Preview: Dozen key Notre Dame recruits in South Bend for big official visit weekend
It’s finally here. Official visit season at Notre Dame is back, and the Fighting Irish staff has two big official weekends lined up, which in a way started Thursday.
An official visit is a 48-hour, all-expenses paid trip by the school, and the trips this weekend run from Friday to Sunday. With school out, Notre Dame is able to fly out the prospects and their families Thursday, but the official visit clock doesn’t start until the recruit gets to campus Friday morning.
Of the dozen prospects on campus, three are uncommitted targets for the Irish, which includes two linebackers and a safety.
San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) JSerra Catholic’s Madden Faraimo, who is listed as the No. 78 overall recruit and No. 8 linebacker nationally per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, has an important visit to take this weekend at ND. This will be his third trip to campus in total, with his last two occurring the summer of 2023 and April 2024.
Faraimo was at Washington last weekend for an official and has trips scheduled with Ohio State June 14 and Texas June 21 the rest of the month.
“The respect that Notre Dame gains has them on my list,” Faraimo recently told On3 about his interest in Notre Dame. “Great people go there and when they leave, they have a lot of respect given to them. It is a great school academically too and it would prepare me for life after football.”
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy’s Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, the No. 74 prospect and No. 5 linebacker in the country per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, also has a huge June lined up, and he’s another major target left on the board for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame would love to have the brother of former Irish linebacker Nathaniel Owusu-Koramoah on its commit list, but there’s big competition and more trips on the horizon.
The four-star prospect was at USC last weekend and will be at Ohio State and Michigan the next two weekends, respectively.
“That’s family right there,” Owusu-Boateng said of Notre Dame. “If I went there, I’d just be carrying on the legacy. Knowing what Coach Al Golden is doing for the program right now, and Coach Free [Marcus Freeman] is always calling my phone, pouring love and just showing that he really cares about me. He wants me to come and be part of the Irish family.
“And then going back to the development piece of it, knowing you’re going to get developed and really coached. Coach Max Bullough, the linebackers coach, he played the position. So it’s just that you’re going to be coached by those guys and playing good football each week.”
Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph Regional’s Jahmir Joseph, the No. 181 overall recruit and No. 22 cornerback in the country per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, has been a Notre Dame target for quite some time, but it’s been in recent weeks that the staff started viewing him as a safety rather than corner. The Irish filled up at the cornerback position, but they need another safety.
Joseph doesn’t say much publicly, so it’s difficult to figure out exactly where he’s leaning, but we can follow the visits. He officially visited Stanford last weekend and heads to Penn State and South Carolina the following two weekends, in that order. Georgia is another school in the mix for Joseph.
This will be Joseph’s first visit to Notre Dame.
Ten of the 12 official visitors this weekend are on the defensive side of the ball, but two are on offense. Bryant (Ark.) High running back Daniel Anderson and Green Bay (Wis.) Notre Dame de la Baie Academy tight end James Flanigan are those prospects, and both are committed to Notre Dame.
The Irish have their top two linebackers coming to campus this weekend, and their two commits at the position are coming to town in Honolulu Punahou’s Ko’o Kia and Philadelphia St. Joseph’s Prep School’s Anthony Sacca.
Two of Notre Dame’s three defensive line commits will be on campus this weekend; Immaculate Conception Catholic Prep EDGE Dominik Hulak and York Community defensive lineman Joseph Reiff out of Elmhurst, Ill. will take their official visit.
Notre Dame’s three cornerback commits are due in for the Irish: Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep’s Dallas Golden, Phoenix Brophy College Prep’s Cree Thomas and Indianapolis Ben Davis’ Mark Zackery.
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