Who’s visiting & not visiting Notre Dame this weekend
The NCAA implemented a rule a couple years back that allows for college football programs with a head coaching change to allow for prospects to take a second official visit to that school if the recruit had taken an official under the old regime.
For example, Notre Dame hosted a high majority of prospects in its 2022 class for an official visit over the summer. But with Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU and Marcus Freeman taking his place, it’s a clean slate for official visits.
We will update this article if there are any late additions to the official visitor list, but as things stand Friday morning, Notre Dame will host 18 official visitors, per sources. All of them are currently committed to the Fighting Irish.
Only five of Notre Dame’s class of 2022 verbal commitments will not be making the trip. Ponchatoula (La.) High wide receiver Amorion Walker will be playing in the championship game of the Louisiana Class 5A State Tournament on Saturday. Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei pass catcher CJ Williams will also be playing on Saturday, in the California Interscholastic Federation Open Division state championship bowl game.
Walker is being pursued hard by Michigan and Mississippi State, while UCLA and USC are trying to flip Williams from Notre Dame. It would have been ideal for Notre Dame to have both on campus right before the early signing period, which runs from Dec. 15-17. Monday begins a five-week dead period, so this weekend was the last chance for the Irish to host both before they sign their letter of intent next week.
We’re told Williams will be visiting USC on Sunday, and he was on the Trojans’ campus last Sunday too. While “following the visits” would indicate that USC will be the choice for Williams since he’s visited the local school at least four times in the past few months and only has been to Notre Dame once (his official visit in June), there is still optimism on the Irish side of things that the talented receiver will stick with his pledge.
As far as Walker goes, the expectation is for him to sign with Notre Dame next week, but we will see what happens next week.
Notre Dame was fighting for Naples (Fla.) High cornerback Devin Moore, a former Irish commit who opened things up last week, to return to South Bend this weekend. But Moore is expected to officially visit Florida, which will make getting him back in the fold very difficult.
Hilton Head (S.C.) High linebacker Jaylen Sneed is another Notre Dame commit who won’t be able to make it to campus. While South Carolina fans hope it’s because he’s having a change of heart and staying close to home, Sneed is a finalist for South Carolina Mr. Football and the ceremony is at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Irish punter commit Bryce McFerson from Indian Trail (N.C.) Metrolina Christian Academy has a wrestling tournament on Saturday, so he can’t make it to South Bend either. A punter who also wrestles? Sign me up.
Newly committed offensive guard Billy Schrauth of Fond du Lac (Wis.) St. Mary's Springs will not be in town this weekend either.
Notre Dame’s offensive commits official visiting this weekend are Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic quarterback Steve Angeli, Denison (Texas) High running back Jadarian Price, Vancouver (Wash.) Union receiver Tobias Merriweather, West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley tight end Eli Raridon, Atlanta Westminster tight end Holden Staes, Lawrenceburg (Ind.) High offensive lineman Ashton Craig, Zionsville (Ind.) High offensive lineman Joey Tanona, Lawrence (Mass.) Academy offensive lineman Ty Chan and Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne offensive lineman Aamil Wagner.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Irish will host Pittsburgh Central Catholic defensive lineman Donovan Hinish, St. Louis John Burroughs defensive lineman Tyson Ford, Chantilly (Va.) High defensive lineman Aiden Gobaira, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Catholic Central linebacker Nolan Ziegler, Traverse City (Mich.) Central linebacker Joshua Burnham, Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka, Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic defensive back Jayden Bellamy, Phoenix Brophy Prep cornerback Benjamin Morrison and Corona (Calif.) Centennial cornerback Jaden Mickey.
Notre Dame will also have Birmingham (Ala.) Briarwood Christian class of 2023 quarterback Christopher Vizzina on campus Saturday.
Vizzina shot up the Rivals rankings this month, going from a three-star prospect to a four-star and the nation’s No. 139 overall prospect.
The Fighting Irish offered Vizzina Oct. 27 during a phone call with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. Vizzina visited Notre Dame’s campus over the summer for a prospect camp and holds a high view of the university, football program and coaching staff.
“Going to a Christian school, all of my coaches put God first before football,” Vizzina, who is Catholic, explained. “It’s special if I can go to Notre Dame and God is first there, too. There’s a lot of [faith-based] schools across the country, but not many of them are up there [in football] like Notre Dame.”
BlueandGold.com is told that St. Louis De Smet class of 2023 cornerback Christian Gray will also be in South Bend this weekend.
This will be Gray’s fourth time on Notre Dame’s campus. His first experience was for the Irish Invasion camp in June. Gray returned to South Bend at the end of July for Notre Dame’s “Grill and Chill” recruiting event. And his last experience at Notre Dame was for the Irish’s blowout win over Georgia Tech in November.
“It was a fun, nice visit,” Gray said after the November visit. “I got to learn some new things about Notre Dame. I met some of the players and saw the coaching staff in action. It was great to be in that environment.”
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