Lucky Charms: Notre Dame football recruiting tidbits

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

*** Earlier today, I moved my prediction from Notre Dame to Michigan for Cheshire (Conn.) Academy’s Jacob Smith, the No. 225 overall prospect and No. 17 EDGE per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking. This should come as little surprise, considering his brother, Jerod, committed to the Wolverines, and I’ve been saying for a year or so that the twins planned on attending the same school. Jerod went ahead and committed a few months earlier than expected (the original plan was for the twins to commit on their birthday in August), but it looks likely that Jacob will follow suit, whether it’s sooner or later.

*** I’ve seen many Notre Dame fans say that the Irish moved off of Smith, and that’s why he picked Michigan. I always roll my eyes at the “Well, we didn’t want him anyways” crowd because it’s never that simple. The Fighting Irish staff badly wanted the Smith twins for quite some time, but I get the sense the ND coaches didn’t like the original commitment timeline of August, and when Cole Mullins wanted to commit, that changed things. The staff was happy to take Mullins’ commitment.

And Notre Dame likely didn’t have room for both the twins at that point. But the Smith twins may have ended up at Michigan anyways, as it was a tight battle between the Midwest recruiting rivals.

That’s at least the side of the story I got. All in all, Notre Dame wanted the twins for a long time, but the staff is very happy with Mullins and its options left on the board.

*** We previously reported that Salem (Va.) High’s Chris Cole, the No. 909 overall recruit and No. 100 linebacker per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking, would be officially visiting Notre Dame June 9. On3’s Chad Simmons reported today that Cole also has official visits with Penn State June 2, Georgia June 16 and Miami June 23. Also, Cole is unofficially visiting Auburn and Alabama this weekend. I think it’s fairly safe to say that Cole’s ranking stock is on the rise.

Cole, who visited Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold Game weekend, had this to say about his interest in the Irish to Simmons:

“I like their culture and the coaches. During the summer, I also camped there and I was able to be coached by them. I went on a visit and I was really impressed … I was able to see the campus and talk more with the coaches and I really enjoyed it. The linebackers coach (Al Golden) — I think he can develop me.”

*** I have to admit, when Notre Dame hired Golden — who hadn’t been an assistant coach at the college level since 2005 — as its defensive coordinator, I questioned how much he’d grind on the recruiting trail, especially when coaches hit the road. But Golden has been all over it on the recruiting trail and putting in some serious work. He’s regular in the Northeast, and on Wednesday, he extended a pair of new 2025 linebacker offers in the state Texas. Dallas South Oak Cliff’s JJ Shelton and McKinney (Texas) High’s Riley Pettijohn were the recipients of the good news.

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