Notre Dame football recruiting continued its hot streak with the Class of 2018 tonight, as linebacker Matthew “Bo” Bauer has verbally committed to the Fighting Irish.

Bo was in South Bend for Irish Invasion a couple of months ago. Afterwards, he named Notre Dame his leader despite the fact that he had not yet received an offer. It took some waiting — and he needed to decide that he wanted to focus solely on football instead of playing baseball as well — but Bo finally received his offer today during another unofficial visit to campus. He committed on the spot.

The 247 Sports Composite ranks the 6-3/215-pounder out of Erie, PA as the #146 overall player and the #2 inside linebacker in the class of 2018.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247 — 4 star (92 rating), #96 overall, #2 ILB, #4 in PA

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), NR overall, NR position, NR in PA

Scout — 4 star, #171 overall, #15 OLB, #6 in PA

ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), #188 overall, #6 ILB, #5 in PA

247 Composite — 4 star (.9395), #146 overall, #2 ILB, #5 in PA

Cohort

Bo chose the Irish over other offers from Penn State, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and others. He was also garnering interest from Ohio State, Michigan, and UCLA.

Highlights

Bo’s highlights are really fun to watch. This is a really aggressive player who clearly relishes contact. On the very first play of this film, he knocked the lead blocker into the ball-carrier with enough force to put the carrier on his butt. Bo plays fast, knows how to attack his gaps, and seems to be able to diagnose the play really well. I get the sense that he has some really good football instincts. He excels in stopping the run and he does a pretty exceptional job as a blitzer as well. His tape doesn’t show him in coverage at all (probably because he’s so effective at getting after the quarterback), so he will most likely need to work on that before he suits up in an Irish uniform.

Impact

Notre Dame just continues to rack up blue-chip commits from the class of 2018. Bo is the sixth commit in the class, and all of them rate as 4-stars or higher on the 247 Composite. Bo is also the fourth commit for the defensive front seven. Jayson and Justin Ademilola will likely end up at DT and DE, respectively. Ovie Oghoufo and Bo make up the linebackers of this class. Who would have guessed the Irish would have gotten off to such a great start there?

I gotta say, I really like what I see from Bo’s film. He looks like he will be an excellent asset once he arrives on campus. There will be a lot of depth at linebacker once he arrives at Notre Dame, but his instincts and athleticism should make the transition from high school to college a little bit easier on him. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if he ends up making an impact within his first couple of years of being in South Bend.

Welcome to the Irish family, Bo!