Buckle up folks, June is going to be one of the busiest, craziest months of recruiting news we’ve experienced in a long time. Maybe, dare I say ever? With official visits canceled for over a year, there’s about to be a rush of official visits to Notre Dame this month, starting this weekend. There will be commitments, friends. Oh, there will be commitments. With that in mind, though, I figured it was a good time for a quick rundown of where this class sits before the news starts flying.
Quarterback
Notre Dame is done recruiting the position following the commitment from Steve Angeli. The composite 4-star recruit performed well at camps this off-season, and it looks like he could see his rankings rise with a strong senior season. Notre Dame was in on Angeli very early and trusted their projection, given his limited sample size as a junior.
Angeli visits Notre Dame for his own official next weekend and will need to be a good recruiter of his own with several big-time offensive targets also on camps then like wide receiver Nicolas Anderson.
Running Back
Notre Dame has some work to do at running back still, but they have a great foundation with the commitment of 4-star Jadarian Price. The Irish have always wanted to take two backs in this class and have had the same “big three” for months – Dallas Hayden, Gavin Sawchuk, and Nicolas Singleton. All three are composite 4-stars ranked in the top 247 on 247Sports. Heading into the official visits blitz upon us, Notre Dame isn’t considered a lock for any of the three, but there is optimism that one of the three ends up at Notre Dame.
According to most experts, Sawchuk is the highest-rated of the trio and is the most likely to land at Notre Dame. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, however, if any of the three ends up at Notre Dame since they’re all great program fits, and official visits should land well with all three.
Wide Receivers
Offensively, there isn’t a position where Notre Dame needs to do more work on the class of 2022. The Irish have just one commitment – Amorion Walker – and could add three more following off-season departures of Jay Brunelle and Jordan Johnson.
CJ Williams from powerhouse Mater Dei, Nicolas Anderson, and Tobias Merriweather are all visiting Notre Dame this month – Merriweather this weekend. Notre Dame looks to be in a good position for each but has work to do to lock up commitments from either.
If Notre Dame could exit June with commitments from two of the three, they’ll be in solid shape at the position. Andre Greene Jr, who just saw a big bump in his Rivals rankings, has a fall visit scheduled for Notre Dame so the Irish could go all-in for a fourth receiver still in that scenario. If all three of Williams, Merriweather, and Anderson wanted to commit this month, though, it would be hard to turn down any of them given the numbers at wide receiver in 2022 and beyond.
Tight End
This one is simple, Notre Dame is done recruiting at tight end with the commitments of Eli Raridon and Holden Staes. Notre Dame got their two targets here and can pack up tight end recruiting for the 2022 cycle.
Offensive Line
Notre Dame is in pretty good shape at offensive line but still has work to do to close out the class strong. Ty Chan and Joey Tanona are two composite 4-star commitments to build off of, but the Irish want to add at least two more.
Interior lineman Billy Schrauth and tackle Jake Taylor are at Notre Dame this weekend. Carson Hinzman, Joe Brunner, and Aamil Wagner next weekend. And Notre Dame closes out the month hosting 5-star Zach Rice. No one thinks the Irish have a shot at Rice, but the beauty of having official visits again this year is that anything can change with a home run visit, and the Irish get the last crack at Rice.
It’s hard to imagine any scenario where Notre Dame leaves June without more offensive line commits. Schrauth, Hinzman, and Brunner are all Wisconsin natives, but all three may be the most likely to end up at Notre Dame of all the linemen visiting this month.
In an ideal world, Notre Dame ends up with five linemen this year, all from the group visiting this month and those already committed.
Defensive Line
Notre Dame already has four defensive line commitments for 2022 but could take another two if all goes well. Tyson Ford, Aiden Gobaiara, Donovan Hinish, and Darren Agu give the Irish a hell of a foundation to build off of with a couple of highly-rated prospects still in their sights.
4-star interior lineman Anthony Lucas visits this weekend, and 4-star edge rusher Cyrus Moss from powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas visits later this month. Notre Dame would love to add both to the class of 2022, and there’s growing optimism that could happen. Of the two, Lucas is more likely to join the class, but Notre Dame is trending positively for Moss as well.
Linebacker
Notre Dame has two commitments at linebacker already – Nolan Ziegler and Joshua Burnham – and they are widely expected to add two more commitments this month. The big three at linebacker includes this weekend’s visitor Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka, next week’s in-week visitor Jaylen Sneed, and Sebastian Cheeks, who visits later this month. There are Crystal Ball predictions for all of them to Notre Dame, but it’s not likely Notre Dame takes five linebackers.
Most feel like Tuihalamaka and Sneed are the two most likely for Notre Dame, even though Cheeks had long been linked to Notre Dame. Notre Dame really can’t go wrong here as long as they end up with two of three this month.
If all goes as planned and the Irish end the month with four linebackers committed amongst the five mentioned, Marcus Freeman and the defensive staff will be doing cartwheels.
Secondary
While wide receiver is the position where Notre Dame has the most work to do offensively, the secondary is where most of the focus is on defense right now. Notre Dame only has one defensive back commitment at the moment – cornerback Jaden Mickey. That should change by the end of June.
This weekend alone, Notre Dame hosts three defensive backs they covet – Jake Pope, Devin Moore, and Benjamin Morrison. Later this month, Jaden Bellamy, Nikai Martinez, and Xavier Nwankpa all visit as well.
There’s still a lot of moving parts here, but there’s optimism that the staff ends up landing a secondary class that is high on their board right now without having to expand it in the fall.
