Notre Dame football: Sunday recruiting roundup

After a torrent of commitments in the past few weeks, things slowed down significantly for Notre Dame football in the past seven days. Still, the Irish remain in the hunt for several star recruits.

The Irish failed to add to its 17-strong class of 2017 this week, but offered a few more prospects and made strides in its class of 2018. The biggest news of the week was probably four-star wide receiver Hezekiah Jones choosing Texas A&M.

Jones, a Stafford, Texas, native, had included Notre Dame among his five finalists, along with Houston, Auburn, Alabama and the Aggies, and was rated as a top-25 WR by both 247Sports and Scout. Had he committed to the Irish, he would have easily been their top receiving prospect of the class.

Instead, Jones chose to stay in his home state, a move that most recruiting analysts predicted. Still, he didn’t even include the Irish as an option in his commitment video. That’s a tough break for Notre Dame, who enters this season with limited options at receiver and could certainly use a player with his ability.

Meanwhile, there are two other prospects who had previously committed to other schools that the Irish are pursuing.

Hunter Echols, a four-star defensive end rated as one of the 10 best at his position for his class, decommitted from UCLA on July 22, and in the aftermath declared that the Irish were “probably” his top option at the moment.  Still, he has yet to set an official visit with Notre Dame while confirming this week that he will visit Nebraska in early September.

More from Football Recruiting

• Notre Dame football: Micah Gilbert with huge commitment to Irish
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish news: More football commitments coming
• Notre Dame football: Brian Urlacher’s son Kennedy commits to Irish
• Notre Dame football: Be ready for a landslide of commitments
• Notre Dame football: Several top players set to visit the Irish

Echols will not announce his recommitment until the Army All-American Game in January, so the Irish have plenty of work to do regardless.

Germane Crowell, a three-star athlete, has been committed to Virginia since April, but Notre Dame seems to be at least somewhat hopeful of swaying him, offering a scholarship to the North Carolina native on Friday.

On a more positive note for Irish fans, four-star linebacker Jacob Phillips has announced his five official visits for the fall, and Notre Dame made the cut. He’ll be in town on Sept. 17 when the Irish face Michigan State, and he had plenty of positive things to say about the program to Rivals.

“I like a lot about Notre Dame just because of how different it is,” Phillips said. “It’s a completely different feel from all the other schools, especially the SEC schools that I’ve visited. It’s a very historic school with all the educational things and all the history there.”

Moving on to the class of 2018, which already includes five players for Notre Dame, the Irish extended an offer to a top player and got good news from another.

Five-star defensive end Xavier Thomas, rated No. 1 in his class by ESPN and No. 2 by 247Sports, earned an almost-obligatory offer from the Irish on Friday.

https://twitter.com/atxlete/status/759113975057424384

Thomas is now up to 28 offers, and it’s still very early on to predict where he’ll end up, but obviously Notre Dame wants this kid. A 6-foot-2, 250-pound ball of speed and power, Thomas has sky-high potential. Take a look at his highlight reel and see what I mean.

And lastly, three-star wide receiver Noah Igbinoghene announced his five finalists Friday afternoon.

Next: 4-star LB joins Irish class of 2018

The Irish are currently without a wide receiver in the class of 2018, but Igbinoghene, rated as a top-40 WR by 247Sports, would make a fine addition to the class, and his five finalists were light on other traditional powers. Duke may be having a strong stretch as of late, but Notre Dame offers a whole lot more history.