Lucky Charms: Notre Dame football recruiting odds and ends

Here are today’s Lucky Charms, a Monday-Thursday nightly insider notes article on Notre Dame football recruiting.

*** Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown spent time in Chicago on Wednesday before hopping on a plane and heading to the West Coast. One stop he made was to inquire about Chicago Morgan Parker’s Nasir Rankin, the No. 300 prospect and No. 28 “athlete” in the country per the 2026 On3 Industry Ranking.

Notre Dame is very involved in Illinois for the 2026 cycle, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see the Irish join the race for Rankin at some point. For now, Indiana and Illinois are his notable offers, but we’ve seen the Irish not concern themselves with what a prospect’s offer sheet looks like and trust their own evaluation. We’ll see where things go with Rankin, who is also viewed as a really good high school basketball player.

*** A couple more recruiting notes from Notre Dame’s Blue-Gold Game last weekend … Boca Raton (Fla.) Saint Andrew’s School class of 2026 wide receiver Dylan Faison told Blue & Gold that he’s only heard from one school so far during his recruiting process — and that’s Notre Dame — the school he’s of course committed to. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a player who will have only spoken with one staff, but that might end up being the case with Faison. He wasn’t on any other program’s radar prior to his Notre Dame pledge; the Irish obviously had a strong tie to him with his brother being on their roster. And with that important connection, we don’t expect any other schools to even attempt to flip him.

Just how good is Faison? Take it for what it’s worth, but connected sources believe that Dylan has a higher ceiling in football than his older brother, Jordan, who is an impressive receiver in his own right.

*** This should come as no surprise but Greenwich (Conn.) Brunswick School’s Matty Augustine, the nation’s No. 391 prospect and No. 33 offensive tackle in America per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, tells Blue & Gold that he’s fully locked in to his pledge. Notre Dame is taking Augustine is an offensive tackle, but with offensive linemen, you never know what position they’ll end up at.

*** Seffner (Fla.) Armwood’s Jaelen Waters, the No. 157 prospect and No. 15 cornerback nationally per the 2026 On3 Industry Ranking, put Notre Dame in his top-five schools list a few weeks ago, which was a bit random. He committed to Florida State Tuesday, which was not a surprise. Notre Dame had a very slim chance to actually land him.

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