Prized DE Lucier-South puts Notre Dame on itinerary
TYLER JAMES South Bend Tribune
tjames1@sbtinfo.com | Updated Yesterday
Keisean Lucier-South already has Notre Dame penciled into his fall schedule.
When Stanford travels from California for an Oct. 4 game at Notre Dame, the junior prospect plans to do the same. His interest has been piqued with a relationship developed with a number of Irish assistant coaches, including Bob Elliott, Mike Denbrock and Brian VanGorder.
“They're doing a good job,” Lucier-South said. “They're honest. They always tell me academics first and then football and I really like that. They don't want to talk about football the whole time. They want to talk about life. I have a great relationship with them.”
The defensive end from Orange, Calif., recently included the Irish in his top list of 16 schools under consideration. The list stretched to 17 with an offer from Florida State. The Irish have managed to carve out a spot in the crowded recruitment of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound prospect.
The presence of VanGorder became the newest addition last week when the Irish defensive coordinator made a visit to Lucier-South’s school, Orange Lutheran.
“I was pretty pumped. I was like, ‘Wow, the defensive coordinator is here,’” Lucier-South said. “I knew he was some other places, but I was surprised he came here.”
Lucier-South’s good vibes for Notre Dame stem from the aftermath of his Irish offer in October. Lucier-South remembers watching three Notre Dame games last season — the victory over USC and the losses to Michigan and Stanford. Michigan and UCLA pose as the biggest threats to land Lucier-South.
“I honestly like Notre Dame,” Lucier-South said. “They really play hard, especially their D-linemen last year, (Louis) Nix and (Stephon) Tuitt. I really watched them the whole time.”
247Sports slates Lucier-South as a five-star prospect, the No. 3 weakside defensive end and No. 27 overall in the 2015 class. Rivals ranks him as a four-star prospect, the No. 6 weakside defensive end and No. 75 overall.
With such a high-profile recruitment, a commitment for Lucier-South might not come until close to February’s signing day. He plans to trim his list of schools in the neighborhood of 10 shortly before his senior season this fall.
Meanwhile, Lucier-South wants to keep the majority of his attention on improving as an all-around defensive player.
“With my hands, I'm trying to learn some more moves now,” Lucier-South said. “I need to have more weapons for the future. This year, I'll be playing outside linebacker, so I'm trying to practice dropping back and all that. Pass rushing right now is the biggest focus.”