Give us all of the sons of famous dads. On Monday, Notre Dame received the commitment from Arizona safety Kennedy Urlacher whose dad, Brian Urlacher, was an All-American at New Mexico and Pro Football Hall of Famer with the Chicago Bears.
Urlacher is finishing his junior year at Chandler High School in the suburbs of Phoenix. He joins Benjamin Morrison, Tosh Baker, Cole Luke, and Davonte Neal as recent Notre Dame commits from the state of Arizona.
COMMITTED🍀🍀 #GoIrish @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/XtLQhiRkRH
— Kennedy Urlacher (@k_urlacher11) May 1, 2023
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8778), #612 overall, #56 S, #13 in AZ
On3 Consensus — 3 star (87.24 rating), #683 overall, #71 S, #13 in AZ
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 3 star (87 rating), NR overall, #68 S, #14 in AZ
On3 — 3 star (89 rating), NR overall, #62 S, #12 in AZ
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #27 S, #10 in AZ
ESPN — 3 star (76 rating), NR overall, #59 S, #18 in AZ
Irish Sports Daily — 3 star (86 rating)
Recruiting can be weird, despite being the 2nd lowest rated recruit for Notre Dame in the 2024 class at least Urlacher is rated by all of the services so far. That’s unlike some other recent commits.
Cohort
Urlacher picked up an offer from Notre Dame this past January. He is also carrying Power 5 offers from Penn State, Wisconsin, TCU, Miami, Kansas State, Iowa, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Washington, California, and Illinois.
Highlights
Coming down hill to make a tackle is clearly a strength for Urlacher, as expected! His closing speed is impressive and he brings a lot of violence to his tackles. Urlacher spends a lot of time playing in a deep safety role but seems more well suited to a strong safety type in college. Listed at 180 pounds, he already has the neck of his safety-turned-linebacker father and is likely to add more good weight in the coming years.
Urlacher does well lined up over a receiver when it happens, although I’d like to see him work on his footwork more while in the defensive backfield. Often, it seems like he’s going through the motions and then exploding later to the ball. He will be an interesting prospect to watch if he remains nimble enough to play safety or if he grows into more of an outside linebacker.
Impact
Urlacher plays at one of the top schools in Arizona and all of the southwest and should remain in the spotlight during his senior year, to say nothing of his famous name. Chandler was also set to be one of the hot ticket items nationally for 2023 before no. 1 overall recruit and quarterback Dylan Raiola is expected to transfer to nearby Pinnacle High School.
Either way, Urlacher should be a 3-star to watch as he hits the camp circuit and continues to grow physically.
Welcome to the Irish family, Kennedy!
What do we think is the best case scenario — Zbikowski comp? Worst case — special teams and back up LB?
Worst case: Marist Liufau-esque run really fast and really hard directly at people and hope for the best.
I would say Nicco Fertitta would be a possible outcome on the low end. Lot of similarities there.
When are we going to start recruiting ELITE players?
I think they are, 11 of the top 15 in the country at least hold ND offers which feels like an uptick from the Kelly years where cursory outreach wasn’t even performed on most of the true elite.
The problem is there isn’t much traction or interest coming back from any of them. Justin Scott would help change the feel of the class a lot if they can get him signed but that won’t be easy or maybe even possible with a Georgia visit looming.
Overall the class isn’t terribly impressive rankings-wise, but Cam Williams seems very solid as the rare 5* WR who will join up. And if Carr hits big, that’s a potential game-changer for the future. Add in Scott and Lambert and it starts looking a lot better but they could use a big and unexpected win like an Elijah Rushing to really start pushing upwards.
We already did, last year.
Then the rules changed. And three 5* walked out the door. Not sure how we change that until or unless the NCAA restores a little sanity to the NIL and transfer process, AND Notre Dame makes a “por que no los dos” commitment to academic integrity and spending the $$$ to be a NC contender.
It’s a bit frustrating as an ND and STL Cardinals fans. Both organizations seem to have the resources to be in the top tier, but are content to have a really good team and hope to get lucky in the playoffs every few years as opposed to legitimately going in all year over year.
If Lambert eventually commits as expected that will be three of the top 50 in the 2024 class (joining Williams, Carr). Scott would make a fourth if he joins up. That’s not exactly going to have Bama or Georgia looking over their shoulders, but it’s something. Assuming the players hold their rankings.
Notre Dame top 50’s in recent years:
2023: none
2022: Sneed
2021: none
2020: Mayer, Jordan Johnson
2017, 2018, 2019: none
2016: Kraemer
2015: Wimbush
I just guess it’s a good thing the 2024 elite guys are seemingly less flighty and more invested in Notre Dame than the 5 star’s they went after in 2023.