The last commitment in Notre Dame football's 2023 recruiting class won't be enrolling with the Irish after all.
Brandyn Hillman, a three-star athlete from Portsmouth (Va.) Churchland, announced Sunday on Instagram that he requested and has been granted a release from his National Letter of Intent with Notre Dame.
Hillman, who verbally committed to the Irish on Dec. 7, signed with Notre Dame two weeks later during the early signing period. With a release from his NLI, other programs are free to recruit Hillman.
Details on what changed for Hillman were not immediately available Sunday evening. He did not respond to Inside ND Sports when asked to comment on the decision.
"Due to personal reasons," Hillman wrote, "I have asked for and been granted my release from my NLI with the University of Notre Dame. I would like to thank Coach Freeman and the Notre Dame staff for their interest. I ask you to respect my privacy and my family's privacy as I explore my options on where to attend school this fall."
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Shortly after sharing his news, Hillman starting reporting offers from other schools starting with Michigan, Virginia, Boston College, Vanderbilt, UConn, Virginia Tech, LSU, Louisville and Cincinnati.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Hillman was most likely going to play safety for Notre Dame, but he possessed offensive skill talent as well from his career at Churchland. As a senior, Hillman threw for 1,054 yards and 12 touchdowns, rushed for 1,265 yards and 22 touchdowns and totaled 41 tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks and four pass breakups.
“I think we’ll let the coordinators kind of wrestle this one out and figure out what side of the ball he’s on," head coach Marcus Freeman said of Hillman in December. "What Brandyn does, he can make plays on the offensive side with the ball in his hands as a quarterback, wideout, (and) defensive side of the ball being a safety. He is physical, ball-hawking on defense, punishing, make plays on offense.
"That’s one of those guys you kind of watch the film and say, ‘OK, he’s a football player. Get him into your program and figure it out.' He’s tall. He’s long. He has great athleticism, and he’s physical and tough and intelligent. That guy will make us better. Where? To be determined. But that guy will make this program better."
Rivals ranked Hillman as the No. 54 athlete, a designation for prospects who could play multiple positions, in the 2023 class. Because Hillman was among the five lowest-rated Notre Dame signees, his departure did not impact the Irish class ranking. Notre Dame remains ranked No. 10 nationally with 23 signees.
Twelve of those signees enrolled at Notre Dame in January including two safeties: four-star recruit Ben Minich and three-star recruit Adon Shuler. An AC joint injury in his shoulder will force Shuler to be limited through spring practice.
Notre Dame returned four safeties from its 2022 roster — DJ Brown, Ramon Henderson, Xavier Watts and Justin Walters — and added Oklahoma State graduate transfer Thomas Harper, who can also play nickelback.
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