Miami seemingly slides into the lead in race for Notre Dame football target

Can Notre Dame football stop what has been a very odd slide on the recruiting front this summer? If it can, it doesn’t appear as though that slide is stopping anytime soon.

Wide receiver recruiting has been the big issue for the last few months, but that’s not the only position where the Irish are struggling. Now it appears we can count defensive end as a [playce where Notre Dame is struggling to stay ahead of power competition.

The latest bad news comes from one of Notre Dame football’s top targets in the 2026 class: defensive stud McHale Blade. Adding insult to injury, the team the Irish are losing ground to is the Miami Hurricanes.

Miami seemingly slides into the lead in race for Notre Dame football target 

Speaking to Rivals about his recent visit to Miami, it’s hard not to think that the Hurricanes are currently the front runners for the 4-star prospect out of Chicago.

“It's beautiful. The air tastes different. It's amazing."

Hard to think that kind of impression is extremely hard to overcome. When a prospect thinks the air actually tastes difference, how do the Fighting Irish counter that?

It’s maybe even a bit worse that he made those comments about Miami having also just been in South Bend for the Grill and Chill event. While Blade had nice things to say about Notre Dame, it wasn’t anywhere near that level of excitement.

The Golden Domers still have a chance to make some  noise. The defensive end has made four unofficial visits but he’s still getting interest from schools like Michigan, USC, Florida, Nebraska and many others.

With Blade being a 2026 prospect, the good news here is that Notre Dame football has plenty of time to make up ground. Still not a great thing that Miami made that good an impression.