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Notre Dame Football: Irish a perfect spot for Niuafe Junior Tuihalamaka

By Brad Weiss

SAN DIEGO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Helmets of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish near the bench area in the 2nd half against the Navy Midshipmen at SDCCU Stadium on October 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Helmets of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish near the bench area in the 2nd half against the Navy Midshipmen at SDCCU Stadium on October 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /
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2022 linebacker Niuafe Junior Tuihalamaka loved his visit, and the Notre Dame Football program would be a perfect fit for him.

Looking ahead to the 2022 recruiting class, the Notre Dame Football program has gotten off to a fast start, currently listed as the No. 3 class in the country according to Rivals. While they have no five-star commitments yet, the Irish do have ten four-star recruits, the most of any team in the country so far.

Only Ohio State and LSU are ranked above Notre Dame.

Staying with four-star prospects, the Irish recently hosted a dominant linebacker from Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany High School and Niuafe Junior Tuihalamaka came away pretty impressed with South Bend. Landing him would be a huge get for the Irish, as he has offers from nearly every big-time school out there, but with the Irish, he would find himself in the perfect place to get to the next level.

Notre Dame Football DC an elite linebacker coach

When the Notre Dame Football program landed defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, it was a huge get on two levels. For one, he is one of the better defensive coordinators in college football and had even received an offer to be a linebackers coach at the NFL level.

The second was the fact that is an elite recruiter, and that has been evident by how well the Irish are doing in terms of their 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes so far. If Niuafe Junior Tuihalamaka decided to go to school in South Bend, learning under a mind like Freeman would give him the best opportunity to be a first-round pick one year.

The Irish have already landed linebackers Joshua Burnham and Nolan Ziegler for their 2022 class, so if they can get Tuihalamak to commit, that would be three brand new linebackers for Freeman to mold. That is the kind of group that would anchor this defense for years to come.

The Irish were blessed to have Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as the leader of their linebacker group the past few seasons, working his way up to being an All-American. For Tuihalamaka, he could blaze the same path as JOK, working with Freeman to be one of the best linebackers in the country before all is said and done.

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