4-star back feels like Notre Dame football priority after Pot of Gold Day

The Notre Dame football team is on a roll. Marcus Freeman and his staff generated quite a bit of great buzz with their dozens of scholarship offers on Pot of Gold Day. They even got a commit on Sunday, not long after the offers started going out.

The day after, they got a commitment from a legacy recruit, who is also the first commitment of the 2026 class.

Are the Fighting Irish making inroads on another top 2026 prospect? They at least have the attention of 4-star running back Javian Mallory. That’s a baby step in the right direction, considering all the power schools going after the West Boca Raton-based back.

"It feels great to know that I’m a priority for such a prestigious university like NotreDame early on," Mallory recently told Rivals’ Charleston Bowles.

As a sophomore, Mallory rushed for 1,415 yards and 18 touchdowns while nabbing 22 catches for 438 yards and six touchdowns. With those numbers at such a young age, it’s not hard to see why schools like Notre Dame football are coming calling for the 2026 prospect.

Notre Dame football fighting off power schools for Javian Mallory

In addition to the Fighting Irish, Mallory has offers from some of the biggest schools in the country. Miami, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, USC, and Oregon are just some of the Power Conference schools that came calling in the last few months.

Just who is the leader in the clubhouse is still very much up in the air. On3 currently has the Hurricanes as the top school with a 40 percent chance of landing Mallory. Meanwhile, Rivals doesn’t have any official predictions, but users believe the running back is headed to Florida State.

With years until Javian Mallory can sign on the dotted line, Notre Dame football giving him plenty of love is really about building blocks. Those steps will be needed if they want to pry him out of his home state.