Lucky Charms: Notre Dame football recruiting notes

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

*** More than anything, tonight’s Lucky Charms is a look at a few prospects who seem to be trending away from the Irish, to put it lightly. During the winter recruiting period where coaches could hit the road, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Mike Denbrock paid Goodland (Kan.) High’s Linkon Cure, the No. 32 player and No. 2 tight end nationally per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, a visit. The feeling at that point was that the Irish were on the outside, looking in for Cure’s recruitment, and that remains the feeling today.

I haven’t heard anything positive regarding Notre Dame in his recruitment, and in a recent interview with On3’s Chad Simmons, the Irish were not mentioned as a contender in the article. Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama and Penn State are considered the top schools for him at this point in time.

*** Notre Dame quickly went from a team to watch to out of the picture with Shaker Heights (Ohio) High’s Trey McNutt, who ranks as the No. 30 overall prospect and top safety in America per the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking. McNutt, who had previously scheduled a Notre Dame visit for this month, eliminated the Irish from contention yesterday when he announced his top-eight schools list. And a few days prior to that news, Notre Dame sources told Blue & Gold that the Irish were no longer recruiting McNutt, who the staff was after as a cornerback recruit. I’m not sure what caused the two parties to part ways, but that’s what happened.

Ohio State, Michigan, Florida Gators, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, USC and Texas A&M are McNutt’s top schools.

*** Indianapolis Warren Central’s Damien Shanklin, the nation’s No. 85 player and No. 11 EDGE according to the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, is another player who the Irish are slipping for. He was long considered an Irish lean, has visited campus four times and previously set an official visit date for June, but I’m not sure that trip will take place any longer. This is simply trending in a different direction.

And as far as Notre Dame’s defensive line board as a whole for the 2025 class, things are very much up in the air. The Irish have a solid group of three committed, but where things go from here is to be determined.

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