Recruiting only stops during NCAA mandated dead periods these days. One of those is coming up on Monday, but Notre Dame is getting in as many visits as they can until then. Last week the Fighting Irish hosted the country’s #1 ranked guard Jamaree Salyer. The visit may have helped the Irish make a move on the 5-star lineman.
According to Tyler James of the SBT, Salyer’s mid-week visit improved Notre Dame’s chances. James mentioned on the SBT weekly podcast that he spoke with Salyer’s coach at Pace Academy in Atlanta, GA and was told that Notre Dame really improved their chances.
Jamaree Salyer is a massive recruit at 6’4′, 342 lbs already as a high school junior. He ranks as the #1 guard from 247Sports in both their own rankings and their composite rankings. Landing that type of talent would be huge in any year for Notre Dame, but recent events have made the addition of an elite interior recruit even more important for Notre Dame in the class of 2018.
The recent transfers of both Parker Boudreaux to UCF and Tristen Hoge to BYU have left Notre Dame thin on the interior offensive line not just in 2017 but beyond. Salyer can play both guard and center which should make Notre Dame’s depleted interior depth enticing to the nation’s top rated guard.
Notre Dame already has two offensive linemen in the class of 2018 in Cole Mabry and John Dirksen but were already looking to add more even before the departures of Boudreaux and Hoge. Mabry and Driksen both are projected as tackles right now though even though both could potentially play inside as well.
Notre Dame Faces Stiff Competition
Getting Salyer, even after making a great impression this week, will not be easy though. Clemson and Gerogia are considered the favorites. On top of that, Salyer holds offers from Ohio State, Stanford, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Miami, Oklahoma, and Texas among other top power 5 programs.
By now though we should all know never to count Harry Hiestand out. The man has done a tremendous job recruiting the offensive line for Notre Dame over the last few years.
Salyer also has real interest in Notre Dame. This week wasn’t the first time he has been to Notre Dame. In fact, it was his 3rd trip to South Bend since being offered all the way back in April ’16 after his sophomore season. While pulling him out of the South will be a challenge, getting him on campus a 4th time this fall for an official visit will give them a fighting chance here.
