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Notre Dame football: Weekly recruiting roundup 8/14

By Greg Hadley

November 28, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly (right) leads the players out onto the field to play against Stanford Cardinal during at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
November 28, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly (right) leads the players out onto the field to play against Stanford Cardinal during at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The commitments have slowed, but as the regular season approaches, Notre Dame’s recruiting efforts has shifted to preparation for official visits.

No recruits have chosen the Irish in the past seven days. In fact, with 17 commits already in the class of 2017, Notre Dame doesn’t have many targets left on the board to make decisions.

All that’s left are the very top prospects for 2017 and the early priorities for 2018. With fall camp starting recently, the recruiting trail has gone pretty much cold as of late, but a few things of note came to light.

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First, five-star offensive tackle Foster Sarell announced he is taking an official visit to Notre Dame this fall. That’s obviously great news for the Irish, who have already hosted Sarell this past June and impressed the rising senior over three days then. The fact that’s he coming back for more solidifies Notre Dame as a top contender.

Sarell isn’t just a five-star recruit, he’s one of the top players in the nation in his class, and to land a commitment from him would absolutely make the class of 2017 Brian Kelly’s best recruiting job yet and arguably the best class in the country.

Harry Hiestand has truly changed Notre Dame from Tight End U to O-Line College, but even by those standards, Sarell would be a massive get for the program.

Elsewhere on offense, four-star wide receiver Tarik Black has said he won’t announce his commitment until the Army All-American game in January, but Notre Dame has certainly put on the pressure on Black, sending him an official scholarship offer he tweeted out a few weeks ago.

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Notre Dame is among his six finalists, and 247Sports’ analysts have him picking the Irish. This week, Black visited Michigan unofficially, but he had good things to say about the Fighting Irish too.

After missing out on Orisis St. Brown, Notre Dame’s need for a top-level receiver is getting increasingly desperate. The Irish have just two three-star WRs in the class at the moment.

Looking ahead to 2018, four-star defensive end/tight end Leonard Taylor has been committed to Michigan since the spring, but his recruitment process is far from over, as the No. 14 end in his class announced this week that he will visit both Notre Dame and Ohio State. His visit to South Bend will come the weekend of the Michigan State game.

Lastly, PJ Mustipher, a four-star defensive tackle and one of the highest rated at his position in his class, recently opened up to 247Sports and raved about Notre Dame. With his brother Sam projected to start at center for the Irish this season, PJ looks like a strong pick for the Irish, and he would combine with Jayson Ademilola at defensive tackle to make Notre Dame’s 2018 class one of the best at that unit.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame basketball is still looking for its first commit of the class of 2017.

Right now, 247Sports has the Irish at 14 offers for this recruiting cycle, which isn’t all that surprising or out of line with what Mike Brey’s staff has done in the past.

But what is concerning for Irish fans is the complete absence of any commitments this late in the game. For better or for worse, the recruiting calendar has been moving up over the past several years, and it’s not uncommon for high schoolers to be making decisions nearly a year out in advance.

Take a look at 247Sports’ recruiting rankings. Practically every top program out there has at least one commit so far. And in the past 10 years, Notre Dame has always had at least one commit by midway through August.

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Obviously Brey will get someone to come to South Bend. But the longer the wait drags on, the more people will wonder whether he can recruit alongside the elite programs Notre Dame aspires to join.

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