Notre Dame football: 10 Key targets in the 2023 class

Notre Dame football: 10 Key targets in the 2023 class

AJ Harris and Javien Toviano

One of the keys to Marcus Freeman’s defensive approach is elite cornerback play on the outside. That’s because Freeman wants his front seven to be aggressive and cause havoc. Their job is to take offenses out of their flow by creating negative plays, like sacks and tackles for loss.

This is often done by blitzing. However, to do that, you need defensive backs who you can trust. That’s because you’re leaving those corners on islands in man coverage to blitz like that.

When this works, it dominates like Cincinnati’s in the AAC. They’re sending three defensive backs that Freeman recruited and developed to the NFL this offseason. Unfortunately, when you’re inconsistent in the back end, like the Irish were in 2021, it can lead to mistakes and big plays.

So, the Irish are recruiting a few key five-star cornerbacks, like AJ Harris and Javien Toviano.

AJ Harris is from Alabama and and stands at 6ft 1in. As of now, he holds 36 different offers. Among them, he seems high on Notre Dame. The problem is that there are a few other schools who he is incredibly high on right now.

Some experts expect this to be a Georgia vs. Clemson battle, but with both those programs losing their defensive coordinators, there is room to strike. To land Harris, Notre Dame will need to out-recruit the world, though.

For his part, Toviano is a stud from Texas. The concern here is that it’s going to be hard to get him out of Texas, where he grew up rooting for teams, can be close to family, and take advantage of new NIL opportunities.

That doesn’t mean that he will definitively land at a Texas school, though. After all, he holds 33 offers, including the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame, and Oregon. Who knows where he ends up, but he could offer a ton of help for the Irish. For what it’s worth, Toviano has a brother who plays for Rice.