Parker Boudreaux Talks Recruiting Process

On July 2nd, Parker Boudreaux, a four-star offensive guard from Orlando, Florida, announced that he would be playing for the Fighting Irish next season through a very creative medium. Instead of announcing his decision like most prospects do, Boudreaux got some help from Bleacher Report.

A couple of days ago, my roommate, who is the co-host of Domer Talk on Irish Sports Radio, talked to Boudreaux about the video and his thoughts on the recruiting process.

In regards to the making of the video, Boudreaux said that Bleacher Report really wanted to create a decision video for him. Why was Bleacher Report so interested in creating a decision video for Boudreaux? Well, not only was he viewed as one of the best guards in the 2016 class, but he was the most coveted prospect in the country. He received over 70 offers from schools like Alabama, Florida, Michigan State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Clemson and, the defending national champions, Ohio State.

Bleacher Report went down to Florida to come up with an elaborate way for Boudreaux to announce his decision, and they narrowed their ideas down to two. They could either get him to pull an airplane or a bus. They couldn’t get the airplane so they settled for the bus (which says something about how strong Boudreaux is).

Boudreaux also talked about the recruiting process and mentioned that his favorite part of it all was the relationships he built with the coaches at Notre Dame.

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“Coach Hiestand, I’ve been in contact with him forever,” Boudreaux said. “Two to three times a week I give him a call and see how he’s doing. He’s a real old school guy.”

That connection between Boudreaux and Hiestand was established early in the recruiting process, and it’s clear that it developed into a strong enough relationship to get Boudreaux to commit to Notre Dame.

In addition to the positives, Boudreaux talked a little about the negatives that came along with being a high-profile prospect.

“Once I released that video, the worst comment I got, I think it was an Ohio State fan who said ‘I hope this kid tears his ACL and doesn’t have a career’…it was crazy” Boudreaux said.

Of the 40,000 plus followers Boudreaux has on Twitter, he says that many of them are critics who say things he wishes he didn’t have to see or deal with.

Looking towards next season, Boudreaux wants to make sure he’s prepared to handle some of the toughest competition at the Division I level. He said that since Bishop Moore Catholic runs the ball on almost every play, he wants to hone in on his pass blocking abilities given Notre Dame spread offense relies substantially on passing the ball effectively.

In addition to Boudreaux, Notre Dame has verbal commits from Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer, both four-star offensive linemen who Boudreaux spoke highly of in his interview.

Boudreaux will be making his next visit to South Bend when Notre Dame opens up the season against Texas on September 9th.