12/18/2019 football Edit

Notre Dame Signee Profile: DE Jordan Botelho

Mike Singer • InsideNDSports

Recruiting Insider

Honolulu St. Louis linebacker Jordan Botelho, who is expected to play drop end for Notre Dame, officially signed with Notre Dame on National Signing Day.

The Rivals250 prospect has all of the tools to play as a true freshman and will be enrolling at Notre Dame in just a few weeks.

Botelho was a finalist for the 2019 High School Butkus Award that goes to the nation’s top linebacker, but will play drop end at Notre Dame. (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

RANKINGS

Rivals: No. 1 player in Hawai'i, and No. 12 inside linebacker and No. 198 overall prospect in the country

ESPN: No. 1 recruit in Hawai'i, and No. 14 outside linebacker and No. 183 overall player nationally

STATS

2018 Stats: Recorded 15 sacks in 11 games played

NOTABLE

• 2020 All-American Bowl selection

• 2019 Finalist for the 2019 High School Butkus Award

• 2019 USA Today Preseason All-American

• 2019 Maxwell National High School Defensive Player of the Year award watch list

• 2018 Star-Advertiser All-State first-team defense

• 2018 Cover 2 Manti Te’o Award (best defensive player in Hawai'i)

• Four-time state champion at St. Louis High

• Plans to major in business

RECRUITMENT

Offer Sheet: Arizona State, Boise State, Cal, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas State, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Oregon State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State and Wisconsin

Botelho’s commitment to Notre Dame actually came together pretty quickly.

He landed an offer from Fighting Irish special teams coordinator Brian Polian Jan. 29, and the four-star recruit instantly became a priority drop end target for Notre Dame.

A couple of months after the offer, Notre Dame brought Botelho out for an official visit. Notre Dame had to hit the visit out of the park as it would likely be their only chance to have Botelho on campus, considering that it would be an expensive and very time consuming trip for the Botelho family to make on their own dime (and this ended up being the case).

Botelho’s official visit for the Blue-Gold Game weekend did go very well.

“My favorite part was probably the coach’s meeting with Coach [Mike] Elston — when he showed me my film and compared it to his players,” Botelho previously said. “He’d show me a clip of me making a play and then his players doing the same thing. The position I’ll play is very similar to what I'm playing right now; I really enjoyed that.”

Following his official visit, Botleho told BGI that he wanted to take additional trips to Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio State and LSU before deciding.

However, he shut down his recruitment April 18 and picked Notre Dame.

QUOTABLE

“On my visit, everything went perfect. I loved the coaches. The position I’m going to play, the drop [end], it seemed like it fit me perfectly. It was a no-brainer for me. I’m very happy that I made the decision.” — Botelho

ANALYST TAKE

“He is impressive in person and on film. He’s one of the hardest hitters in the country, he fills hard, plays the game on his feet, and shows a relentless style of play. He has played both OLB and ILB and can play either in college. There is no denying his talent; he can make plays from sideline to sideline, reads well, and shows the hustle and effort the college scouts love to see in a defensive leader. He can really bend off the edge and shows the body control and burst to effectively defend against the pass.” — Tom Lemming of Prep Football Report and CBS Sports Network