The early national signing period opens up on Wednesday, December 21st and in keeping with recent tradition we can expect nearly all of Notre Dame’s commits to officially commit right before Christmas. That leaves 78 days for the Irish to finish up their 2023 recruiting efforts. Recently, Notre Dame coaches were on the recruiting trail during the bye week and interestingly keeping a tight lid on the quarterbacks they were out visiting.
Intrigue!
It has been reported for months that the Irish are willing to sign a very large class which would mean some robust roster attrition and a decent uptick in the recruiting vibes to close out Marcus Freeman’s first cycle in South Bend.
That type of big close for 2023 would mean a couple commits heretofore not on our radar. Plus, we’ll tackle transfer possibilities down below.
***18 Stripes Scholarship Tracker CLICK HERE***
Out of Eligibility Following 2022:
WR Avery Davis
OL Josh Lugg
DT Jayson Ademilola
DT Chris Smith
LB Bo Bauer
CB Tariq Bracy
S Houston Griffith
A reminder that this list will remain pretty short until we work our way through the Covid season and the current junior class is fully cycled through, which means not until the 2025 recruiting class begins.
With the medical retirement of Avery Davis following another ACL injury the list shrinks even further. His scholarship was given to tight end Davis Sherwood who was a walk-on from the 2021 class, so presumably 2-3 more years of having him on the books.
2023-24 Academic Classes
22 Verbal Commits
21 Sophomores
24 Juniors
14 Seniors
19 Graduates
100 Total Scholarships
Recruiting has slowed down since the football season began. Our last scholarship update was back in July with the following commits happening through early October:
August 4th
LB Jaiden Ausberry 0.9407
August 5th
S Ben Minich 0.8975
August 6thÂ
RB Dylan Edwards 0.9156
August 24th
DL Armel Mukam
Revisiting Keon Keeley emotions.Â
I’m sure no one has forgot that a couple of decommits happened since our last update including edge rusher Keon Keeley (0.9955) and offensive tackle Elijah Paige (0.8971).
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 #
↑ DT Howard Cross #
↑ DT Jacob Lacey *
↑ DE Justin Ademilola $
↑ C Zeke Correll #
LB Marist Liufau #
LB Jack Kiser #
↑ S DJ Brown $
LB JD Bertrand #
↑ DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah #
Both DJ Brown and Osafo-Mensah move up from tier 2 based on their play so far in 2022. Brown was injured in the last game but has been the clear no. 2 safety and is in line to be the unquestioned veteran starter in 2023 if he chooses to come back. NOM is currently making a big jump in playing time as a key backup and would be an important piece to next year’s team.
Cross and Lacey have been among the most dependable and productive players on the team this year, they’re moving up too.
Correll most definitely was on track to be dropped down to tier 2 based on his first couple performances. However, he’s picked things up lately and we still have the issue of not having anyone in the pipeline yet to become the center in 2023.
Tier 2
↓ OG Andrew Kristofic #
↓ WR Braden Lenzy $
↑ WR Matt Salerno $
WR Joe Wilkins $
Kristofic will be an interesting case for next year. He’s gone from holding down a starting job in 2021 to not playing in 2022, although a job will be there for the taking in 2023. Will he feel like sticking around?
It seemed like Lenzy was debating not coming back in 2022 and with a disappointing 7 receptions in 4 games I doubt there’s a big push from either side for him to return next year.
Salerno is actually playing a lot, maybe he’ll stick around.
Tier 3
DE Osita Ekwonu #
LS Michael Vinson $
Vinson is a hugely popular player on the team but may not be a huge 6th-year need as a long snapper. Ekwonu hasn’t played much in his career and hasn’t made a tackle since the October 24, 2020 blowout against Pittsburgh.
2023 Positional Needs
Primary Focus: QB, RB, WR, DE
We know Notre Dame is working in the shadows trying to bring a quarterback in this 2023 class and with the top 47 Composite quarterbacks all currently committed it will be a flip if it happens. Either that, or 2024 quarterback C.J. Carr will end up re-classifying or perhaps we’ll be getting a Tommy Rees Specialâ„¢ commitment from a low 3-star somewhere who has yet to choose a school.
The Irish are looking at the following offers to close out the 2023 class:
- WR Taeshaun Lyons (0.9071)
- RB/ATH Jeremiyah Love (0.9696)
- ATH Brandyn Hillman (NR)
Hillman was just offered this past Wednesday and comes from the Hampton Roads metro area in Virginia. He’s been blowing up with offers in recent days and is coming for an official visit during the Stanford game. It would appear Notre Dame likes him the most as a safety.
Technically, the Irish are still in the race for edge prospects Samuel M’Pemba and Caleb Herring (Tennessee commit) and we’ll see if there will be any late fireworks here or at other positions.
Secondary Focus: TE, OL, DT, LB, S
The cynic would say the Hillman interest is a replacement for if/when Irish commit Peyton Bowen leaves the class. As Billy Joel sang, “You may be wrong but you may be right.”
Of course, YCNHEOL but Notre Dame doesn’t seem particularly interested or bothered with replacing Elijah Paige at offensive tackle.
You can always give a shout to adding more defensive line depth on the interior. However, it looks like we’re all set in 2023 and are moving on.
TRANSFER WATCH
***Important note that this is speculation and conjecture based purely on the situation and playing time of players and where they are currently in their careers at Notre Dame. There is no inside knowledge being peddled here.***
A transfer list from most likely to least likely from the 2019 through 2022 recruiting classes:
DE Osita Ekwonu – He’s an academic senior with no prospects of playing.
CB Chance Tucker/CB Phillip Riley – Putting both of these academic sophomores together as they didn’t make a jump in 2022 and have been passed over by 2 other younger freshmen.
OT Caleb Johnson – This is a situation where we’ve heard almost nothing about his progress and he’d be headed into 2023 in the same class with Fisher and Alt. The math doesn’t really work out in his favor.
DE Jason Onye/DE Will Schweitzer – A pair of 2021 recruits who are weird positional fits and not making an impact yet. That current sophomore class is still at 24 players and that won’t last long.
OT Tosh Baker – He made 2 starts last year, really struggled, and has been in a backup role over the last 13 games. Would he want a change of scenery?
QB Drew Pyne – I made this list about a month ago and at the time Pyne was at the very top with all signs pointing to an imminent grad transfer once the 2022 season completed. Now, the door is open to a return (and potentially starting in 2023!??) especially if Notre Dame doesn’t sign a 2023 freshman.
CB Ryan Barnes – This situation doesn’t seem quite as bad as classmates Tucker and Riley above. At times, Barnes has been fighting for some playing time at least.
DT Aidan Keanaaina – The hulking nose tackle is coming off a knee injury which increases his odds of looking for a new home if he can’t get back to full health.
WR Deion Colzie – It’s year 2 in a situation where receivers are needed and he’s on the sidelines all the time. I might argue he should be higher on this list.
TE Cane Berrong – The 2021 tight end hurt his knee last year, slipped down the depth chart coming into 2022., and still isn’t healthy. The program also gave a scholarship to walk-on Davis Sherwood in his same class who is actually seeing the field a bit.
S Justin Walters – Despite that big spring game long ago Walters hasn’t appeared much on the field and could be looking for another school if he’s not patient.
RB Gi’Bran Payne – Basically the thinking here is Payne was a super late addition to the 2022 class who isn’t playing this year and that increases the chances he may leave.
OG Andrew Kristofic – As mentioned above, the most likely scenario is that he slides into a starting role in 2023 although a grad transfer wouldn’t be that crazy.
CB Jayden Bellamy – A young 2022 corner with plenty of time to make his mark but at the same time he’s watching his other corner classmates already building resumes and that is tough to swallow.
OG Rocco Spindler – Some people are going to be like ‘no way’ because Spindler, in some corners, has been the Next One at guard and I’d just say anything is possible and if Kristofic comes back and someone like Billy Schrauth makes a big jump, well no one could be super shocked.
Have to admit backed off the recruiting thing the last couple months, it’s just gotten to be too much but from what i’ve gathered it feels like all nd recruits are being targeted and communicating elsewhere but doesn’t really feel like ND has viable flip targets. kinda hoping that changes.
Probably need to add a section here for grad transfer targets. Think nd definitely has to look at qb, wr and d end. Not taking a qb this year seems rough now. So many guys have been good and could’ve helped. Penix, daniels (jt or jayden), adrian martinez, dillon gabriel. I mean pyne was fine last week but even mentioning a 2 year starting run for him was harrowing.
Everyone in the recruiting world is going nuts over Dylan Edwards’ speed and burst. He was a flip. I know less about the DE kid they flipped from Stanford, but ND is being active. Definitely on the losing end of targets vs what is getting targeted though, no doubt about that.
Despite being disappointing in terms of total production, Lenzy has more WR receptions than every non-Styles receiver combined. He also does the little things that make a team better, like throwing physical blocks on run plays and coming back to plays to block downfield after receptions.
Without other proven talent behind him I think the staff definitely needs to pitch Lenzy on coming back. I have a tough time imagining the transfer portal being full of guys better than him.
Styles – 16
Lenzy – 7
Salerno – 3
Thomas – 3
All other WR – 0
I guess the tough part of WR is you never know what is going to happen. Colzie’s looking like a dud. Merriweather was getting hyped to have a TJ Jones freshman year (which was only like 25 rec-300 yards, a couple of TDs) but is way behind.
For Lenzy, like E wrote, it seemed like he was fairly reluctant to come back for 2022, I can’t imagine he wants another year in this program where things aren’t exactly great personally for him. Either way, I think he’ll be gone, and maybe that’s not the worst thing.
Obviously need a lot more WR talent and ASAP. Maybe someone like Greathouse can actually make a freshman impact (the ever-elusive hopes slide one more year) and others can make progress.
I refuse to believe they can’t find someone decent in the transfer portal though. Scour Duke, NW, etc and make it happen for the next Benny Skow (or closest thing possible). There just HAS to be some kind of option there.
I was thinking about this the other day. Here are a few guys who stood out to me:
-Will Sheppard is having another solid year at Vandy. He’s only a junior, so there’s always the question of if he meets ND’s transfer requirements.
-Charlie Jones is a senior for Purdue from Chicago. If Jeff Brohm gets fired, he could be looking to move.
-Jalon Calhoun at Duke is a guy who has consistently gotten them at least 4 catches every game for several years. He’s small (which hasn’t necessarily worked out great for ND recently), but he’s putting up 15.5 YPC so far this year.
-Malik Washington for Northwestern is solid as well.
I would consider all 4 of these guys to be possible-to-likely transfer candidates, and all of them should have some interest in ND if we came calling. Sheppard and Calhoun would be the most interesting of the bunch for me. I don’t see a true High Impact guy here, but all 4 should easily be able to immediately jump Salerno on the depth chart.
Good research. I honestly think ND just didn’t make it a priority this year to get one this past year. Probably figured “We’ll run 2 RB’s a lot and 2 TE’s and we have Mayer” so adding more WR wasn’t that much of a a priority.
And it’s worth something to point out that if Avery Davis was healthy, WR play this season would likely be a LOT better.
But, for depth, it’s a big problem when Avery Davis (guy who often gets hurt) ends up getting hurt and then there’s literally nothing left.
Hopefully a lesson to Freeman that he can’t totally rely on the young kids to step up and the vets to stay healthy, needs the numbers.
For what it’s worth, Charlie Jones was a transfer to Purdue from Iowa this past offseason, and there was some talk about ND pursuing him. I’m not sure he’d want to transfer again after one year.
Please no, I can’t take another off season of “Lenzy is going to be a breakout player THIS time for sure”
You’re not interested in a 6th year of a 20% catch rate on targets??
Think of the damage he could do if we get him involved on jet sweeps!
Of late, UCLA seems to be a destination for many transfers, including ND grads Jordan Genmark-Heath (signed with the Chiefs) and Devin Aupui. Last year Kelly signed eleven recruits and had thirteen transfers, including starters Jake Bobo (Duke) and Darius Muasau (Hawaii). Genmark-Heath and Bobo among others took their Masters class, Transformative Coaching and Leadership program from their Education Department.
Another transfer into their 2022 class was from Harvard, DL Jacob Sykes from Harvard, who seems no slouch in the classroom. https://uclabruins.com/sports/football/roster/jacob-sykes/11375.
The program seems to be a real Leadership program which is rewarding, challenging and impacting the community and those who complete it for leadership positions in and out of football as well. Recent comments on their experiences, including G-H’s https://seis.ucla.edu/news/six-from-transformative-coaching-and-leadership-selected-to-join-the-nfl
Some info on the Academy. https://arch.gseis.ucla.edu/education/academies/transformative-coaching/
and https://arch.gseis.ucla.edu/transformative-coaching-and-leadership/
Chip currently has seven hard commits in the 2023 class, so I expect he will utilize the Transfer Portal again this year to fill out his class. We may see more ND grads transfer there.
I liked how you slipped in the Tommy Rees Specialâ„¢ commitment — wise move jumping on that trademark
Jacob Lacey is off the list, looks like Onye is next man up.
I didn’t see Lacey make Murtaugh’s list. Not surprising to lose players off the D-line though, considering the depth there.