Fighting for the best: Notre Dame football battles to keep top DB commit

The Notre Dame football team is likely concerned enough about its chance of keeping some of its best commits in the fold without having to face off against an old rival. However, it appears that the Irish are going to have to do exactly that for defensive back commit Ivan Taylor.

The Top 100 player was a bit of a surprise commit to Marcus Freeman and company earlier this spring. Lately, it’s seemed as though he might be wondering if he pulled the trigger a bit too soon. It appears he’s still examining that line of thought.

Notre Dame football facing off against old rival

Even worse than having to fight to keep Taylor in the fold, is that they’re trying to do it while the Michigan Wolverines are working hard to get him to flip. According to On3’s Zach Libby, the Wolverines are trying to stage what would be a heck of a coup and they’re using a weekend visit to bolster their chances.

As it turns out, Taylor’s first FBS offer was from Michigan. It came from former defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator Steve Clinkscale. 

After that, the old staff was tring to strike up a relationship with Taylor, but the defensive back never visited Ann Arbor prior to Jim Harbaugh leaving and taking several of the coaches who had been in contact with Taylor leaving

There is also the fact that former defensive assistant Chris O’Leary is the one that Taylor had struck up the best relationship with. O’Leary is now gone and while the 4-star prospect has had good things to say about Mike Mickens, there are some who don’t believe it’s as strong as it was with O’Leary.

The final strike in Michigan’s favor is that this is Taylor’s final visit before the summer dead period kicks in. That’s going to leave Notre Dame football having to fight off the Wolverines without being able to really parry their approach directly. Stay tuned on this one.