Football Recruiting: Weekend Visitor Preview – January 20th, 2017
With National Signing Day now less than two weeks away and the Irish scrambling to fill the wholes still left in this class, these next couple of weekends will prove to be very important for last-minute visits. With that in mind, in lieu of Big Board updates these next couple of recruiting updates will be dedicated to those imperative weekend visits. This weekend we’ve got a handful of Irish targets in the Bend, as well as a few current Notre Dame commits.
Keep in mind that this list is liable to change as there could be some last-minute additions or drops.
Irish Commits on Campus
David Adams — Linebacker — .918
The Under Armour All American will be on campus with his recruiting hat on. David’s recruiting ratings recently took a hit in the aftermath of his solid-but-not-great performance at during Under Armour week, during which he played injured. He’s now rated as the #204 player nationally by the 247 Composite.
Kurt Hinish — Defensive Tackle — .867
Kurt will be making the trip with his good friend and high school teammate, David. Not much going on with him, it seems, although he did earn All-Pennsylvania honors along with fellow Irish commits Josh Lugg, Adams, Phil Jurkovec (2018), and Matt Bauer (2018).
Drew White — Linebacker — .845
Drew had a monster senior year, tallying 107 tackles, two blocked punts, a fumble recovery, and a sack. It was enough to earn him 8A-6A First Team All-County honors.
Irish Targets on Campus
Russ Yeast — Cornerback — .891
Notre Dame just offered this in-state Under Armour All American last night. A Notre Dame offer is one that would have been hard to turn down if it had come during the summer, but Russ has been committed to Louisville for a while now. However, with the departure of Lousville’s DC, there may be a window for the Irish to sneak in. After receiving the offer, Russ set up his visit to Notre Dame within a matter of hours. It’ll be intriguing to see how things progress if he does indeed make it to South Bend.
Jordan Genmark-Heath — Safety — .865
Notre Dame was the dream offer for this current Cal commit. It took a while for him to receive that offer, though, and he had already been committed to Cal for a few months before it came on January 11th. With the current changes coming to Cal, Jordan is pretty open to Notre Dame as an option. Watch for this one — a flip could happen within the next few days.
Evan Fields — Safety — .861
Heading into this official visit, Arizona State has a slight lead for Evan Fields. The Irish are in pretty good position, though, and this visit could prove to be a game-changer for him. Reports are that he’s a great fit for Notre Dame, and it’s easy to imagine the Irish pulling ahead after this weekend. He makes his decision on January 30th.
Chris Miller — Cornerback — .858
After the news of Denbrock leaving broke it appeared as though Miller, a Colorado commit, had stopped considering the Irish (Denbrock was his primary recruiter). A new development came up about a week ago, though, and Notre Dame is back in it. Texas offered a few days ago, and that could be something to keep an eye on. But the Longhorns offered Chris as a receiver and he prefers defensive back. If all goes well this weekend, the Irish will have a great shot at flipping him.
Tre Norwood — Cornerback — .839
Since our last Big Board update, Tre has added offers from the likes of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee. The Irish currently have a big lead going into this weekend’s visit. They’ll be hoping to lock this up with a commitment by the end of it, but for right now the plan is for Tre to take an official to Oklahoma before making a decision.
Kofi Wardlow — Defensive End — .836
Kofi is another kid who just picked up his Notre Dame offer last night and immediately set up an official visit. He’s a rush end prospect who is currently committed to Maryland. He called Notre Dame a “dream school” though, and he should be watched as another potential flip candidate. Mike Elko has been working on Kofi since arriving at Notre Dame earlier this month. I can’t stress enough how refreshing it is to have a DC who actively recruits now.
Micah Jones (2018) — WR — .895
It’s still pretty early in Micah Jones’ recruitment, but the Irish appear to have the early edge over the likes of Michigan State, Illinois, Northwestern, and Iowa.
