Notre Dame football letting another top WR target slip through its fingers

The Notre Dame football team hasn’t had a ton of success reeling in its top wide receiver targets this cycle. It will get another chance to reverse that trend in the very near future.

Bishop Gorman wide receiver prospect Derek Meadows announced on social media earlier this week when he’ll give his pledge. The Irish have to wait just three more days until they find out where he’s going. Unfortunately, it seems like the pass-catcher is headed elsewhere much like Jayvan Boggs and JonAnthony Hall did.

On3’s Steve Wiltfong gave his take on where Meadows will end up not long after the commitment date of July 13 was announced. He reported that sources have told him that while Meadows is technically picking between a final five of Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame football, and Georgia, it’s really a two-team race at this point.

Notre Dame football letting another top WR target slip through its fingers

According to Wilftong, Meadows is expected to pick between Alabama or LSU. Though there was a bit of good news mixed in. Before Monday’s announcement, the Irish are expected to make one more push.

Still, it’s a report that sounds like far too many in the last few weeks. It’s a report where the Fighting Irish were able to be among the finalists, but not actually close the deal and be “the one.”

It’s especially interesting that Notre Dame is not having much success despite the arrivals of wide receivers coach Mike Brown and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. It’s also struggling despite having a very good wide receiver class in 2024.

In fact, it could be the class in 2024 that is holding back its 2025 success. Or it could be that the Notre Dame football team is simply going up against the biggest of the big bads for most of its wide receiver targets. We’ll see if Marcus Freeman and company can reverse the trend on Monday.