Notre Dame is staring at a Sunday 4-star recruiting loss to USC that will sting badly

Can the Notre Dame football team keep its May hot streak going this weekend? On Sunday, 4-star safety Gavin Williams will announce his school of choice, and the Fighting Irish are among his final favorites. Unfortunately, to answer the opening question directly, it appears that not only won’t Marcus Freeman score another recruiting win, but he’s going to lose to the hated USC Trojans.

Gavin Williams has Notre Dame football battling USC in a final-four decision

The prospect from La Verne (CA) Damien has USC, Notre Dame, Washington, and UCLA as his four favorites, but drilling down even further, the Trojans and the Irish have separated themselves from the pack, and the hometown team could be tough to beat. Many signs are pointing to USC.

One sign was a move that Notre Dame cannot copy, and that might be what Gavin Williams understands as well. Last week, position coach Paul Gonzales and assistant general manager Dre Brown took a rather highly-publicized helicopter ride from downtown Los Angeles (right by the USC campus) to La Verne to see the defensive back prospect. As Williams now nears his commitment announcement, it looks like that helicopter visit was the finishing touch on the Trojans' high-pressure recruiting push.

There are some more pedestrian reasons to believe that the Irish are falling behind USC in the race for Gavin Williams as well. 247Sports analyst Blair Angulo entered an official crystal ball for Williams to pick USC. And then, of course, there are at least five Rivals analysts who all predicted the Trojans would win the race over the last 10 days. In fact, it's not so much that signs are pointing away from Notre Dame, but that there are no signs that anyone else has a chance.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound standout at Damien High School is ranked as the nation's No. 129 overall prospect and No. 9 safety according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, while ranked No. 159 overall, No. 11 safety, and No. 14 player in the state according to 247Sports Composite ratings looks like he'll stay close to home.

Gavin Williams has Notre Dame football trying to overcome USC’s late surge

"With family close, with the comfort level growing and Williams being a top target even through a position coach change, the Trojans have to love where they stand heading into his weekend decision," Rivals analyst Gorney wrote.

Over three seasons at Damien, the coveted 4-star defensive back has racked up 148 total tackles, 13 pass breakups, 11 interceptions, and 10 tackles for loss, proving to be one of the best defensive players in California and attracting attention from at least 40 schools.

If there is a bit of good news for Notre Dame, it's that if it does lose the fight for Gavin Williams, it's not that big a blow in the grand scheme of things. Marcus Freeman and his staff are indeed on a run the likes of which even they haven't seen all that often.

Notre Dame scored its fifth top-100 commit of the 2027 cycle earlier this week when it secured the pledge of Oluwasemilore Olubobola. They could get another big commit later on Friday afternoon as well. But they would have liked to steal a defensive back, Gavin Williams, away from the USC Trojans.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow