The board has been fairly quiet as most prospects have focused on packing their suitcases for the end of our long national winter the dead period on June 1st. As we mentioned last time, Notre Dame has an absolutely monster month of visits set up, for 2022 and 2023 prospects, and every other school has done the same. Yet the board is not without movements, most notably at the position that the Irish have absolutely owned the last 15 years or so.
The Offense 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 |
O | OG | 0.9547 | Gunner | Givens | Cold |
O | OG | 0.9469 | Carson | Hinzman | Mild+ |
O | OT | 0.9953 | Zach | Rice | Mild |
O | OT | 0.9824 | Tyler | Booker | Cold |
O | OT | 0.9769 | Joe | Brunner | Mild |
O | OT | 0.9523 | Aamil | Wagner | Mild+ |
O | OT | 0.9520 | Jacob | Allen | Cold |
O | OT | 0.9490 | Julian | Armella | Cold |
O | OT | 0.9369 | Billy | Schrauth | Warm |
O | OT | 0.9112 | Jacob | Sexton | Cold |
O | OT | 0.9001 | Jake | Taylor | Mild |
O | OT | 0.9000 | George | Fitzpatrick | Mild |
O | RB | 0.9811 | Gavin | Sawchuk | Mild |
O | RB | 0.9575 | Nicholas | Singleton | Mild |
O | RB | 0.9252 | Gi’Bran | Payne | Cold |
O | RB | 0.9136 | Dallan | Hayden | Cool |
O | RB | 0.8967 | Damari | Alston | Cold |
O | RB | 0.8958 | Emeka | Megwa | Cold |
O | RB | 0.8739 | Quinshon | Judkins | Cool |
O | RB | 0.8709 | Zach | Evans | Cold |
O | TE | 0.8810 | Arlis | Boardingham | Cold |
O | TE | 0.8784 | Jack | Nickel | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9885 | Kevin | Coleman | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9842 | Evan | Stewart | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9733 | Kaleb | Brown | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9727 | Tetairoa | McMillan | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9685 | CJ | Williams | Warm |
O | WR | 0.9628 | Brenen | Thompson | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9610 | Kojo | Antwi | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9518 | Kendrick | Law | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9486 | Tobias | Merriweather | Mild+ |
O | WR | 0.9389 | Darrius | Clemons | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9353 | Antonio | Williams | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9166 | Andre | Greene | Mild |
O | WR | 0.9161 | DJ | Allen | Cold |
O | WR | 0.9011 | Nicholas | Anderson | Mild |
O | WR | 0.8889 | Eli | King | Cold |
O | WR | 0.8789 | Joseph | Griffin | Mild |
O | WR | 0.8743 | Jay | Fair | Cold |
O | WR | 0.8532 | Addison | Copeland | Cool |
O | WR | 0.0000 | Xayvion | Bradshaw | Cool |
On the Board
- None
Off the Board
- WR DeNylon Morrissette, Georgia, 0.9123 rating, #35 position/#231 overall
- TE Holden Staes, Notre Dame, 0.9036 rating, #10 position/#268 overall
- TE Eli Raridon, Notre Dame, 0.8830 rating, #18 position/#438 overall
- OT Aliou Bah, Florida State, 0.8763 rating, #49 position/#502 overall
Quarterback
Commits: Steve Angeli, 0.9124 rating, #230 overall/#11 position
Slots: 1
Running Back
Commits: JD Price, 0.9151, #220 overall/#21 position
Slots: 2
Gavin Sawchuk was recently tabbed as the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year. His visit plans for Notre Dame in late June remain intact, with not much else to report at the moment… Nicholas Singleton (pictured) has four June official visits scheduled, to Notre Dame, Penn State, Alabama, and Wisconsin. Notably absent is Ohio State. We strongly suspect this is a Notre Dame-Penn State battle, with visits set to play a large role… Looks like Ohio State is firmly in the driver’s seat for Dallan Hayden, as has been the case for a while.
We downgraded Quinshon Judkins to Cool as he doesn’t seem to be getting much attention from the staff. Whether that means they feel good about landing one of Sawchuk/Singleton, or they’ve decided to take a second back only if it’s one of those two, I don’t know.
Wide Receiver
Commits: Amorion Walker, 0.8540, #792 overall, #103 position
Slots: 3-4
The Irish continue to be in a strong position – too soon to say a lead position, but certainly a strong position – for CJ Williams and Tobias Merriweather. Both will be on campus next month and Notre Dame could make a big move on those trips… Joseph Griffin was just selected as the MVP of the Rivals New Jersey regional camp and earned an invite to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge this summer. Interesting…
Like with Judkins, we’ve downgraded Addison Copeland and Xayvion Bradshaw to Cool based on an apparent decrease in interest on the Irish side. Copeland’s most likely destination as it looks today is South Carolina, while Bradshaw has a rather puzzling dearth of new offers given the very good game tape he put out this spring. Clearly more staffs than just Notre Dame’s are hesitant.
The departure of erstwhile five-star Jordan Johnson, whose most memorable on-field moment in an Irish uniform came when he punched a USF cornerback, may have opened an additional slot for a receiver in this class. Something to watch there.
Tight End
Commits: Holden Staes, 0.9036 rating, #10 position/#268 overall; Eli Raridon, 0.8830 rating, #18 position/#438 overall
Slots: 2
When last we met Jack Nickel had just decommitted from Notre Dame, with the broad assumption that the staff’s continued pursuit of Staes and Raridon was a major factor in that decision. Fast forward a month, and Staes and Raridon are both in the class, so… Yeah. TE U rolls on with another couple of big, athletic prospects.
Offensive Line
Commits: OT Joey Tanona, 0.9385, #155 overall/#18 position; OT Ty Chan, 0.9235, #199 overall/#26 position
Slots: 4-5
Zach Rice recently added his name to the rather extensive June official visitor list. Other than that there’s not really anything to note here, as the offensive line board has been extremely quiet heading into the end of the dead period. We do get the sense that Billy Schrauth will be in the class sooner rather than later, but beyond that we’re going to have to wait for visits to play out. We believe there will be four linemen in this class unless a fifth that the staff really likes wants to jump in too.
Williams+Merriweather and one of Singleton/Sawchuk and that’s a pretty good add to the skill portion of the class.
Also, somewhere on twitter I saw someone RT a picture of Lawrence Keys and Amorion Walker, who I guess are working out recently together in their native Louisana…And I know Keys isn’t a big guy, but Walker physically looked like the one who has been in college for 4 years. Definitely passes the “looks good in shorts” test. Sooner or later the law of averages says they’ll get a positive surprise on the WR front, right??
Given his rating, Xayvion Bradshaw seems like he’s going to be quite a project. Coaches must see something in him.
Have you seen his latest tape? Several highlights that are pretty amazing. Seems like he has the potential to be a game breaker but maybe his full game film shows some consistency issues which could be why he has such a low rating.
Sure but his recruiting ranking is probably bogus due to this weird covid year. Let’s see what happens when there is a rankings update. I would guess he becomes a low to mid 3 star.
It seems the staff likes him but they are also slow playing him as they wait to see what Williams and Meriwether decide.
Bradshaw is from very rural Va. Driskell (TOS) rates him extremely high. This if any year is the one to look for sleepers. Expect this kid to soar up the rankings.
Yeah, especially since Virginia didn’t have fall 2020 football, he had no junior data until recently. He’s also the son of former Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw, so I don’t think he’s going to be much of a sleeper for longer….Though Brendan’s comments seem to indicate maybe his recent spring junior season wasn’t that encouraging.
Driskell, who I think can be a clown, said “he’s the biggest must get in the class”. I’ll assume he meant at WR. His sophomore film is pretty good. Thank you Brendan for what is probably a more realistic reading of his recruitment.
A Driskell endorsement is your first indicator that perhaps something is off here.
He does play for a HS in a *very* rural area of VA. But he’s also the son of an NFL player, and he has teammates being recruited by Power 5 schools – a good friend committed to UVA, who hasn’t even sniffed around Bradshaw as far as I know. So something’s up.
His junior highlight tape is pretty good, but he also disappeared in a couple of games. I don’t know if it’s that or something else, but something is making Power 5 teams not beat down his door.
It’s funny you mention driskell. This is my first offseason listening to him. He does a Friday mailbag podcast, it pretty much the only new weekend podcast content I get so I listen to it on Saturdays. (I listen to the guys at II, then subscribe to the athletic and read here). Have mixed feelings. He puts out a ton of content, I really only listen to the mailbag. He is way more hot-takey than any of the other guys I follow/read.
The hot takes lead to some really bad ones like “this is Jeff Quinn’s first real season” or “Zaire should have started 16”, but I think he’s been on point on some stuff wrt Kelly and me approach to recruiting, Kelly over involved with qb. I don’t think he’s wrong on some points on Bradshaw either. He’s only legit slot they’re recruiting. And just recruiting 3 big guys at WR will keep the offense the same
He’s been at two or three other sites. He likes to hear himself talk. Thus a 1hr+ podcast on ND WR recruiting.
I heard him say how Zaire was the clear starter over Kiser and it lead to trouble for the team. That’s just flat wrong or a bad memory.
To me he comes across as actually thinking he knows more about ND football and football in general than the coaching staff. I can’t listen to him for more than a few minutes.
Back when he was on ISD. He would regularly call out anyone who disagreed with him and constantly remind everyone that he used to be a football coach, so how dare you question him. And that was to paying customers.
He probably knows football very well (he certainly thinks he’s more qualified than BK), but he was a pretty unpleasant person even when giving quality insights.
What was the name of that school he coached at again ? Whatsamatter U. ?
He’s a former D3 WR coach and leans on that way too much (there are plenty of good D3 coaches out there, I just don’t think he’s one of them). Nobody on the ND beat can stand him; he’s legendary for running his mouth at open practices and not paying any attention to what’s going on, then writing highly detailed practice reports on stuff that everyone there knew he didn’t see. Nobody on the ND staff will take his calls and I believe BK said quite a while ago that he wasn’t welcome in the press conferences.
I think the hot-takey stuff is him trying to zig to seem relevant – “I’m the only one giving you the *real* story” type stuff. As Juicebox said, when he was on ISD he would shred anybody who disagreed with him, almost always with some version of “I coached and you didn’t IDIOT.” I’m willing to bet that Mike didn’t look at the decision to hire him very fondly.
Condensing all this down: He makes shit up because (a) he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, (b) he has no direct knowledge himself, and/or (c) nobody involved with the program will give him the time of day. He may step in a good point every once in a while, but it’s more by accident than design.
Also Kelly hasn’t been involved with the QBs more than a normal amount since Charley Molnar left. Perfect example of Driskell making stuff up.
So in short he’s a BS artist with a platform. That’s about what I thought. That he went from ISD to B&G and now IB so quickly was telling, I thought.
All of this — 100%.
Love these updates — thanks Brendan! It would be cool if you or Tyler did an occasional updated prediction on who ND is likely to land. If you had to pick right now, what would be your guess for RB?
Oh man, tough call. I think Hayden will end up at OSU. Singleton feels like a toss-up between ND and PSU, and I feel like it’s overly optimistic not to take the field for Sawchuk (which in this case is Oklahoma, Oregon, and USC).
If I was forced to handicap it, I’d say 40% chance they stand pat with Price, 30% they get Singleton, 20% Sawchuk, and 10% someone else. It’s really tight though. Even though I think it’s less likely I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they land Sawchuk, for example.
I think Sawchuk might have his mind changed on his visit. Fingers crossed.
Hey Brendan, didn’t you write a story about what an a$$hat Fielding Yost was in early days of ND football? Hated Catholics, yada yada.
did you see that they may remove his name from the scUM ice hockey arena? Apparently he didn’t limit his hatred to just ND.
Sam Dunlap was the first black student-athlete at Western Michigan University
https://wmich.edu/news/2017/07/41428
Knute Rockne and Fielding Yost are both mentioned in this article. Guess which one called Dunlap “one of the finest athletes he’d ever encountered” and which one said “you’re not welcome at this school” after finding out he was black.
I don’t know if I wrote an article about that specifically, but I’ve definitely mentioned it. He didn’t limit his hatred to Notre Dame, or Catholics, or anyone really, as Tyler alludes to. He was a truly despicable person. Given his standing in Ann Arbor I’ll be mildly surprised if his name is actually taken off the arena, but I’m glad someone is talking about it.
Somebody wrote a story on why we hate Michigan. I thought it was you, but may be wrong. Anyway, will be happy to watch video of them pulling the signs down.
I think you’re thinking of Blue-Gray Sky:
https://mgoblog.com/content/open-letter-you-probably
Looks like Nicholas Anderson 4star WR can be upgraded to “Warm” at least.