As the Notre Dame football team enters the next phase of building its future roster, it’s scheduled a couple of fall visits for gameday. Lord Malik Heru and Grant Bowen were both Irish Invasion standouts who clearly have their eyes on Marcus Freeman and Co.
Bowen is a 4-star tight end who plans to follow up his Irish Invasion visit with a return to South Bend for the game against Michigan State. As for what he's looking forward to on the trip, Bowen told Irish Illustrated that he is excited to see the gameday environment at one of the most storied football programs in the sport’s history.
Bowen is ranked as the No. 37 player in the 2028 class, the No. 1 player at his position, and the No. 3 player in the state of Illinois, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. Notre Dame has been making Illinois a priority the last few cycles, trying to reestablish Chicagoland, especially as its home away from home.
Hero is a 6-foot-0, 195-pound quarterback from Indian River High School (Chesapeake, VA) who hasn't yet earned a rating or ranking, as his 2029 class is still quite a way away. Still, it's becoming clear that Malik Heru's profile is rising quickly, and he'll be one of the top signal callers in his cycle when both ratings and rankings for his group start being released.
Lord Malik Heru and Grant Bowen planning Notre Dame football gameday visits
He still hasn’t set a date for his Notre Dame visit this fall, but he tells Irish Illustrated that a gameday trip is in the works. Granted, the Irish have plenty of competition for the rising star. In addition to the Golden Domers, the quarterback has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke, Nebraska, North Carolina, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, SMU, South Carolina, Syracuse, Temple, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, among others.
He’s already set up a gameday visit to the Cornhuskers, making them one of the early leaders in the race for the young gunslinger. Only a freshman in the 2025 season, he still put up impressive numbers for someone so young. Heru posted 1,279 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 104 completions on 158 attempts, 4 interceptions, and 182.7 passing yards per game according to MaxPreps.
Bowen, meanwhile has offers from Alabama, Auburn, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas State, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, SMU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UConn, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin. He’ll also be someone that the Irish have to fight hard for. That he is planning a return trip is a big step in the right direction.
He finished his 2025 season with 34 receptions for 731 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also adding 55 tackles, six tackles for loss, five pass breakups, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and two interceptions. While he’s a standout on both sides of the ball, Notre Dame hopes he’ll be the next in a long line of great tight ends to come through South Bend and play under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus.
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