On Wednesday, one week before the early signing period opens up, Notre Dame added its 27th–and possibly final–member of the 2023 recruiting class. Virginia athlete Brandyn Hillman committed to the Irish and adds a versatile playmaker with a very unique skill-set to the program.
Why #NotreDame?
Two-way athlete Brandyn Hillman (@dmv_b3) spoke with @SWiltfong247 about his decision to commit to the Fighting Irish.
Story: https://t.co/0hPNpegTpH@247Sports pic.twitter.com/ceYdPYeeQH
— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) December 7, 2022
Coming out of the Hampton Roads metro area in Portsmouth, Virginia he was a two-way star at Churchland High School playing quarterback and defensive back.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8943 rating), #378 overall, #21 ATH, #7 in VA
On3 Consensus — 4 star (89.53), #348 overall, #12 ATH, #7 in VA
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 3 star (88 rating), NR overall, #39 ATH, #14 in VA
On3 — 4 star (90 rating), #291 overall, #12 ATH, #8 in VA
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, NR ATH, NR in VA
ESPN — 4 star (80 grade), NR overall, #9 DTQB, #7 in VA
Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s. So while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves.
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (91 rating)
It appears Hillman struggled with the decision on whether to try and play quarterback at the next level or focus on playing defense (or elsewhere) in college. Ultimately, a decision to pursue non-quarterback positions won out and that’s where most schools are recruiting him for 2023.
Cohort
Hillman’s recruitment literally went from zero to 60 in the span of a day when he picked up offers from Virginia Tech, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Virginia, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Tennessee, and Kentucky back in late September. Since then, he also added offers from North Carolina, Oklahoma, Miami, and USC.
He took official visits to Kentucky, North Carolina, and Notre Dame with the Irish being in the driver’s seat ever since that offer back in September.
Highlights
The big question that everyone has been debating since Hillman popped up on Notre Dame’s radar is where will he play for the Irish? He’s truly a fascinating prospect because there can be discussions about him trying as many as 6 different positions:
Quarterback – By all accounts, this is out from Notre Dame’s point of view. Especially since Minchey was brought aboard 15 days prior to Hillman’s commitment.
Running Back – Hillman is very dangerous with the ball in his hands and I wouldn’t rule out this being an option for him.
Wide Receiver – This is difficult to project without him playing the position so it seems far less likely.
Outside Linebacker – This will depend on his height, length, and development early in his college career. Right now, I personally don’t see this projection.
Cornerback – I think this is an option but a distant second.
Safety – It seems as though this is where Notre Dame prefers Hillman to play.
Whatever the position, we’re talking about a very twitchy and athletic playmaker with a tremendous first step and burst. His first 5 to 10 yards with the ball in his hands looks special. Watching his highlights at quarterback it’s really difficult to not envision him playing offense in college!
Defensively, while you can still see his athleticism, it’s a little harder to flesh it out. However, it appears most colleges like Notre Dame really get excited about his combination of physicality and agility. I can see where Hillman was really torn about not playing quarterback but at the end of the day you can argue his ceiling (especially if we’re talking NFL down the line) is higher on defense.
Impact
Hillman is listed anywhere from 6’2″ to 6’0″ tall and 190 to 200 pounds. He does look pretty well put together so anything north of 190 pounds looks to be right but I’m not sure he’s quite 6’2″ or has the length to even consider outside linebacker.
This 2023 Irish class is loaded (at least numbers-wise) at running back and defensive back. Even if we consider Dylan Edwards is more of a slot-type, Hillman would be competing with 2 other running backs in his own class with Jeremiyah Love pretty clearly a more polished and better prospect.
I wouldn’t argue Hillman is competing right away at corner against the likes of Christian Gray or Micah Bell at corner. Although, he could be a promising nickel-type of corner.
He seems to fit well in at safety competing with Adon Shuler and Ben Minich where Hillman may offer the best long-term future out of those 3 players. And if we’re being 100% honest, this is some very good insurance in case the rug gets pulled out from underneath us with Peyton Bowen.
Welcome to the Irish family, Brandyn!
Don’t do that, this is a hopeful season
You keep your realism and understandable ND-recruiting pessimism to yourself
Or at least add a “Keon is coming back” to balance out that honesty.
Really happy for Brandyn and will be pulling hard for him! There’s not usually a lot of hope in Portsmouth that a kid can make it out and so far to a place like Notre Dame, it’s really incredible and awesome for him.
Step 1: get great athletes
Step 2: ????
Step 3: profit
Now they just gotta figure out the middle part
Step 1: get great athletes
Step 2: provide great coaching
Step 3: profit
But when do they collect the underpants?
is that not profiting?
I really like this pickup — recruit a great athlete and then figure out where he fits best. I see him ending up at S unless he hits a growth spurt to a rover or OLB
I read that his wingspan is like 6’7″. I think rover could be a possibility.
Just saw it – totally expected but Mayer just announced for the Draft
Stick him at safety and let him return punts and kicks early in his career until he figures out the finer points of defense.
It’s pretty crazy to consider that this is the level of prospect that qualifies as “taking a flier” under Marcus Freeman. Per 247 rankings, he would have been a top 10 member of our 2020 class. Now he’s a guy we can just hope hits, and if he doesn’t, no big deal!
We did only take 17 commits in 2020. However the fact that he would be 10 in the 2020 class and is 21 in this class does show the quality of recruit is on an upward trajectory. Also nice to note that several of the recruits below the .90 rating are linemen in the 2023 class, I trust Heistand to develop them.
Blue chip ratio for 2020 was 53% and 2021 was 44%. 2022 (first year with CMF recruiting) we went up to 82%, and this year we are sitting around 82% again.
It’s been a recurring theme this year but freeman seems to learn and learn quickly from past mistakes (and not necessarily how own). Compare ND handling bowen recruitment with backups of minich and now hillman vs late recruiting day failures like walker and cj williams, where nd comes up empty handed.
I am just worried that by the OFD count, we are now at 93 players on scholarship. If you are pessimistic about Bowen that is still 92. Foskey and Joseph are out of that number.
They offers out to a DL and two WRs, that have been reported in the portal. Assume we take the DL, one of the WRs and the rumored QB, that is 95. Losing 10 people by August is a lot. Looking at the roster hard to get to 10 without really damaging some positions.
I think that’s the reality of truly high level recruiting. We’re going to have to get used to guys transferring out. The portal makes that especially true and easy
Officially we are at 98 right now.
For grad options that includes:
Lenzy
Salerno
Correll
Patterson
Kristofic
Ademilola
Foskey
NaNa
Cross
Liufau
Bertrand
Kiser
Hart
Brown
Joseph
Vinson
Patterson, Foskey, and Joseph will all be gone. 4 to 5 more may not return.
From my last scholarship post, the list of possible transfers (who haven’t left yet):
Tucker
Riley
Johnson
Onye
Schweizter
Baker
Barnes
Keanaaina
Berrong
Walters
Payne
Spindler
I’d set the over/under at 9.5 of these guys leaving.
I wouldn’t rule out a surprise or two (Tyree? Styles? Wagner? Lewis?) where we’re not generally looking. Also, it’s possible special teams guys like Bryan and Peitsch leave this off-season.
I’d bet we will get down to 80-81 and leave some space for 4-5 transfers and/or grad transfers.
There’s some talk about bringing in 8-10 or more transfers and there just isn’t room to do that. Not with a 27-man recruiting class.
Lenzy didn’t apply in time for an additional sixth year based on a comment he made. OFD doesn’t include Mayer, Foskey, Joseph, Salerno and Patterson. The last accepted a senior bowl bid so he is done.
I think Spindler will see if he can win the guard spot. He may not decide until after the bowl. I figure one of Schweizter or Onye, but not likely both, unless Ademiola returns.
It wouldn’t shock me if one of Liufau, Bertrand or Kiser takes a grad year elsewhere.
Not sure why a starting LB would transfer when they all expect to start next year. Going from 40 snaps per game at a title contender to 60 snaps per game at a MAC school doesn’t make any sense to me.
From the grad options list I think we get these nine back:
Correll
Kristofic
NaNa
Cross
Liufau
Bertrand
Kiser
Hart
Vinson
FWIW Hart and Vinson are confirmed.
The only ones in your list that might leave if their spring goes poorly would be Kristofic and NaNa.
I will be curious if there is any possibility that Marist bulks up to move to Vyper as he is not a read and react linebacker.
FIFY
I could see one of the LBs getting passed up and transferring. 60 snaps per game at a MAC is probably better than 20 snaps per game at ND (couldn’t bring myself to type title contender).
Yeah, there’s too much talent on this roster for those 3 to be our main LBs again in 2023. Liufau did nothing to impress me this year.
If we start the three again, that will indicate an enormous miss in recruiting of Kollie and the three behind him, particularly Sneed.
Very helpful analysis as well as this reply. Merci!
Agree with all of these, plus there are plenty of other likely transfers. With a Transfer QB plus Minchey enrolling early, there’s gotta be a 50%+ chance Angeli or Buchner transfers out after the Spring.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Berrong wasn’t the only TE to transfer. 7 scholarship TEs is a lot.
I wouldn’t be shocked if one of Styles/Colzie/Thomas left, especially if one of the freshman WR and a transfer WR pass any of them in the Spring.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Baker wasn’t the only Tackle to transfer. I’m not sure where Carmody is on the depth chart, but he’s certainly not moving into a starting role.
If Alex Peitsch has his degree at the end of Spring, it wouldn’t shock me if he decided to just move on. I can’t imagine it’s a ton of fun being a backup long snapper.
Losing one of the QBs and one of the WRs would hurt. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the depth at any other position if any of these other guys left though. I don’t think ND is going to have a tough time getting down to the scholarship limit at all.
Agreed for sure, and they never do.
They’ve probably also never had 92-93 at this point of the year, but the portal has changed so much it’s made programs have to push it out that much, because they will get attrition.