Lucky Charms: SEC school offers Notre Dame commit; prediction switch

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

*** This past Thursday, Tampa (Fla.) Jesuit’s Justin Thurman, a Notre Dame commit who ranks as the nation’s No. 262 overall player and No. 24 running back according to the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, tweeted that he picked up an offer from Missouri. The news comes just a few weeks after Thurman pledged to the Irish, and interestingly enough, Missouri is his home state. He moved to the Sunshine State last year.

We saw Washington (Okla.) High class of 2025 tight end Nate Roberts announce new offers from other schools after committing to Notre Dame, and he ended up backing off his Irish pledge in mid-August. But that doesn’t mean that all players who announce offers from other programs are going to decommit.

Thurman tells me he’s committed to Notre Dame and that he was simply thankful for the opportunity. He wanted to simply acknowledge the offer publicly. Also, Thurman is currently planning to visit Notre Dame for the home opener this weekend. A storm is coming through Florida this week which could disrupt those plans, but by all accounts, Thurman looks to be very solid with the Irish regardless.

And as I’ve said on several occasions previously, Thurman is the most “Notre Dame-type kid” I’ve interacted with in my time on the beat. I have a very hard time seeing Thurman ending up anywhere else, which is why I logged my prediction well before other industry reporters.

“The reasons that led to my decision to commit to Notre Dame were the culture, academics, program and the people,” Thurman previously told Blue & Gold. “It’s a great holistic fit for me and my lifestyle. Four years at Notre Dame puts you in the best position for the next 40 years of your life.

“From Coach [Marcus] Freeman all the way down, it’s a family environment. There’s such great camaraderie, and there’s a collaborative environment.”

*** Back on July 27, 2022, I made a prediction for Notre Dame to land St. Louis University High’s Ryan Wingo, the No. 25 overall player and No. 7 wideout per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking. He visited South Bend five times between the summer of 2021 and the fall of 2022, and things were looking really good for Notre Dame for a while. But the recruitment got more complicated, and despite Chansi Stuckey doing a great job building a relationship with Wingo, the Irish faded for Wingo.

While the Irish did re-engage with Wingo after Isiah Canion decommitted from Notre Dame in July, this recruitment has been dead for a while from an ND standpoint. I would’ve moved off my Notre Dame pick several months ago, but I just didn’t know which school to flip it to. To be honest, I still don’t have a great read on if it’ll be Missouri, Texas or someone else for Wingo, but I flipped my pick to the in-state Tigers. They seem to be on a roll recruiting their home state.

Most importantly here, I moved my pick off Notre Dame. I didn’t want people seeing Wingo’s profile and still think I believe he’ll end up in South Bend.

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