We are approaching the halfway mark of the 2023 recruiting cycle and this is our first scholarship update of the 2022 calendar year following a December bowl-prep check in after Brian Kelly left for LSU. While Notre Dame lost on the field in the Fiesta Bowl the success and growing optimism off the field through recruiting has been a major positive for this new coaching regime.
First, let’s look at the players who are heading into their last season with the Fighting Irish.
***18 Stripes Scholarship Tracker CLICK HERE***
Out of Eligibility Following 2022:
DT Jayson Ademilola
DT Chris Smith
LB Bo Bauer
CB Tariq Bracy
S Houston Griffith
We had 5 players listed here in the winter, one transferred for his final season, but Notre Dame welcomed Harvard graduate transfer Chris Smith for the 2022 season only. He was a 2018 recruit but with the Ivy League cancelling their 2020 season Smith is now able to play one more final year.
2023-24 Academic Classes
9 Verbal Commits
21 Sophomores
23 Juniors
14 Seniors
19 Graduates
86 Total Scholarships
Okay, we’ve had a ton of player movement since our last update. In December we highlighted 3 crucial 2023 recruits (QB Dante Moore, WR Carnell Tate, S Peyton Bowen) and the Irish picked up the commitment of Bowen on New Year’s Day. Notre Dame also added linebacker Preston Zinter on February 11th to bring the 2023 class to 9 verbal commits.
On the NFL front, both Kyle Hamilton and Kyren Williams had already declared early prior to our last update. Since then, Isaiah Pryor, Drew White, and Kevin Austin decided not to come back for graduate seasons and are testing the pro waters.
Several other players have chosen to play their graduate seasons elsewhere, including: Shayne Simon (Pittsburgh), Jay Bramblett (LSU), and George Takacs (Boston College).
Several other graduate players are gone from the roster and have not found new homes yet, including: Paul Moala and C’Bo Flemister while John Dirksen has retired and will not play football in 2022.
Rising senior Quinn Carroll transferred to Minnesota while fellow 2019 recruit KJ Wallace is looking for a new home, as well.
Notre Dame also lost 2021 recruit JoJo Johnson to the Transfer Portal so far this year and remember Kia Kahanu is on a mission and will not return until the 2024 season with 3 years of eligibility remaining. Lastly, walk-ons Matt Salerno and Michael Vinson were given scholarships this off-season and technically have eligibility through 2023 as rising graduate students with the Covid year applicable.
List of Eligible 2023 Grad Students
* Indicates no redshirt, 2023 eligible only due to Covid.
$ Indicates 6th-year 2023 eligible due to Covid.
# Indicates regular 5th-year eligible for 2023 but also 6th-year eligible for 2024 due to Covid.
Tier 1
DE Isaiah Foskey #
C Jarrett Patterson $
CB Cam Hart #
LB Marist Liufau #
LB Jack Kiser #
DE Justin Ademilola $
OG Andrew Kristofic #
DT Howard Cross #
DT Jacob Lacey *
LB JD Bertrand #
C Zeke Correll #
WR Braden Lenzy $
Foskey and Patterson are as good as gone after 2022 while it’s probably very unlikely Ademilola and Lenzy return for 6th seasons.
Hart, Liufau, Kiser, Kristofic, Cross, and Lacey are all key Tier 1 players that will hopefully return for 2023, although the first 2 have ceilings that could make a decision to head to the NFL more enticing.
We’ll wait and see how Bertrand does coming back from his wrist surgery. He felt like a starter moving over to Mike this off-season although Bauer may be making that difficult, plus there are a lot of young linebackers coming through who could give him second thoughts about sticking around, we’ll see.
Correll is getting starter reps again this spring with the Patterson injury and you’d think he’s willing to stay for 2023 and finally be the full-time starter at center.
Tier 2
DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah #
WR Joe Wilkins $
S DJ Brown $
It’s perhaps harsh to put NaNa down in this category as he’s nominally a backup at strong-side end. Still, he’s relatively inexperienced and has a lot to prove.
Wilkins will now be coming off foot surgery in his 5th season while DJ Brown could be playing less with the emergence of Ramon Henderson. I doubt either are 6th-year candidates.
Tier 3
DE Osita Ekwonu #
WR Matt Salerno $
LS Michael Vinson $
As mentioned, Salerno and Vinson could come back for 2023. Ekwonu has bounced around from linebacker, to running back, to defensive line, back to linebacker and is suddenly a redshirt junior. The history of this sport suggests his role will be minimal and he’s likely to move on after 2022.
2023 Positional Needs
Primary Focus: QB, WR, OT, DT, CB
Notre Dame continues to feel good about quarterback Dante Moore (0.9976) and is hopeful of the April 19th commitment from Texas wideout Braylon James (0.9676). Both would be absolute cornerstone pieces to the recruiting class and the first in a hopeful wave of commits to balance the 2023 class out on this side of the ball.
If those pieces fall to the Irish in the coming weeks it would mean 7 players inside the top 105 of the Composite rankings with a pair of 5-stars among them. And this before Notre Dame starts adding its haul of offensive linemen.
No doubt, a cycle-long focus on wide receiver should continue with an emphasis on chasing Carnell Tate (0.9819) who is good friends with Moore.
The program just brought in a grad transfer at defensive tackle which shows some weaknesses in the personnel both today and in the long-term with no commits at this spot for 2023 yet.
Even with Justyn Rhett already in the fold and 6 corners on the roster from the 2021-22 classes this is an area of need as it’s likely some of those young corners shake loose over the next year to 18 months.
Secondary Focus: RB, TE, IOL, DE, LB, S
Notre Dame already has a commit at tight end and running back, 2 at defensive end, 2 linebackers, and 2 safeties. There are no interior offensive linemen for 2023 yet it’s possible 4 out of the 5 players signed for 2022 could be playing somewhere on the inside.
Assuming at least 16 more verbal commitments for 2023, I’m focusing on filling things out like this:
QB (1)
RB (1)
WR (4)
OT (2)
IOL (1)
DT (2)
DE (1)
LB (1)
CB (2)
S (1)
A second running back not be necessary but you wonder if the Irish will fish over the next several months for someone more highly rated. Additionally, any additional bodies at either linebacker or defensive end could include a hybrid-type of player the way Jordan Botelho was in high school. There’s also the possibility of special teams recruits entering the fold, too. With Vinson on scholarship and rising academic junior Alex Peitsch on the team it’s not likely at long snapper. Both the young kicker (Bryan) and punter (McFerson) are underclassmen and it won’t be much of a need unless either of these guys look to struggle long-term.
Fyi Moala announced that he’s heading to Idaho.
The eligibility lists are blowing my mind with the Covid year. How is it possible that guys like Lenzy and Patterson and Justin Ademilola still have eligibility through 2023? You’re telling me that Foskey could still play through 2024?! Wild times.
It is really crazy. Someone like Kiser is finishing up his junior year academically right now, yet he could still be playing through 2024 as well (3 more football seasons). Or on the other end you have Bracy, who basically will be a starter/spot-starter for 5 full seasons from 2018-22. I do wonder how this type of stuff is crunching the younger players as a whole.
And though guys don’t always stay for 6 years or like to remain forever, I wonder who is more likely. I think Kiser and Correll are my picks. It feels like Correll has already been around forever, yet he could have 3 full seasons to go too and probably won’t start this year, but possibly could in 2023 (and even 2024!). That’s crazy.
Thanks, I saw he had been offered several weeks back but didn’t know that he committed recently.
Moala to Idaho is interesting… I wonder if that was his only offer. I would think a middle of the road BIG or a MAC program would have had some interest, or if he was set on going west, the Mountain West or middle of the road PAC team (I guess that is all PAC teams). I thought he had a lot of promise and the injuries really sucked for him.
2023 number 7 national QB Chris Vizzina is going to announce he’s going to Clemson tomorrow. He held on as long as he did waiting for a committable offer from ND, but we put him off during our Dante Moore pursuit, so let’s hope that works out for us.
I’m 100% OK with swinging for the fences on this one. It would have been nice if Moore would have committed earlier so we could nab Vizzina if it wasn’t us. But I’m feeling good about Buchner for a couple more years so we can swing for the fences next year.
And if the only way we get Tate is with Moore on board, let’s go for it.
I feel like Vizzina is the way to keep getting 10 win seasons and then blown out in bowl games, not the way to try to hang with the top guys.
Plenty of people think he’s better than Moore. At .9775, I believe he’d be ND’s highest ranked QB since Dayne Crist. He’d hardly be a consolation prize.
Seems like a real egg on face moment if we don’t get Moore so I sure hope we do.
I could be completely wrong, but I don’t think it’s exactly like Vizzina got all the way to wanting to commit to ND and they told him no.
Both Vizzina and ND had some mutual interest in one another, but always seemed more like flirting and keeping options open so when something better came around (Bama or Clemson for Vizzina, Moore for ND) they would look other directions.
Maybe if ND made Vizzina a priority and pushed for him they could have got him locked up, but what generally all ND fans want is big game hunting. Vizzina is a really good prospect, but Moore is even more elite.
Yes we should swing for the fences on Moore and we get him it’s hopefully a moot point. As tlndma mentioned, Vizzina isn’t crazy far behind Moore, this isn’t like missing out on Angeli to go after Moore. Hopefully we get Moore. If we don’t, hopefully we can get Vizzina. But those are both ifs where one has to go positively to not keep the Kelly-esque QB problems around and hindering out top potential
Oh I agree that Vizzina is a very good prospect, more speaking to the point that I don’t think Vizzina was trying to commit to Notre Dame and they wouldn’t take it.
Just my opinion but I believe Vizzina was always going to go to the big southern school that wooed him first and Vizzina/ND was more just a courtship rather than either side’s eventual #1 choice, and on a certain level I think both understood, perhaps unspoken, as they felt out the situation.
(However, I’m also of the mind that it’s also all but a matter of time before ND lands Moore, unless some major changes of heart happen.)
Yea I highly doubt Vizzina was breaking down ND’s door trying to commit and ND was like – no we are waiting actually. And Vizzina just got tired of waiting.
From what I’ve read and heard, he had keen interest in ND.
Keen interest, yes. But I wouldn’t paint it as Vizzina was holding off on other schools (especially Clemson!) to wait and see if ND would accept his commitment. He was interested in Notre Dame, they were interested in him. But he was also living his life, exploring his options and probably really waiting for Clemson or Alabama to make a move on him more than he was just pining away to see if ND was ever going to make him their priority.
Exactly.
We’ll never know as he didn’t get a committable offer.
keen:
synonyms:
enthusiastic · avid · eager · ardent · passionate · fervent · fervid ·
The assumption/declaration that Vizzina didn’t have a commitable offer from Notre Dame is not necessarily factual. It’s not necessarily incorrect either, but it’s making an assertion based on the unknown (as far as I know). It would not be a first for a program to take 2 top QB’s in a cycle, and many more pursue multiple high-end QB’s.
His interest was not as keen going through the process and seeing he was a (distant) second choice. From reading pay sites, I never got the sense that Vizzina was dying to give ND his commitment, even though he was certainly interested and happy to go through the recruitment process.
Just because he was considering ND doesn’t necessarily mean it got to the point he was hoping to commit if they would take him. I think a lot of that is conjecture and a leap into more projection than actually being known.
And you think the chance that they could have gotten both was ???
If Vizzina had been ND’s first choice they would have had a much better chance than they did with Moore being their # 1 guy. He had legitimate interest.
“Legitimate interest”≠“he was going to commit but didn’t have a commitable offer” is the whole point I’m trying to get across.
And the point I’m trying to make is he might not be committing today, to another school, if he did.
“if he did” is the leap into the unknown that we can’t make accurately. Anything could be so with an “if”.
Kinda rich to play that game when the entire argument that tlndma and I are objecting is that Notre Dame made the right move if we end up with Moore and if Moore is in fact better. That very well could be the case. It could also be the case that we shot ourselves in the foot and shouldn’t be so glib about the situation
I’m not being glib, that’s a fine position to have when stated like that. Again, the only thing I was saying is that there is 0% proof that Vizzina was attempting to commit to ND but was prevented by ND from doing so.
The assumption that Vizzina would have ended up at ND (especially once Clemson or Bama got active with him) is very much a stretch of projections into the “ifs”, though.
Bottom line is that ND did prioritize Moore, and there’s no reason not to do so. He’s seen almost universally as a better QB prospect.
That’s true of every recruit. And we can only have 1 #1 guy.
And Moore seems to have at least that (all reports of course are that we lead). So why would we ever make the lesser ranked recruit the #1 guy when we have a legit shot at the higher ranked recruit?
Those were responses to posts that suggested he didn’t have true interest. From everything I’ve read or heard he did.
The rankings have Moore #1. Plenty of people like Vizzina better, myself included. Notre Dame does not.
I’d be good with taking 3 CB’s and maybe sacrificing the safety or a LB, also, sad that we need to take 4 WR’s. That room is empty.
Similarly, I was thinking consider taking 5 WRs and 2 CBs, see how they look when they get on campus, and then shift one of the WRs to CB if necessary.
How about 5 and 3? With the portal these days, just load up.
Those pictures from Dante Moore’s visit go so hard