Notre Dame Recruiting New Defensive Recruit Roundup

This is the time of year where chaos reigns in college football. Now that all bowl games have come to a close and all awards have been given, programs focus on the lifeblood of the sport: recruiting. With national signing day only two weeks away, the scramble to fill in roster positions reaches a near frenzy. Notre Dame’s race to the end will be even more hurried as head coach Brian Kelly and staff seek to replace the loss of defensive line commitment Matt Dickerson to UCLA, and incorporate newly announced defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

Below are several new names Notre Dame has targeted on the defensive side of the ball.

Terrence Alexander

• Position: Cornerback
• Vitals: 5’10”, 178 lbs
• Hometown: River Ridge, Louisiana
• Best Offers: Nebraska, Ohio State, Stanford

Having secured the commitment of 4-star cornerback Nick Watkins, Notre Dame moved its priorities toward landing elite 5-star safety JuJu Smith and Nick Watkins’ teammate, 3-star safety Payton Hendrix. After Hendrix’s surprising commitment to Texas Tech, Notre Dame offered 3-star cornerback, Terrence Alexander.

Despite the late offer Notre Dame has solidly placed itself in the mix for Alexander’s signature, having received an official visit this past weekend. While the Louisiana native still intends to visit Ole Miss, the general consensus is Alexander truly enjoyed his visit and is serious about academics.

Marcus Griffin

• Position: Defensive Tackle
• Vitals: 6’3”, 285 lbs
• Hometown: Bellevue, Washington
• Best Offers: Mississippi State, South Florida, Washington

The 4-star defensive tackle and one-time Washington State commitment has been mentioned as a Notre Dame target in the past, though the Fighting Irish had yet to offer a scholarship. That offer may finally be near, with Griffin tweeting his intention to take an official visit to Notre Dame on January 24th. West coast recruiter Mike Denbrock may have his work cut out for him, however, as Griffin’s stock has risen rapidly in recent weeks with an offer from Mississippi State and Arkansas, and Ole Miss showing interest.

Michael Sawyers

• Position: Defensive Tackle
• Vitals: 6’2”, 307 lbs
• Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
• Best Offers: Florida State, Miami, Tennessee

Michael Sawyers had been a solid 4-star commitment for Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin. That all changed when Franklin left to head the Penn State program after Bill O’Brien’s departure. Sawyers de-committed from the Commodores and scheduled visits to Georgia Tech, Ole Miss and Tennessee before Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston swung by the Volunteer State for a visit. Elston managed to get into Sawyers’ ear about Notre Dame’s top-ranked business school, Sawyers’ desired major. Elston’s chat was enough for Sawyers to want to visit, though the major obstacle for the Fighting Irish at this point is whether or not he will have time to squeeze such a trip on to his increasingly busy itinerary.

Daniel Cage

• Position: Defensive Tackle
• Vitals: 6’3”, 275 lbs
• Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Best Offers: Florida, Michigan State, Nebraska

The annual coaching carousel impacts not only committed players, such as Michael Sawyers, but uncommitted ones, too. Cage, a 3-star defensive tackle from Cincinnati, was considered a Louisville lean until head coach Charlie Strong accepted the head coaching position at Texas. While Notre Dame has managed to talk its way into an official visit, the visit is mid-week, and Cage currently has Notre Dame listed outside of his Top 5 according to Rivals, a scouting service.

Chris Nelson

• Position: Defensive Tackle
• Vitals: 6’3”, 280 lbs
• Hometown: Lakeland, Florida
• Best Offers: Iowa, Missouri, Texas

Another casualty of coaching instability, the 3-star Florida native had committed to Louisville until Charlie Strong’s departure to Austin. Unlike Cage, however, Nelson boasts an offer from Texas and has the ability to follow Strong to his new coaching gig, as many expect he will ultimately do. There was initial talk of Nelson making a visit to South Bend on January 31st, the final weekend before signing day, but Nelson has since scheduled a visit to Central Florida that weekend instead. Unless something drastic happens, it appears Nelson is either Texas bound or will stay close to home.

Pete Mokwuah

• Position: Defensive Tackle
• Vitals: 6’5”, 305 lbs
• Hometown: Staten Island, New York
• Best Offers: Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh

One of the newest additions to Notre Dame’s defensive recruiting board, 3-star Rutgers commitment Mokwuah’s recruitment only became visible after a New Jersey newspaper reported VanGorder was spotted at Mokwuah’s high school.

Mokwuah has seen his recruitment catch fire recently, with Alabama, Florida, Pitt and Miami all making contact. Mokwuah has dismissed the new overtures, but left the door open for Notre Dame, saying, “It’s the academics. It’s tough to just shut that down. If another school came to me, like some random SEC school, and I knew the academics were not first there, I wouldn’t even consider it.”

The one caveat, it appears, is Mokwuah’s reticence about visiting Notre Dame without a scholarship offer, while Notre Dame has often waited until a recruit visits to extend an offer during the Brian Kelly era. Should this point of contention be bridged, Notre Dame could become serious players.

Scott Janssen is a blogger for the Huffington Post and has authored several nationally-featured articles, as well as appeared on MSNBC as a sports contributor. In his spare time he takes his NCAA Football ’13 online dynasty way too seriously and alienates those around him by discussing football 24 hours a day. Scott can be reached at scottjanssenhp@gmail.com.