Good morning, Irish fans! Despite the lack of consistent recruiting coverage by us over here at 18 Stripes this summer (and I do apologize for that), the Fighting Irish staff has continued to put in work all summer to land some of the best football recruits in the country. As some of you are aware, Irish Invasion is taking place this weekend. And I’m here to give you a quick update on some of the guys that will be visiting South Bend this weekend.
As always, this list is liable to change. Last minute additions and scratches are not only possible, but extremely likely. Recruits with offers are in bold, current Irish commits are in bold italics.
Commits
RB Markese Stepp
DE Justin Ademilola
DT Jayson Ademilola
LB Bo Bauer
DB Derrik Allen
Good crop of commits visiting this weekend, although it would have been nice if a few more guys were able to make it. Everybody seems solid right now, but of course Kalon Gervin also seemed solid a couple of months ago before he decided to reopen his recruitment. Markese Stepp continues to be a vocal leader of this class of 2018. Derrik Allen isn’t expected to make it to the Invasion itself, but talented safety is set to visit this weekend, which is pretty important considering he’s the only DB currently committed to the Irish.
2018 Visitors
LB Cameron McGrone
Rover Shayne Simon
TE George Takacs
DB Donald Johnson
DE Jayson Oweh
DB Jaylin Williams
ATH Reese Taylor
DB Paul Moala
OL Nick Marozas
OL Carlos Vettorello
DE Tyden Ferris
DB Taj Ward
DB Tywan Francis
DB Curry Benn
DB Luke Cameron
OL Sean Boles
Cameron McGrone, Shayne Simon, and Donald Johnson are all guys I had on my too early guess at the Notre Dame recruiting class of 2018 back in February. At that time, only Simon had received a Notre Dame offer. Now, all three have offers. And the Irish have a great shot with all three. So, yeah. Kudos to me on that one.
On a more serious note, if anyone is likely to commit this weekend, it’s probably Shayne Simon. He’s really been trending to ND lately, and it certainly helps that he’s making the trip with his friends and high school teammates, the Ademilola twins. George Takacs and Cameron McGrone are also possible, though not as likely.
If recent Irish Invasions are any indication, the Irish should receive at least a couple more commits within the next week or so. We’ll see if that ends up being the case.
2019 Visitors
DB Litchfield Ajavon
DT Jacob Lacey
LB Shane Lee
DE Joseph Anderson
DE George Karlaftis
DB Brian Williams
ATH Josh McKenzie
WR Jameson Williams
WR Rahmon Hart
WR Kyren Williams
RB Treyson Potts
DB Sebastian Castro
WR Ainias Smith
WR Aeneas DiCosmo
DB Corey Thomas
WR Craig Vaughn
RB John Branham Jr.
QB Ty Evans
QB Paul Tyson
QB Sam Howell
QB Ryan Hilinski
QB Peyton Matocha
Plenty of 2019 guys coming to town. DB Litchfield Ajavon is my biggest want for this class, mainly because we NEED to hear that name for 4 years. Jacob Lacey would also be a huge grab, and the Irish staff has put themselves in really good position with him. If there’s any 2019 kid to commit this weekend, I think it would be him. Another guy ND appears to be in good position for is DE George Karlaftis. He’s an in-state kid that the Irish are hoping to make a big move for.
As far as all these quarterbacks go, I wouldn’t expect Notre Dame to push for any of them while Top 10 overall player JT Daniels is still so high on the Irish (he was at Irish Invasion last year and was by far the best QB in attendance). Bear Bryant’s great-grandson, Paul Tyson, will be in South Bend though. And that’s pretty neat.
Other names of note are NBC’s Brian Williams, Fidel Castro’s great-nephew, and a Trojan War hero from space.
Would be pretty cool if for the 2019 class they had both DB Brian Williams and WR Kyren Williams commit. Would make for some fun match-ups in practice.
And also would be a good roommate sitcom if both Ainias Smith & Aeneas DiCosmo joined the team.
Was St Brown not listed at one time? What happened to him?
FYI…
Jacob Lacey had yo reschedule his visit for later in the month.
And Phil Jurkovec will be in town tomorrow.