Welcome back to 18 Stripes Big Board for Fighting Irish football. Today we will be going over Notre Dame’s targets at wide receiver — a position that’s seen a lot of changing in regards to Irish recruiting efforts.

Score Name State Ht./Wt. Temperature
.992 Donovan People-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
.931 Omar Manning TX 6-3/203 Cool
.915 Jeremiah Holloman GA 6-2/181 Mild
.907 Oliver Martin IA 6-1/190 Warm
.887 Noah Igbinoghene AL 6-0/190 Mild
.873 Jamire Calvin CA 5-9/175 Mild

In the Fold

Michael Young was the staff’s number one target at the slot position and has been an Irish commit since mid-July. He and his high school team have been impressive to start the season. They’re currently sitting at 4-0, including a last-second field goal victory this past week.

Jordan Pouncey committed to the Irish way back in June during the Irish Invasion. He recently made a position change to running back on his high school team and has been tearing things up for Winter Park. He recently took unofficial visits to Miami and UCF, so he may be a commit to keep an eye on if this season continues to go downhill for Notre Dame.

In Play

It continues to look more and more like Donovan Peoples-Jones will be playing college ball in Ann Arbor. I wouldn’t expect the Irish to land an official visit from him, and even if they did, it would take some form of miracle for him to end up committing to Notre Dame.

Joseph Lewis has been a long-time USC lean. With the recent rumblings about trouble at Southern Cal, could he open things up a bit more to other potential suitors? It’s too early to say for sure, but he seems to be pretty steady with his interest in the Trojans. He will be taking all of his official visits, though. So far he’s got Nebraska, Oregon, and Oklahoma visits set up.

Just a matter of time until Devonta Smith commits to Alabama. There are currently 30 crystal ball predictions in for the Army All-American — all in favor of the Tide.

Remember when Tarik Black was Notre Dame’s to lose? Well it looks like that’s exactly what happened. He visited Michigan for some barbecue event over the summer, and it unfortunately looks like it went extremely well for the Wolverines. The Irish may not even get Tarik in for an official visit.

Omar Manning has TCU, Texas, and Oklahoma as his top group. He recently formally accepted an invitation to play in the US Army All America game by accepting his game jersey.

Jeremiah Holloman recently visited South Bend for the Michigan State game. The Irish are definitely in the mix here, but it will be really tough to pull him out of Georgia. He’s unlikely to end up in this Irish class, but stranger things have happened.

If Notre Dame had offered Oliver Martin four or five months ago, he would probably already be committed to the Irish. But Oliver didn’t start to blow up until after the Opening in July, during which he performed extremely well against some of the best competition in the country. It took another month for the Irish to offer after that, but teams such as Michigan State, Iowa, and Michigan had already entered the fray at that point. Notre Dame recently started trending for him on the 247 Crystal Ball feature, as Oliver was in town for the Duke game with his family (including his sister, who supposedly has a swimming scholarship offer from Notre Dame). Michigan will undoubtedly pose some stiff competition here, but the Irish are in very good position.

Noah Igbinoghene had Notre Dame and Duke as his co-leaders a while back, but it doesn’t seem like Notre Dame is pushing that hard for him at this point. He could be a guy to keep an eye on for in the future, though. Look for him to set up an official.

Notre Dame offered Jamire Calvin when Hunter Echols was still a possibility to end up in this class. Unfortunately, Echols committed to USC shortly after announcing ND as his leader. With one slot receiver already in the fold, it’s unlikely the Irish make Calvin a priority moving forward.

Committed Elsewhere

Hezekiah Jones is committed to Texas A&M, but he did recently visit Notre Dame for the Michigan State game. He will be tough to pull out of Texas, though. He’s probably a safe bet to stick with his A&M commitment.

Greg Johnson is committed to Arizona, but the door may not be completely closed for Notre Dame. He keeps in contact with the Irish staff, so look for him to possibly take an official visit to South Bend this fall.

Tyrell Ajian is committed to Kentucky.

Trevon Grimes and Tyjon Lindsey are committed to Ohio State.

Charleston Rambo and Jalen Reagor are committed to Oklahoma.

Tee Higgins is committed to Clemson.

Jerry Jeudy is committed to Alabama.

DJ Matthews is committed to Florida State.

OrTre Smith is committed to South Carolina.

Osiris St. Brown decided to blaze his own trail and not follow in the footsteps of his brother, Equanimeous. He is committed to Stanford.

Tylan Wallace is committed to Oklahoma State.

Terrell Bynum is committed to Washington, but he may give Notre Dame a long look if the Irish staff decides to pursue him more.

Trey Blount is committed to Georgia.

Tahj Capehart is committed to Virginia Tech.

Taariq Johnson is committed to Cal.

Kevaughn Dingle is committed to Miami.

Kolby Taylor is committed to Oregon State.

Josh Johnson is committed to Iowa State.

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So there you have it. For those of you keeping up, Irish targets at receiver have changed tremendously over the past few months. Notre Dame seemed like a near lock to land at least one, probably two of OSB, Hezekiah, and Tarik Black. Now it looks like Notre Dame won’t land any of them. Oliver Martin is probably the best bet to join the Irish class at this point, but that’s far from a done deal. I get the sense we’ll see some more changes to this Big Board in the coming weeks.