Notre Dame commit makes Miami, Ohio State look desperate with latest shut down

Since 4-star safety Zayden Gamble committed to Notre Dame, teams have been working hard to try to flip him. Gamble has already announced once that he was shutting down his recruitment. He wanted to make sure people understood he wasn’t looking for greener grass elsewhere. Miami apparently didn’t get the message; perhaps his announcement that he’s shutting things down again on Wednesday will finally make the Hurricanes listen.

According to Rivals’ analyst Mike Singer, Gamble has once again shut down Miami. He told the analyst that he’s sticking with Notre Dame and is excited for what comes next.

“It feels really good knowing where I’ll be headed for my next few years,” the Notre Dame commit reportedly told Singer.

Gamble, who ranks as the No. 142 overall player and No. 10 safety in the country according to the 2027 Rivals Industry Ranking, is taking just his second trip to South Bend next weekend. Despite not seeing Notre Dame up close and personal all that often, he’s now made it clear several different times that when he picked the Fighting Irish over Miami and other schools, he meant it. This isn’t a situation where the defensive back committed only to have a scholarship in his back pocket while he went looking for better offers, like so many others in this day and age.

Zayden Gamble’s firm pledge proves Notre Dame football beat all comers for good

It helps that when the Irish offered Gamble, the humble football star was genuinely surprised. It seems like ever since that surprising offer, Marcus Freeman and Co. have stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

"The offer surprised me because Notre Dame is on another level. It’s a top-tier program,” Gamble said not long after getting his offer.

To be fair, Gamble has taken some other official visits. He was in Columbus last weekend to see Ohio State, and the Buckeyes were clearly hoping that visit might have meant a possible flip.

“It's pretty clear that the Buckeyes would pick Zayden Gamble out of any of the recruits coming in this weekend. He is a four-star cornerback who is committed to Notre Dame right now. He committed just a couple of months ago, so he is still freshly off the market,” Scarlet & Game analyst Ryan Stano wrote about the 4-star prospect.

Stano ranked Gamble at the top of the list of players who took official visits during the first recruiting weekend of June.

It’s not hard to see why other schools just won’t back down. As a junior, Gamble was a key force on the St. Thomas Aquinas Raider defense, which was a driving force behind their 14-1 campaign that ended with a state championship. Gamble’s school blanked Lakeland by a 29-0 score in the state championship game, and the Notre Dame commit was a star, making six tackles, picking off a pass, and breaking up another.

He finished his junior season with 65 tackles, 3 interceptions, 5 pass breakups, and 3 tackles for loss. St. Thomas Aquinas finished the year as the No. 10 team in the MaxPreps Top 25 national rankings. Notre Dame being able to dip into the state of Florida for a talented player from one of the nation's best programs is a big win for the Irish.

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