In a flurry of official recruiting visits ahead of Friday’s college-decision day for four-star safety prospect JaDon Blair, a lingering impression that helped tilt the scales in favor of Notre Dame was Irish defensive backs coach Mike Mickens.
With four of Blair’s visits coming in an 11-day stretch last month, it was a meeting with Mickens during his four-day visit to ND in mid-June that erased any lingering hesitancy about former Irish safeties coach Chris O’Leary’s February departure to coach with the NFL’s L.A. Chargers.
Mickens, ND’s cornerbacks coach since 2020 and its longest-tenured assistant, was promptly promoted to oversee both the corners and safeties.
“I’ve got a lot of trust in coach Mickens,” said Blair, who made his commitment to ND official on Friday afternoon, choosing the Irish ahead of fellow finalists Michigan, Penn State, Florida State, South Carolina, Louisville and Virginia Tech.
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“Even though coach O’Leary left, once I came up there last time, I got to know coach Mickens, how he does defense and how he teaches,” Blair continued. “And I liked it. To be honest, I kind of like it a little bit more.
“Just the way he goes about it, the way he teaches, the way he’s all about fundamentals. He helps his players get on the field. And I can tell that from the guys he’s developed there already.”
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Winston-Salem, N.C.. product becomes the 22nd commitment in the 2025 Notre Dame recruiting class and the sixth pulled in by Mickens — all six of them four-star prospects.
He joins safeties Ivan Taylor and Ethan Long, as well as cornerbacks Mark Zackery and Cree Thomas, and versatile Dallas Golden, who’s projected to play corner for the Irish but who could excel at safety or wide receiver if it ever came to that.
“If they can keep the three safeties they’ve got, it’s the best safety group they’ve had in 40 years,” longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, of the Prep Football Report, said. “They’ve got to keep Taylor, though. I’m including Golden. But even without Golden, those other three are still great too.
“I think Mickens has become an elite recruiter. I don’t know if there’s a better DB recruiter in the country than Mickens. I liked O’Leary, but it just took some kids time to know Mickens, because O’Leary was recruiting them. But if they can hold onto Taylor, this is going to be a phenomenal group.”
Taylor originally committed to Notre Dame on Dec. 1, months before O’Leary’s departure, which did give him pause to re-evaluate but not to the point of decommitting. Taylor continues to keep his options open and even took an official visit to Alabama the weekend of June 7.
He returned to ND for an official visit the next weekend and had positive things to say about the visit but no timeline for firming up his future.
The Irish coaching staff has turned much of its attention to the 2026 class as much of the work in the 2025 group, beyond keeping tabs on commits, has been completed.
What’s left are linebacker targets Madden Faraimo and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, and wide receiver targets Derek Meadows, Tanook Hines and Dylan Robinson. All five of them took official visits to ND last month.
Blair’s commitment checked off another box on Irish head coach Marcus Freeman’s 2025 class to-do list.
“I gave him four stars, and raised it to four-stars-plus, because he had a really good junior year,” Lemming said. “I love him. What really hits you right away is how tall he is. You don’t see too many safeties that tall. He was tall and skinny when I first saw him. Now he’s put on some weight.
"He’s an exceptional athlete. He can run, he can hit. He’s definitely one of the best safeties in the country. He’ll put on another 20 pounds for sure. He’s a Notre Dame kind of a kid. He’s definitely a top 100 player. I think he’s been underrated by a lot of people. I think he’s moved up, but he’s still better than advertised.”
Another tall safety from Notre Dame, 6-4 Baltimore Ravens star Kyle Hamilton, reached out to Blair in May to provide some perspective on his time at ND. Hamilton’s father, Derrek, then connected Blair for Tom Mendoza, after whom Notre Dame’s business college is named.
Blair plans to major in business at Notre Dame with a possible second major in broadcasting.
“I’m looking for a life after football, but also a great football program,” he said.
Friday was Blair’s confirmation that he’s found it.
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