We are working our way through Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class composed of 24 signees from all over the United States. Today we’re taking a look at our last position of the cycle with the safeties.
Safety Ethan Long
Bio:
Long is the 3rd recruit this cycle to sign with Notre Dame out of the Brunswick School, following quarterback Blake Hebert and offensive linemen Matty Augustine. He picked up his Notre Dame offer in the early summer of 2023 in addition to scholarship offers from the likes of Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. In early 2024, he would verbal to the Irish.
Ranking:
514th overall, 44th S, 5th in Connecticut with a 0.8875 Composite score.
Size:
This was one of the quieter commitments this cycle and I’ll admit I wasn’t prepared to see such a tall and rangy prospect while watching his film at Brunswick. Long is enrolled early with the program and is listed at 6’2″ tall.
He’s listed at 194 pounds although he looks and plays a little larger than that to me. There’s a good possibility he’ll end up as one of the heaviest safeties on the roster early in his career.
Hype Factor: 3.5/10
This was a very strong defensive back class for Notre Dame it’s fair to say that Long is one of the more basic prospects in terms of his profile. Notre Dame recruited 4 out of the top 5 players in Connecticut this cycle and Long is the lowest rated of them all.
Outlook: Foundational
I get the sense Long will end up being an important player in this class. His interviews show a high level of maturity and the prep school kids tend to transition really well to Notre Dame’s culture. In any other cycle I’d be wondering if he would grow into a linebacker although as we’ll see below there’s another classmate who is better positioned to make that move from safety. Could Long turn into a starting strong safety for the Irish? He has a skillset that would work at outside linebacker/Rover if he can add enough size.
Safety Brandon Logan
Bio:
Coming out of nearby Fort Wayne, Indiana’s R Nelson Snider High School, Logan was committed to Vanderbilt as a center field prospect. Maybe due to the baseball angle, his recruitment was pretty quiet prior to a flip to Notre Dame on August 10th last year. Logan is scheduled to play both football and baseball with the Irish.
Ranking:
629th overall, 50th S, 12th in Indiana with a 0.8807 Composite score.
Size:
The recruiting services for football and baseball pretty much all had Logan listed at 6’0″ (his highlight video below lists him at 6’1″ even!) although on his Notre Dame recruiting page the school has him listed at 5’11” instead.
He looks to have good size for a baseball prospect, although for football the 186 pound listed weight is solid but not spectacular for a safety prospect.
Hype Factor: 3/10
You can see Logan’s centerfield instincts at work in his highlight package. He seems to have a good eye for coverage and can break quickly on the ball in the air. I was impressed with his ability to come down hill and tackle, too. As a top 100 prospect for baseball, the question will become if he can focus enough on football to develop into a starter for the Irish?
Outlook: Which Ball?
Logan is not enrolled early with the Irish and for football’s sake that might be a good thing. Normally when a freshman is on campus starting in January there can be a masters of none type of plan going on while a player tries to juggle football and baseball duties throughout the late winter and spring. When Logan arrives this summer, he should be able to devote himself completely to football.
Safety JaDon Blair
Bio:
Blair played at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His dad played college football on the defensive line at Eastern Carolina before having a cup of coffee in the NFL and NFL Europe. Notre Dame was one of Blair’s first offers in April 2023 and he would commit to the Irish on July 5, 2024 after several official visits to other schools last summer.
Ranking:
154th overall, 13th S, 6th in North Carolina with a 0.9349 Composite score.
Size:
This is one of the most unique body types at Notre Dame in several years. You sometimes roll your eyes at some of these listings but Blair looks every bit of his 6’5″ height. He is enrolled early which means currently only Bryce Young is a taller defender on the entire roster.
With this height, just 195 pounds is definitely skinny. For comparison’s sake, he’s basically Jason Onye minus 100 pounds. Suffice to say, there’s going to be a lot of room for added weight in the coming years.
Hype Factor: 8/10
In terms of athleticism and a freak-like football frame, Blair has tremendous amounts of hype. However, with so much height and a lower weight I have to pull back a little bit and ponder whether he’s going to develop as a safety, linebacker, or maybe even wide receiver.
Outlook: Hamilton Redux
The comparisons to Kyle Hamilton are a high bar but fair. Let there be no doubt that despite Blair’s ultimate question marks about his future position he was an excellent safety prospect in high school. In fact, right now I’d keep him at safety unless he gets too big for the position. To stay with the comparison, Hamilton was 15 pounds heavier as a true freshman. I am guessing eventually the coaching staff would like to use Blair as a hybrid safety but it’ll be tough for him to play close to the line of scrimmage until he’s well over 200 pounds.
