Halloween has come and gone and now we’re at the point where the recruiting class of 2018 is really coming together. We’ll probably see a couple of new names pop up on the board here in the next couple of months, but right now the Irish have zeroed in on their top targets and are looking to finish strong on the defensive side of the ball.
247C | Pos | Name | Temp |
.998 | DE | Micah Parsons | Cold |
.989 | DE | KJ Henry | Cold |
.966 | DE | Tyreke Smith | Cold |
.915 | DE | Joseph Ossai | Cold |
.906 | DE | Elijah Wade | Cold |
.898 | DE | Andrew Chatfield | Cold |
.887 | DE | Andres Fox | Cold |
.931 | DE | Jayson Oweh | Cold |
.866 | DE | Daniel Carson | Cold |
.866 | DE | Kingsley Enagbare | Cool |
.853 | DT | Josh Walker | Cold |
.967 | LB | Solomon Tuliapupu | Mild |
.944 | LB | Dax Hollifield | Cold |
.963 | LB | Payton Wilson | Cool |
.946 | LB | Channing Tindall | Cold |
.891 | LB | Elijah Winston | Cold |
.999 | CB | Patrick Surtain Jr | Cold |
.992 | CB | Anthony Cook | Cold |
.983 | CB | Isaac Taylor-Stuart | Cold |
.973 | CB | Brendan Radley-Hiles | Cold |
.973 | CB | Kelvin Joseph | Cold |
.917 | CB | Kalon Gervin | Cold |
.916 | CB | Kyler Gordon | Warm |
.915 | CB | Christian Tutt | Cold |
.872 | CB | Noah Boykin | Cool |
.872 | CB | Tariq Bracy | Warm |
.839 | CB | Joe Wilkins Jr | Mild |
.978 | S | Tyreke Johnson | Cold |
.952 | S | Aashari Crosswell | Cold |
.903 | S | Julius Irvin | Warm |
.842 | S | BJ Crim | Hot |
.841 | S | Chris Mitchell | Mild |
.812 | S | Jeremiah Salaam | Cold |
.934 | ATH | Alontae Taylor | Warm |
Notes
The defensive end board is ice cold right now, except for Kingsley Enagbare, who was recently upgraded to cool. He’s currently committed to South Carolina, but he just recently set up his official visit to ND for the Navy game (November 18th).
It seemed for awhile as though ND was done recruiting linebackers, but that changed recently. Whether that means something the for the future of a current ND player or commit, I’m not sure. But the Irish got Solomon Tuliapupu on campus for the USC game. He had nothing but good things to say coming out of that domating win over what is probably still his top school. Those in the know swear ND put themselves in the mix here but this is still probably a longshot at best. Current North Carolina commit Payton Wilson also recently set up an official visit to ND for the Navy game, and the Irish are hoping to make a big move on him.
At corner, the Irish are mostly keyed in on Kyler Gordon, Tariq Bracy, and Alontae Taylor. Gordon has ND in his top 2 with his home state team, the Washington Huskies. Bracy has ND as his top school right now and it appears as though the Irish will earn his commitment in time, but it sounds like he’d give USC a hard look if they were to offer as well. Taylor is currently committed to Tennessee but I mean, c’mon. We all know it’s just a matter of time before Butch Jones is gone. Taylor also very recently visited for the NC State game, and some think that ND probably has the best shot to land him at this point in time. Long way to go, though.
At safety, the Irish are really only looking at two guys these days — Julius Irvin and BJ Crim. Irvin is a tough read. He appears to be struggling with a top 2 of ND and USC. It’s only a matter of time before Crim commits to ND, though. He’s supposedly just waiting for academic clearance.
The Irish also have a couple of fall-back options in case of an emergency with defensive back recruiting. Joe Wilkins Jr and Chris Mitchell are guys that ND would probably land if they pushed, but it looks like ND just has other guys higher on their board. Wilkins will be in town this weekend for the Wake Forest game, however.
Already in the Fold
Derrik Allen — S — .962
Shayne Simon — LB — .941
Jack Lamb — LB — .937
Jayson Ademilola — DT — .935
Bo Bauer — LB — .911
Ovie Oghoufo — LB — .882
Ja’Mion Franklin — DT — .864
Justin Ademilola — DE — .862
Paul Moala — S — .844
I know these relationships take a long time to set up, but can we really not get anyone to bite based on Elko’s track record and the massive turnaround in one year?
Thank the lord we have 3 sophomore edge rushers to hold things steady until we get some top talent at DE
I think we will reap those benefits in the next cycle. I think ND is going to be a monster on the recruiting trail in 2019.
Taylor, Irvin, Gordon or Bracy, and Tuliapupu would make for a ridiculously good defensive class. Tuliapupu will end up at USC, but he’d be more icing than anything.
If we finish with 3 out of Taylor, Irvin, Gordon, and Bracy I will be very pleased. It would really make up for the not spectacular defensive class from last year.
Great job Tyler. Keep the updates coming.
Agreed! And get a CB already
Thirding the seconding of the great job! Always appreciative of recruiting updates.
Fourth-ing. These are always great information.
Unfortunately I doubt we’ll get Taylor, based on recent developments – he tweeted today that he was “beyond blessed” to get an offer from his “childhood dream school.” Which would be Alabama. He gone, as they say. That’s a tough one because it really sounded like we did a good job with his visit and we had some positive momentum.
It’ll be interesting to see what the staff does with Wilkins this week. If they push hard, it’s probably a good sign that they’re not all that confident about all the guys still on the board.
Sad!
This led me to go to 247, and looks from the latest crystal ball that Julius “The Doctor” Irvin is trending away from us too (and, worse, towards USC). Also sad!
Sounds like the staff will indeed start treating Wilkins as more of a priority than a fallback option