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Notre Dame Basketball, still searching for first 2017 commit, offers combo guard

By Greg Hadley

Mar 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey reacts during the first half in the championship game in the East regional of the NCAA Tournament against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey reacts during the first half in the championship game in the East regional of the NCAA Tournament against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Notre Dame basketball and Mike Brey made their 13th scholarship offer of the 2017 recruiting cycle to combo guard Darryl Morsell on Saturday, according to 247Sports. The Irish are still waiting for a recruit to commit.

While Notre Dame’s football team continues to rack up commitments and move up the rankings for the class of 2017, their counterparts on the hardwood are still searching for their first commit of the recruiting cycle.

At this point, there’s certainly no need for alarm on Notre Dame fans’ part; about three-quarters of ESPN’s top 100 recruits for 2017 have yet to verbally commit to any school, and the Irish have wooed players well into October in previous years.

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Still, it is surprising that Notre Dame has absolutely no commits. In the past five recruiting classes, the Irish have never hit mid-July without anyone secured. Meanwhile, the number of offers the Irish have on the table is on par with their previous two class years, all according to 247Sports.

So who is Morsell? And could he be the first in the class of 2017 to commit to Notre Dame?

It’s unlikely Morsell will choose the Irish, let alone any squad, in the near future. He has 12 offers on the table at the moment, including some major programs like Maryland and West Virginia, and Notre Dame is only the latest to the party, as four other schools have offered him in the past week alone.

However, Notre Dame does have something of a built-in advantage, as Morsell, a Baltimore native, attends Mount St. Joseph High School, the alma mater of former Irish point guard and newly minted video coordinator Eric Atkins.

At 6-foot-4, Morsell has decent size for a guard, but he rebounds even better than his height would suggest and is said to be a talented defender. He weighs around 200 pounds, so he will certainly not be pushed around too much, but he is also quick and has good hands.

Morsell has said he wants to end up at a school where he can contribute right away as a freshman, and Notre Dame could possibly afford him that opportunity. Two seasons from now the Irish will have Rex Pfleuger and 2016 commits Temple Gibbs and Nikola Djogo in the back court, but not much else.

The Irish and Brey have some pretty good history in Maryland when it comes to recruiting: In addition to Atkins, Jerian Grant and Martinas Geben are also from the state, and way back in the day, Brey used to coach at a Maryland high school, DeMatha. That connection has always been a fruitful one and continues to be so for the class of 2017, as four-star shooting guard D.J. Harvey announced he would take an official visit to Notre Dame this fall.

Harvey, ranked the 32nd recruit in the nation by 247Sports, said he wants to make his decision before his senior season starts, so it will also probably be a while until he commits.

Next: Five best Eric Atkins moments at Notre Dame

But a Maryland back court of Harvey and Morsell would certainly erase any concerns over the uncertainty of the Irish future at the moment.