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Elite 2023 TE Mac Markway Has Strong Notre Dame Connections

On Feb. 3, Notre Dame tight ends coach John McNulty dished out his first two scholarship offers in the 2023 class. Robbinsdale (Minn.) Cooper Senior’s Jaxon Howard and St. Louis De Smet Jesuit’s Mac Markway were the recipients of the good news.

The offer was a special one for Markway, who stands at 6-4, 250 pounds as a sophomore in high school.

“It was awesome,” Markway said. “I’ve been wanting this offer for I don’t even know how long. I love the way they use multiple tight ends. There’s a great tradition there. They’ve been good forever; I don’t remember them being bad or even average.”

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St. Louis De Smet tight end and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football recruiting target Mac Markway
Markway played with current Notre Dame wide receiver Jordan Johnson at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis.

Markway badly wanted the Notre Dame offer and took matters into his own hands.

“I asked [De Smet] Coach [Robert] Steeples if Notre Dame was interested in me, and he said, ‘Yes, they’re very interested.’ He reached out to them to tell them how I felt about Notre Dame, and the next week, I talked to Coach McNulty,” Markway recalled. “Talking to Coach McNulty was really cool. I loved it; he was awesome.”

“I shot Coach [Brian] Kelly a text to let him know my thoughts on Mac and his interest in Notre Dame,” Steeples added. “Coach Kelly got back to me and said, ‘We’re definitely on it, Robert.’”

Markway is plenty familiar with Notre Dame with his connections to the program. During his freshman season at De Smet, he was the team’s starting tight end and played with Fighting Irish receiver Jordan Johnson. Also, Steeples interviewed last year at Notre Dame for the vacant cornerbacks coach position that was eventually filled by Mike Mickens.

“My dad coached Kyren Williams in high school, and I love the way they use their tight ends,” Markway noted. “I’ve always watched Notre Dame, and I pay attention to their tight ends. [Michael] Mayer and [Tommy] Tremble are beasts out there. Their academics are top notch too; that’s really important to me. Football isn’t going to last forever.”

Notre Dame has had a notable run in the St. Louis area in the past few years. The Irish added Kyren Williams (2019), Jordan Johnson (2020), Gabriel Rubio (2021) and have a verbal commitment from Tyson Ford (2022). Markway is familiar with each player and could keep the string going of players from the 314 to Notre Dame.

“I love that,” Markway said. “They’re great in recruiting in St. Louis. All of the guys they’ve gotten have texted me saying to come home to Notre Dame. They’re definitely high on my list.”

Markway holds over 20 offers, including the likes of Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Oregon, Stanford and USC. His recruitment started with an offer from the Wolverines back in April of 2019 before he was still in 8th grade and isn’t slowing down any time soon.

“I’m open to anyone,” he said. “I haven’t set a top 10 or anything like that. I won’t do that until I’m a junior. I’m just listening, paying attention and doing my research.”

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