Notre Dame trending for a handful of top targets

Marcus Freeman and his staff at Notre Dame have already put together one of the best recruiting classes in the country.

Behind 20 commitments — 12 of which are blue-chip prospects — the Irish currently sit fifth in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.

While the largest recruiting class in the country is close to filling up, there are still a number of top recruits on the board for the Blue and Gold. On3’s Steve Wiltfong broke down some of Notre Dame’s primary targets as well as its latest commit on the Inside Scoop football recruiting show.

Dallas Golden continues DB recruiting streak

Tampa Berkeley Prep four-star safety Dallas Golden joined ND’s class earlier this week as the fourth defensive back to commit. But are the Irish done in the defensive backfield? Wiltfong doesn’t think so.

“This is one of Notre Dame’s most coveted players on the board regardless of position,” Wiltfong said. “They’re bringing him in as a corner from Tampa Berkeley Prep. He’s fast, he’s explosive, he has some versatility and he tracks the football really well on the back end. Defensive back is a huge position of need for the Irish this cycle and they add Dallas Golden to another top target, Ivan Taylor, and then Cree Thomas, a corner that they love out of Arizona. And I don’t think they’re done.”

Irish trending for elite in-state DB

Notre Dame is currently trending for Indianapolis Ben Davis top-100 cornerback Mark Zackery, per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM).

“We’ve had a longstanding prediction in favor of Notre Dame for Indianapolis Ben Davis cornerback Mark Zackery. I spent some time with Mark earlier this week during his pro day workout at Ben Davis, and he was originally planning to take official visits to his final four schools this summer — which is Cincinnati, Florida, Michigan and Notre Dame. But, he is no longer going to take those trips. He is in decision mode. We’re expecting him to announce a commitment sometime in the next couple weeks. And unless something changes, I think Notre Dame is the team to beat there.

“Like Dallas Golden, this is one of the favorites for Notre Dame this cycle. Mark Zackery is a state champion in football this year — I think he’s the only player during the season to catch a pass on Ellis Robinson III. He’s a two-way standout at Ben Davis, and he’s the point guard for the basketball team that won the state championship last year, made it to the state championship this year. He has a Butler offer for basketball. So many programs coveted him for football, I like the way it’s going for Notre Dame here as they put together a very special defensive back haul.”

Notre Dame battling for On300 top-100 DB

The Irish are heavily involved in the recruitment of Winston Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor four-star safety JaDon Blair. Blair will take seven official visits, but the Midwest is looking to be a likely landing spot.

“Three schools that I’m looking at. He’s got seven finalists, he’s going to take seven official visits — he already took two in the spring to Louisville and Virginia Tech. Upcoming trips — Florida State and South Carolina. But I think he’s going to end up at a Midwest powerhouse,” Wiltfong said. “You’ve got Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State heavily involved here. So these official visits, we’ll see which one is the program standing on the other end.

“But Notre Dame has done a fantastic job here. They just had the Bronko Nagurski player of the year in Xavier Watts, who led the nation in interceptions, so they’re going to point to that as they get JaDon Blair back to campus. The biggest key for Blair’s upcoming official visits is just getting around the players in every locker room and seeing where he fits in best amongst the players on the team. Because, he already knows so much about the programs, the coaches. Now he wants to get the feel for who could be his friends, where does he fit in best?”

Other top targets for the Irish

“Well as they try to finish with a top-five class, receiver is one of the big points of emphasis for Notre Dame as they continue to try and recruit at a national championship level,” Wiltfong said. “And to get there, they need a burner or two to add to this receiver room to get this offense more explosive than what we’ve seen on Saturdays. Add some more guys that can touch the football and score on one touch.

“Dylan Robinson from California is one of those guys — sub-4.50 in the 40-yard dash. Jayvan Boggs is a receiver from Cocoa, Florida state champion, had a monster junior year. Former Ohio State commit, was up for the spring game, he’s trying to come back for an official. Derek Meadows, Tanook Hines and Talyn Taylor are a few other receivers that are on the board. Derek Meadows is, obviously, one of the elite pass-catchers in the country. . . Notre Dame and Michigan are battling SEC programs for Derek Meadows.

“And then a couple defensive targets still out there for Notre Dame. Defensive lineman Jalen Wiggins, who we’ve talked about regularly on this show, is committed to Florida but he’s keeping the door open for a lot of programs. He’s a high academic kid. We talked last week about Florida State being in the thick of that, but Notre Dame and Stanford are certainly trying to get involved. And then linebacker Madden Faraimo is another major target for Notre Dame that they’re certainly near the top of the list for.”

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