and visit other schools before making an announcement. If the Irish are able to close on Sneed and Tuihalamaka in June, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to find room for a 5th LB. Devon Jackson is kind of in the same boat. I wouldn’t say the Irish hold a huge lead for him but they’re probably his top school right now. At the pace his recruitment is currently going, Notre Dame might not have the room for him when he is ready to make a commitment.

Cornerback

Commits: Jaden Mickey, 0.9088, #261 overall/#30 position
Slots: 2-3

The top target on the CB board remains Khamauri Rogers. He released a Top 6 a little over a week ago which included Notre Dame along with Miami, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State. He’ll probably take both an unofficial visit this summer and an official in the fall.

Jyaire Brown remains committed to Ohio State, but he’s definitely listening to Notre Dame. He was actually planning to take an independent visit this past week, but sadly his father passed away unexpectedly last week. Some things are just more important, and a death that close in the family is certainly one of them.

Notre Dame remains a top school for Nikai Martinez along with Clemson, Florida, and UCF. He’s already seen the gameday atmosphere at Notre Dame, and he’ll be taking his official visit sometime in June — likely the weekend of June 18-20.

Last month Benjamin Morrison released a Top 10 which included Notre Dame, but it wasn’t apparent at the time whereabouts in that Top 10 Notre Dame stood. Near the end of March we found out that Notre Dame was near the top of that group and would have a very good shot at landing him. He initially hit it off very well with Brian Polian, and both Mike Mickens and Marcus Freeman are making a big impact here as well. He will likely visit Notre Dame this summer, probably in June. And he could make a commitment before his senior season starts in the fall.

New Jersey DB Jayden Bellamy has plans set to officially visit Notre Dame on the weekend of June 18-20 along with his teammate (and current Notre Dame commit) Steve Angeli. Bellamy has some positional flexibility, with the possibility of playing safety as well.

The last name to mention is Terrance Brooks. He’s expected to take an official visit to Notre Dame June 14-16. I think Notre Dame’s chances with him are probably lower than some other guys on the board right now, but the fact that he’s taking an OV is a good sign.

Safety

Commits: None
Slots: 2

The top-of-the-board target at safety, Xavier Nwankpa, has an official visit to Notre Dame set for the weekend of June 25-27. I’d still consider him a heavy Ohio State lean and a longshot for the Irish, but the OV is a promising sign.

Notre Dame was included in the recent Top 11 released by Sherrod Covil. He will probably make a decision before his season starts in the fall. One name back on the board is Taylor Groves. He recently decommitted from Michigan and it will be interesting to see if Notre Dame makes a push here.

Brian Kelly had a long phone call with Devin Moore last week. The three-star is widely considered to be underrated by the recruiting services and he has the offer list to back it up. Notre Dame is probably sitting in his top 3 right now with Alabama and Stanford. Jake Pope released a Top 8 which included Notre Dame, but if I were to take a guess I’d say the Irish are sitting somewhere in the middle or bottom half of that group.

I don’t know if a top group exists for Kevin Winston, but if he has one Notre Dame is probably at or near the top of it. He has an official visit scheduled to Penn State the weekend of June 11-13, and tentative plans to officially visit South Bend the weekend before that. The dates for that Notre Dame visit aren’t set in stone, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if the staff tried to work something out to make that visit happen after his trip to Penn State.

Board Thoughts

Things are looking really good right now for Notre Dame on the defensive side of the ball. The linebacker haul is shaping up to be one of the best in the country. The front seven in general is in really good shape. Even at defensive back, where recruiting tends to be pretty dicey, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Of course it isn’t enough to just be in great shape in April. Closing is going to be key, but it’s looking likely that Notre Dame will close on a really good defensive class.