Notre Dame football: Peyton Bowen chooses Ducks over Irish

With early signing day right around the corner, Peyton Bowen has decided to de-commit from the Notre Dame football program. After being rumored for quite some time, Bowen has made it official and will likely end up elsewhere for his collegiate career.

With coach Freeman and his staff losing the top recruit committed in the class of 2023, it’s a tough blow for the Irish. Bowen is a 247Sports composite 5-star recruit though he’s a 4-star prospect according to 247Sports. A commit to the Notre Dame football team for nearly a year, Bowen has been recruited hard by Oklahoma and other schools.

While it looked likely Oklahoma would be the eventual landing spot for Bowen, Oregon has swooped in with NIL offers and promises to make things interesting. There’s zero doubt which team has the best program and academics, but for recruits in the NIL era, that’s not enough. Notre Dame currently has multiple starting safeties in the NFL and could send another next year if Brandon Joseph declares for the draft.

Bowen has left Notre Dame football and decided to make the commitment and signing to Oregon official

Regardless, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for the past couple of months and has finally come to fruition. While losing Peyton is a tough blow, the Irish still have two extremely talented safety recruits joining the team in the class of 2023. Adon Shuler and Ben Minich are both very talented prospects, and I could see each having a significant impact at the college level.

The Irish may turn to the transfer portal to find a safety that can step in and play immediately next year. Is someone like former Irish recruit Derrik Allen an option as a graduate transfer that could have an impact? The team still has some very gifted young players at the position to step in and take over for the program. But, with all due respect to Peyton Bowen, he won’t make or break the Notre Dame football program.

All that said, Marcus Freeman and his staff must do a better job of preventing their top recruits from flipping commitments. A tough blow for the Irish but nothing they can’t bounce back quickly from.