St. Peters (Mo.) Lutheran of St. Charles class of 2021 defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio visited Notre Dame for its victory against Pittsburgh last year, and he made another game visit to South Bend this past weekend.

Last fall, Rubio didn't have an offer from Notre Dame, and now he is a Fighting Irish commit.

“It went really well,” Rubio said about his visit on Saturday. “I feel like reconnecting with the coaches helped strengthened my bond with them a lot more. We had a couple of hours to talk to each other — Coach Kelly, Coach Elston, and Coach Rees. We all talked for a little bit before the game.

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“The place was very, very energetic. Everyone was crazy about the game. Whenever Myron got that fumble recovery, the momentum in the crowd really picked up drastically. Watching the game, I thought the offense sputtered a little bit in the beginning.

“It was an excellent showing by the defensive line and the defense overall. Virginia's quarterback was an outstanding athlete. Containing him was going to be a big task for the D-line, and I thought they did really well with that.”

A big highlight of Rubio’s visit was talking with his future head coach.

“Whenever I went over to the locker room, I got the chance to sit down with Coach Kelly about the game plan and competing against Virginia,” he explained. “He said they were going to go out fired up and told me what they were going to do for the game.

“We talked about how my school and season has been going so far.”

Rubio got to talk a bit with defensive line coach Mike Elston as well.

“We just talked about the game plan for what they were trying to accomplish,” Rubio added. “After the game, I congratulated him on the big win.”

Notre Dame had a number of other recruits on campus, including fellow 2021 commit Cane Berrong and 2020 defensive tackle commit Aidan Keanaaina.

“I decided to spend time a lot of time with Aidan because I’ve never met him before," Rubio said. “I’m really excited to play with him for the next few years. I was also able to talk to Cane Berrong. It was overall really nice.”

Rubio, who is ranked as the nation’s No. 7 defensive tackle and No. 86 overall prospect in the 2021 class by Rivals, is firm with his pledge to the Irish.

“I feel like every time I go to Notre Dame, it makes me realize that it was absolutely the right choice to make,” Rubio said.

Rubio’s high school team is off to a 5-0 start to the 2019 season, and he has put up some monster numbers this season. He has already recorded 11 sacks this season.

“It’s been amazing what us as a unit can do,” he said. “Our entire defensive line is putting up big numbers.”

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