Arrington Farrar Visit Critical for Notre Dame

With National Signing Day 2015 right around the corner, Notre Dame will be hosting one more recruiting weekend before the faxes start flowing in next week and while the visit list features just a lone visitor, it’s an important one.  Former Stanford commitment Arrington Farrar, a 4-star safety from Atlanta, will be touring campus all by himself this weekend.

Expect the Irish coaching staff to roll out the red carpet for him.

With the decommitment of Prentice McKinney, adding another safety to this year’s class became almost as critical as adding another running back to the class of 2015 and Notre Dame has left no stone unturned in their pursuit.  If that pursuit ends with Farrar signing with the Irish, Notre Dame will have done a heck of a job replacing one 4-star safety with another.

Farrar was a long-time commitment to Stanford, but earlier this month it was reported that he did not clear admissions and thus his recruitment became wide open.  Since then Farrar has visited North Carolina and Wisconsin and up until this week it was unclear where his last visit would be between Notre Dame and Penn State.  Brian Kelly and James Franklin both made their cases and Kelly came out on top by securing this weekend’s visit while he himself made his in-home visit with Farrar earlier this week.

Farrar – 6’2″, 195 lbs,  joins a list of other safety prospects Notre Dame has hosted over the last few weekends including Justin Reid and Nathan Meadors.  Of the three, Notre Dame might have the best chance with Farrar since they will get the last impression with him while Reid could very well take Farrar’s place in Stanford’s class.  For Meadors meanwhile, it looks like a two horse race between Notre Dame and UCLA.

With neither Reid or Meadors looking like a sure thing for Notre Dame, this weekend’s visit from Farrar is critical for this year’s class to hit on all of the needs Kelly and company needed to address.  That and securing a commitment from Dexter Williams to round out the backfield.

Hopefully Stanford’s loss is Notre Dame’s gain in this case – especially since Farrar is reportedly a great student with a 3.5 GP and 26 ACT score despite his problems with admissions at Stanford.  On the field 247 Sports ranks Farrar as the 15th best safety in the country in their composite rankings and the #283 overall prospect regardless of position.  247 is also predicting Notre Dame as the leader for Farrar’s service with their “Crystal Ball” trending in Notre Dame’s direction.

Nothing is ever certain in recruiting until the ink is dry and the fax is in, but all signs here certainly are pointing in Notre Dame’s direction heading into this crucial visit.  If Brian Kelly and his staff can knock this visit out of the park, Notre Dame should be in great shape here with just days to go until Signing Day.