Movement! As we noted was likely in the last couple of updates, there has been movement all over the board with prospects finally able to take real recruiting visits to schools. We had four  players go on the board and eight players come off it, with two of those arrivals also on the departure list. And that’s just the offense! We, ahem, strongly suspect that there will also be quite a bit of movement in the coming days. We think it’s going to be an exciting summer for Irish fans, folks. Buckle up.

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.

Position 247C First Name Last Name Temp
OG 0.9466 Gunner Givens Cold
OG 0.9461 Carson Hinzman Cool
OT 0.9951 Zach Rice Mild
OT 0.9809 Tyler Booker Cold
OT 0.9763 Joe Brunner Cool
OT 0.9526 Aamil Wagner Mild+
OT 0.9491 Julian Armella Cold
OT 0.9369 Billy Schrauth Warm
OT 0.9120 Jacob Sexton Cold
OT 0.9001 Jake Taylor Mild
OT 0.9000 George Fitzpatrick Cold
OT 0.8900 Ryan Baer Cold
RB 0.9578 Nicholas Singleton Warm
RB 0.9159 Gi’Bran Payne Cold
RB 0.8980 Damari Alston Cold
RB 0.8958 Emeka Megwa Cold
RB 0.8739 Quinshon Judkins Cold
TE 0.8810 Arlis Boardingham Cold
TE 0.8784 Jack Nickel Cold
WR 0.9882 Kevin Coleman Cold
WR 0.9834 Evan Stewart Cold
WR 0.9710 Tetairoa McMillan Cold
WR 0.9683 CJ Williams Warm
WR 0.9624 Brenen Thompson Cold
WR 0.9510 Kojo Antwi Cold
WR 0.9509 Kendrick Law Cold
WR 0.9491 Tobias Merriweather Warm
WR 0.9421 Darrius Clemons Cold
WR 0.9387 Andre Greene Mild
WR 0.9353 Antonio Williams Cold
WR 0.9159 Nicholas Anderson Warm
WR 0.9150 DJ Allen Cold
WR 0.8937 Joseph Griffin Cool
WR 0.8889 Eli King Cold
WR 0.8743 Jay Fair Cold
WR 0.0000 Elic Ayomanor Mild+
WR 0.0000 Xayvion Bradshaw Mild

On the Board

  • OT Ryan Baer, 0.8900 rating, #365 overall/#38 position
  • WR Elic Ayomanor, 0.0000 rating, NR overall/NR position

Off the Board

  • RB Gavin Sawchuk, Oklahoma, 0.9800 rating, #43 overall/#2 position
  • WR Kaleb Brown, Ohio State, 0.9738 rating, #60 overall/#5 position
  • OT Jacob Allen, Rutgers, 0.9505 rating, #118 overall/#13 position
  • RB Dallan Hayden, Ohio State, 0.9122 rating, #235 overall/#24 position
  • WR Chandler Smith, Florida, 0.8900 rating, #363 overall/#53 position
  • OT Ashton Craig, Notre Dame, 0.8728 rating, #579 overall/#52 position
  • RB Zach Evans, Minnesota, 0.8709 rating, #592 overall/#47 position
  • WR Addison Copeland, Pitt, 0.8532 rating, #860 overall/#115 position

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

Last Tuesday, both Gavin Sawchuk and Dallan Hayden announced commitments elsewhere – Sawchuk to Oklahoma and without making it to his Notre Dame visit, Hayden to Ohio State shortly after his Notre Dame visit. With those two off the board, all indications are that the second slot at this position is Nicholas Singleton or bust. Singleton hit South Bend for an official visit two weekends ago and reportedly the Irish made a major move – in fact the vibe was positive enough that we upgraded his temperature from Mild to Warm. He follow that with a midweek official to Texas A&M and a just-concluded visit to Alabama; for our money though the race here is still what it always has been, Notre Dame and Penn State.

Zach Evans, who hasn’t been a serious target since JD Price committed, pledged to Minnesota since our last update. The Irish staff has shown no interest, rumored or explicit, in any other running backs, hence our presumption that it’s Singleton or bust. We’re on board with that strategy; a two-year take of Price, Audric Estime, and Logan Diggs would still be pretty good, and there are needier positions in this class.

We might invite our readers to connect the dots on Notre Dame’s other top targets at the position announcing commitments almost immediately after Singleton’s Notre Dame visit, but we don’t want to be too presumptuous. Also, just to be clear, Oklahoma has been the favorite for Sawchuk and Ohio State has been the favorite for Hayden for quite some time, so we’re not saying they went elsewhere purely because Notre Dame told them to. Still, the timing is curious.

Wide Receiver

Commits: Amorion Walker, 0.8540, #792 overall, #103 position
Slots: 4

Wide receiver recruiting is, as it has been for some time, in a state of flux – but the good news is that some of that fluidity apparently will soon fade. CJ Williams just completed his official visit and all signs point to the Irish being in exceptionally good shape here; in fact, on his Instagram feed, CJ just posted a screenshot of 247 reporter Tom Loy’s “crystal ball” prediction in favor of Notre Dame. Feel free to read into that what you will… Tobias Merriweather (pictured) finally made it to campus and, as expected given everything we know about his fit on and off the field, it resonated. There are no signs that he’ll announce a decision soon but there’s reason to believe the Irish are in strong shape here as well…

We also upgraded Nicholas Anderson to Warm based on how things seem to be trending. We’re a bit puzzled as to why so many Irish fans are so down on Anderson given his size, speed, and agility. (247 Texas reporter Nick Harris views Anderson as the best route runner in the state.) (IN THE STATE.) As you might imagine, we’re more sanguine on his prospects. Given their athletic profiles, it may be a first-man-in situation between Anderson and new offer Elic Ayomanor, who is – stop me if you’ve heard this one – a large, athletic, late-blooming Canadian receiver. Inevitable Mapletron comparisons aside, what’s most notable about Ayomanor is that he gets offers everywhere he camps, including Notre Dame.

Fan favorite Xayvion Bradshaw briefly had a visit scheduled but it fell apart. Whether that was for legitimate time management reasons or issues on one side or the other, we’ll see. I don’t think the staff would stretch to five receivers in this class – that sounds nuts – so if he waits too long he may not have a spot.

Speedster Chandler Smith picked up an Irish offer but announced for Florida before the staff could get any traction. That’s not too surprising given that he has nationally competitive potential as a sprinter – last month he won the Florida state title in the 100M and 200M with times of 10.50 and 21.01, after posting wind-aided PRs of 10.28 and 20.62 at the regional meet.

Tight End

Commits: Holden Staes, 0.9036 rating, #10 position/#268 overall; Eli Raridon, 0.8830 rating, #18 position/#438 overall
Slots: 2

Offensive Line

Commits: OT Joey Tanona, 0.9385, #155 overall/#18 position; OT Ty Chan, 0.9235, #199 overall/#26 position; OT Ashton Craig, 0.8728 rating, #579 overall/#52 position
Slots: 4-5

Local product Ashton Craig camped at Irish Invasion, earned a committable offer from a reportedly very impressed Irish staff, and wasted little time jumping on it. If you’re skeptical on Craig, we would strongly encourage you to check out Jamie Uyeyama’s excellent-as-always Film Don’t Lie post on him. Craig has a high ceiling potentially anywhere on the line, although the staff is looking at him as a center for now…

That positional note is important, because it means that Craig’s commitment has little to no bearing on the other priority line targets. The Wisconsin triumvirate of Joe Brunner, Carson Hinzman, and Billy Schrauth all visited Notre Dame in June – not at the same time, unfortunately, but still. We always felt that sweeping that group was too much to ask; accordingly, while the staff has done well it seems like Brunner and Hinzman in particular are likely Wisconsin leans, so we downgraded their temperature to Cool. Schrauth, long assumed to be virtually in the Irish class already, currently seems more like a coin toss. Time to close, fellas…

On the sunnier side, Notre Dame is unquestionably trending up with Aamil Wagner after his visit. The Irish are still in a dogfight with Ohio State for his services but it feels like the current is turning towards them here somewhat… Ryan Baer picked up an offer from Notre Dame but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be a top target going forward, as he had a visit scheduled that never materialized. Kentucky likely leads for the Ohioan.