Busy Spring Of Visits About To Begin For Notre Dame

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The next several weeks are going to be busy ones for the Notre Dame coaching staff and recruiting department.

With the new recruiting calendar, prospects in the class of 2019 are permitted to begin taking official visits at the beginning of April and can do so through the end of June.

Over the next weeks and months, Notre Dame will host several official and unofficial visitors in the class of 2019 and some top talent in the class of 2020.

Here, we present a rundown of who will be on campus when and take a look at the big weekends on the horizon for the Irish.

Notre Dame has put together a strong visitors list for this weekend in both the class of 2019 and the class of 202o. While there won’t be a ton of prospects on campus, each one coming to town is a top target for the Irish and a highly sought-after prospect.

Loganville (Ga.) Grayson four-star cornerback Kenyatta Watson will return to campus this weekend, the second of three visits he plans to take to South Bend prior to announcing a commitment.

Watson attended Notre Dame's Junior Day Jan. 27 and will be back in South Bend this weekend for an unofficial visit and again April 13 for an official visit.

The four-star has narrowed his list down to Notre Dame and Texas, and will visit both schools twice more before announcing a commitment.

Austin (Texas) Lake Travis four-star wide receiver Garrett Wilson will get his first look at South Bend this weekend, but already has the Irish in his top eight along with Nebraska, Texas, TCU, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Wilson, the No. 17 wide receiver and No. 88 overall player in the class of 2018 according to Rivals, will stop by Ohio State for a visit on Friday before heading to Notre Dame on Saturday.

Wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander has made a solid impression on Wilson so far, and the Rivals100 prospect is looking forward to meeting him in person this weekend.

Chandler (Ariz.) High three-star tight end Brayden Liebrock will also be in town this weekend. Not a ton is known about Liebrock’s recruitment at this time, but the Arizona talent has been impressive in camps this season.

Notre Dame will also welcome one of the top receivers in the class of 2020 to campus this weekend in Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day product Porter Rooks.

Rooks is one of the most highly recruited prospects in the class of 2020, already holding offers from Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and several others.

The 2020 standout picked up his offer from Notre Dame in June and will get his first look at campus this weekend.

The first week in April will feature some big mid-week visits for Notre Dame.

The visits will begin April 3, when Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco three-star linebacker Spencer Lytle will head to South Bend for an unofficial trip.

Lytle picked up an offer from the Irish March 1 and has expressed that it was an opportunity he was waiting for.

The California product has plenty of connections to Notre Dame having been coached by former Irish tight end Oscar McBride and former Irish quarterback Rick Mirer during different times in his playing career.

On April 4, Notre Dame will host Mineral (Va.) Louisa County four-star linebacker Brandon Smith and Danville (Calif.) San Ramon Valley three-star rover Tristan Sinclair on unofficial visits.

Smith, Rivals’ No. 53 overall player in the class of 2018, has been linked to the Irish program for a long time and has expressed significant interest in Notre Dame.

The Virginia product is listed by Rivals as the No. 5 weakside defensive end in the class of 2019, but Notre Dame and defensive coordinator Clark Lea prefer Smith at linebacker.

Smith and Lea have a strong relationship that should help Notre Dame stay in the thick of things throughout Smith’s process.

Sinclair picked up his offer from Notre Dame March 5 and the Irish have targeted him specifically for the rover position.

Following the offer, Sinclair called Notre Dame the best of both worlds academically and athletically.

Sinclair has communicated with Princeton and Harvard, so academics are seemingly of great importance to him.

The California talent has been impressed with Lea and special teams coordinator Brian Polian, and already lists Notre Dame as one of his top schools.

On April 6, highly touted 2020 strongside defensive end Bryan Breese will make his way to South Bend for the first time.

Breese picked up an offer from Notre Dame Dec. 7, and added it to a list that already included Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and several others.

The Damascus (Md.) High product said he is looking forward to meeting with the Irish coaching staff and seeing the program’s facilities for the first time.

The weekend prior to the annual Blue-Gold Game has turned into an absolutely giant weekend of recruiting for Notre Dame.

Currently, eight prospects are scheduled to be in town that weekend, including two commits and six important targets.

As mentioned earlier, Watson will return to South Bend that weekend and will be joined by several other targets.

Fort Worth (Texas) Nolan Catholic four-star defensive end target NaNa Osafo-Mensah will return to campus that weekend for an official visit after making it to South Bend for the Jan. 27 Junior Day.

Notre Dame made a huge impression on Osafo-Mensah during his first trip to campus, specifically defensive line coach Mike Elston.

Another big factor working positively for Notre Dame with Osafo-Mensah is his friendship with Irish defensive line commits Hunter Spears and Jacob Lacey, who will also officially visit South Bend that weekend.

Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day four-star linebacker Osita Ekwonu will also be on campus that weekend, his second trip to Notre Dame during his recruiting process.

Okwonu camped at Notre Dame during Irish Invasion in June 2017 and picked up an offer from the Irish Jan 31.

The Rivals250 member has expressed a ton of interest in Notre Dame, and the Irish staff is high on his abilities. The Irish may have the edge in his recruitment coming into the visit.

Notre Dame recently jumped in the mix for Aledo (Texas) High three-star strongside defensive end Colt Ellison and will get him on campus for an official visit in mid-April.

Ellison was fired up to land the offer from the Irish and already has in his top group of schools.

The Texas talent said he has been talking with Elston on the phone frequently and is looking forward to sitting down with him in person when he gets to campus.

On Saturday of that weekend, two more visitors will arrive in South Bend in Omaha (Neb.) Burke three-star linebacker Nick Henrich and Paramus (N.J.) Catholic two-star offensive lineman Christian Mahogany.

Henrich landed an offer from Notre Dame Feb. 1 and the Nebraska product immediately started working on setting up a trip to campus.

Mahogany does not yet hold an Irish offer, but does claim offers from schools like Buffalo, Central Michigan, Ohio and Virginia.

Greenwood (S.C.) Emerald three-star tight end Luke Deal will take a mid-week official visit to Notre Dame April 16-18.

Deal — the No. 24 tight end in the class of 2019 according to Rivals — is a huge fan of what Notre Dame has to offer, and has the Irish in his unofficial top group along with Clemson, Auburn, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina State, Ohio State.

Offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Chip Long has been the main communication between Notre Dame and Deal, and the South Carolina talent said he is intrigued by the fact that Long pulls double duty as the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach.

The Blue-Gold game April 21 will certainly have more names added to its visitor list, but currently just one target and one Irish commit are scheduled to be in town.

Atlanta Lovett School three-star cornerback K.J. Wallace and Irish commit will attend the game, his first visit to campus since he committed to Notre Dame Jan. 28 following a visit for Junior Day.

Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Siegel four-star defensive end Joseph Anderson will return to South Bend for an official visit that weekend, his fourth visit to Notre Dame in the last year.

Anderson has long been thought to be a Notre Dame lean, and getting him back on campus again will be huge for the Irish.

Again, more prospects will undoubtedly be added to the list for the game, but Anderson is a headlining name and the Irish will look to impress him once again during the trip.

The next few weeks and months will be huge for Notre Dame in terms of recruiting, and Blue & Gold Illustrated will have full coverage of every visit.

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