Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Big Board for Fighting Irish football, everybody. Now that this football season is over for Notre Dame, the staff will be hitting the recruiting trail hard trying to close this class out strong. Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of good news to share with you guys over the next couple of months. Since we are getting so close to the end of the recruiting cycle and the boards are getting smaller and smaller, what we’ll do from here on out is split up these Big Board updates into offense and defense. We might also separate defense into Front 7 and Secondary, as there are more targets still on the board on that side of the ball.

Let’s get to it.

Quarterback

As it has been for months now, the Big Board for the QB position is non-existent. The Irish found their guy in March when Avery Davis (.908) committed. Avery definitely doesn’t have ideal size — he’s listed at 5-11/190 on the recruiting sites. But what he lacks in stature he makes up for in athleticism, explosiveness, and play-making ability. If you asked me to compare him to anyone, I’d probably say he’s similar Houston’s Greg Ward but with more upside as a passer.

Davis’ high school career just ended Saturday night with a 55-41 Cedar Hill loss to Desoto. Despite the loss, Davis put on a pretty big show. He was 25/39 passing for 463 yards and 4 touchdowns, with another 109 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Avery will play in the Under Armour All-America game on New Years Day.

Running Back

The Irish have one back committed in Cheshire, Connecticut’s CJ Holmes (.896). CJ will be at The Echoes football banquet on December 9th. He’s a rock solid commit who adamantly defends Notre Dame on Twitter when people like former ND commit Donovan Jeter for some reason can’t help but take jabs at the Irish.

Score Name State Ht./Wt. Temperature
.995 Cam Akers MS 5-11/215 Cold
.965 Anthony McFarland Jr. MD 5-8/200 Cold
.898 CJ Cotman FL 5-11/180 Cold

CJ Cotman backed off on his Tennessee pledge a few days ago. He’s got a North Carolina visit coming up this weekend. ND probably won’t get involved here.

Cam Akers is an elite back who has yet to make it clear where he will be committing to. He’s high on Ohio State, Florida State, and Ole Miss among others. He’ll play in the Army All-America game on January 7th.

Miami is coming on strong with Anthony McFarland, and Maryland is still in the picture. He’s almost certain to pick on of those two teams. Anthony will also play in the Under Armour All-America game.

Wide Receiver

The Irish are still sitting at two receiver commits — Florida’s Jordan Pouncey (.854) and Louisiana’s Michael Young (.871). Pouncey had an excellent senior season and there was some speculation that he might look elsewhere, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Notre Dame is so important to him that he actually traded his normal birthday/Christmas presents in exchange for a flight to ND for the Echoes. Not much word has come out on Michael Young. He doesn’t appear to be looking around, though.

The Irish would like to add another two receivers to this class.

Score Name State Ht./Wt. Temperature
.992 Donovan Peoples-Jones MI 6-2/195 Cool
.991 Joseph Lewis CA 6-2/207 Cool
.965 Devonta Smith LA 6-1/165 Cold
.941 Tarik Black CT 6-4/208 Cool
.907 Oliver Martin IA 6-1/190 Mild
.873 Jamire Calvin CA 5-9/175 Warm
.887 Chris Miller TX 5-11/175 Warm

Donovan Peoples-Jones is still going to commit to Michigan. It’s just a matter of time.

Joseph Lewis is probably USC-bound. I’m sure we’ll have fun watching him shred ND for three years.

Devonta Smith is still a heavy Alabama lean. So much so that 29 of his 30 Crystal Ball predictions on 247 are to the Tide (the other being to LSU).

Tarik Black is likely another future Michigan commit. The Wolverines swept him away during a visit before the season and communications went dark between him and ND soon after.

I’m getting tired of saying this, but Oliver Martin is probably another Michigan-bound kid if the Wolverines have room for him (and I would not be surprised if they don’t). I could see him at ND if he can’t commit to Michigan, but he has concerns about the future of this coaching staff.

Finally some good news here as Jamire Calvin will be at ND for The Echoes. Reports are that he tried to commit to ND in the past, but the staff wouldn’t let him until he made it up for a visit. Now that visit is happening, but the Irish are in a tough battle with Nebraska here.

The newest offer sent out by the Irish staff is Denton, Texas’ Chris Miller. Chris is currently a Colorado commit, but an Irish offer is one that he has wanted for a while now. If he ends up taking a visit to ND, things could heat up fast. The Irish like him as a receiver, but they also see him as a guy with the versatility to also play defensive back if need be.

Tight End

Notre Dame has the best tight end haul in the country in the class of 2017, as two Top 100 guys are in the fold. Cypress (TX) Cy-Fair’s Brock Wright (.964) is rated as the #2 tight end by the 247 Composite and he plans on enrolling early at Notre Dame.

Arlington Heights (IL) St. Viator’s Cole Kmet (.953) saw a big boost to his ratings over the fall and he is now rated as the #3 tight end in the country.

Brock is an excellent all-around tight end who can catch and block, which should allow him to see the field early. Cole is a huge receiving threat of a caliber similar to Tyler Eifert. Both should be excellent additions to Notre Dame. These were the only tight ends the Irish offered in this cycle.

Offensive Line

The Irish have a very solid haul along the offensive line as it is, and they are hoping they can add one more. Wexford (PA) North Allegheny’s Josh Lugg (.920) is a pretty raw prospect right now, but his upside is off the charts. He’s drawn quite a few comparisons to current ND tackle Mike McGlinchey.

Clearwater (FL) Central Catholic’s Dillan Gibbons (.879) was ND’s first commit in this cycle. He projects as a guard in South Bend.

IMG Academy’s Robert Hainsey (.962) is another Under Armour All-American. He could play either guard or tackle for Notre Dame.

Score Name State Ht./Wt. Temperature
.999 Foster Sarell WA 6-6/320 Mild
.989 Trey Smith TN 6-5/300 Cool
.983 Austin Jackson AZ 6-6/270 Cold
.928 Aaron Banks CA 6-7/315 Mild

Foster Sarell is still juggling a top 3 of Stanford, Washington, and Notre Dame. I’m not sure who he will end up picking but I’m not confident in our chances here.

Trey Smith was looking like a Tennessee lock (they hired his sister as an analyst of some kind), but maybe not so much anymore? The last couple few Crystal Balls for him have been Foggy and Ohio State. Tennessee probably still leads, though, and he’s deciding on Tuesday.

Austin Jackson is still looking like a pretty good bet to land at USC, although Texas A&M and Arizona State are not completely out of the question.

Aaron Banks is a tough one to read. Pretty much nobody is confident that they know where he will end up, and he’s deciding this Friday. We do know that Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, and Oregon are the contenders here.