Notre Dame coaches on the road: Irish staff has major visits lined up Monday

From Wednesday to Friday of last week, it was a bit of a hodge-podge of Notre Dame staffers out on the road, but for this week, the Irish are expected to have their full allotment of coaches all across the country — and even on another continent.

During the spring evaluation period, the Irish staff can have “contact” with high school juniors. That means they can have full-on conversations rather than just a “bump” as previously allowed. But as far as 2026 prospects go, the “bump” rule remains.

The NCAA does not permit head coaches from visiting prospects during the spring period.

Here is where the Fighting Irish staff is expected to be on Monday, according to Blue & Gold sources:

— Notre Dame offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Mike Denbrock and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli are expected to head down to Mississippi for a visit with Irish signal-caller pledge Deuce Knight.

During the spring eval period, college coaches can only stop in at a given high school once, and the staff didn’t want to wait any more time when it came to seeing Knight. Notre Dame is sending the heavy hitters to see the all-important Irish pledge.

While SEC schools have pushed for Knight this year, he looks to be more solid than ever in his Notre Dame pledge. He visited campus twice in the spring and will take his Irish official visit in June.

— Receivers coach Mike Brown has an important Monday lined up. He’s expected to drop by Houston Dekaney to meet with class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Tanook Hines. The 5-11.5, 170-pounder is on the short list when it comes to prospects who the Irish might add to the position to round out an impressive class. We expect Notre Dame to host Hines for an official visit in June, but we’re still working on confirming the date, as there’s been some conflicting information.

While in the Houston area, Brown is expected to stop by Missouri City (Texas) Ridge Point, home of 2026 safety target Jermaine Santana-Diaz. The rising junior’s only offer at this point is Notre Dame, a school that he visited April 20.

— Irish running backs coach Deland McCullough has an interesting trip lined up. Even though Notre Dame has two commits at the position, the staff is still looking at players at the position for the 2025 cycle. Blue & Gold is told that McCullough will make it out to Jacksonville (N.C.) High to inquire about Demon June, who stands at 5-11, 215 pounds. East Carolina, Old Dominion, Appalachian State and Toledo are among his scholarship offers.

— Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph plans to be at Nixa (Mo.) High to check in on 2026 five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, who ranks as the nation’s No. 4 player and top prospect at his position per the On3 Industry Ranking. The 6-7.5, 305-pounder is at the top of the board for the Fighting Irish.

Cantwell is the son of former USA Olympians Christian and Teri (Steer) Cantwell. His father is a five-time world champion and won a silver medal in the shot put at the 2008 Beijing games and in 2004 had the top four shot put throws in the world. Teri Cantwell participated in the 2000 Sydney games and was a two-time NCAA shot put champion at SMU.

— Moving to the defensive side of the ball, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden and defensive backs coach Mike Mickens have a busy day lined up in the Sunshine State.

Yesterday, the Irish landed a major commitment from Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep class of 2025 defensive back Dallas Golden, and the ND coaches will celebrate the big news in person with him Monday. They will also check in at Tampa (Fla.) Carrollwood Day for 2026 safety target DJ Williams, who visited campus early in the spring and loved his time in South Bend.

Golden and Mickens are also going to drop by the loaded football powerhouse that is Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, a program that always has Notre Dame targets. There are four who they are currently pursuing at IMG — two in the 2026 class in defensive backs Zech Fort and Kasani Jiles. They both visited Notre Dame in the spring and seemed to have a good time.

The Notre Dame duo will meet with two of their top remaining linebacker targets as well in Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng and Gavin Nix. To our knowledge, neither prospect has set a summer official visit to ND yet, but it’d come as little surprise if they do indeed make it back to South Bend.

— Irish defensive line coach Al Washington will be in the panhandle of Florida and will check in on Pensacola (Fla.) Pensacola Catholic class of 2026 EDGE Trenton Henderson, who was just on campus for the Blue-Gold Game.

— Notre Dame linebackers coach Max Bullough will be in his home state of Michigan Monday, inquiring about the following three 2026 prospects — Saline (Mich.) High linebacker Isaiah Harris, Port Huron (Mich.) Northern athlete Lincoln Watkins and Dexter (Mich.) High linebacker Nathan Gersh.

— And here’s something you didn’t expect to read today. Special teams coordinator Marty Biagi is expected to be inquiring about prospects in … Australia. In my 11 years of covering college football recruiting, I don’t believe I’ve ever reported on a coach going out there for a recruiting trip. Could Biagi be going out to find an Aussie punter?

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