The Notre Dame football program continues to stack elite talent in the 2023 recruiting class, this time landing a big-time safety in Peyton Bowen.
Notre Dame football continues to roll in recruiting, this time with elite 2023 safety out of Texas, Peyton Bowen committing to Notre Dame right before the start of the Fiesta Bowl. Bowen has been to campus multiple times and obviously, that made an enormous impact on him while on his visits to South Bend.
His relationship with current commits and especially with head coach Marcus Freeman, alongside safeties coach Chris O’Leary seemed to be the difference-maker here though. Those relationships are second to none and I think this one got sealed up as soon as Freeman was promoted to Head Coach and O’Leary remaining on the staff.
I’m sure the ability to come in and play right away was big for Bowen and his family as well.
At the moment, Bowen holds 26 offers from the majority of the top programs around the country. He had a final four of Notre Dame, Alabama, Oklahoma, and USC before ultimately pulling the trigger on the Irish publicly.
What does Peyton Bowen bring to the Notre Dame football program?
The 6’1 180-pound safety is everything you look for on the back end of your defense. His skill set as an athlete is just off the charts, as he also contributes a ton on the offensive side of the ball and in the returning game at Guyer high school.
He has great ball skills, elite movement and sees the entire field well. The upside is towards the top that you’ll see with a high school defensive back. His coverage skills are outstanding and he has really solid speed to go along with it.
Bowen has extremely fluid hips that let him patrol the secondary and it’s a bonus that he has that ball-hawking ability when it’s needed. It’s the “it” factor you want to have from someone in the secondary and he’s a player that has it and someone I could see Notre Dame relying on early and often in his career in South Bend.
With Peyton Bowen making it public the 2023 class now has eight commitments in the class which moves the Irish to the No. 1 class in the entire nation. Six of the pledges are on the defensive side of the ball and two are on offense.
Bowen will be joining cornerback Justyn Rhett and safety Adon Shuler in the defensive back room with lots more room to continue adding to the already dynamic trio. Marcus Freeman is just getting started with his recruiting for this class and it’ll be interesting to see if the Irish end up finishing in the top 5 or even 3 when it’s all put together.
There are also a few other top targets that need to be noted, that play high school football with Peyton Bowen that Marcus Freeman would love to have joined their teammate in South Bend but until then we will have to wait and see.
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The Bowen recruiting though could be the tipping point for a few of those key targets, that’s for sure. Enjoy Irish fans, recruiting is going to be a different animal with Freeman at the center of it all.