Notre Dame football pursues talented DL, undeterred by Florida commitment
Notre Dame football coaches aren't letting the fact that a prospect is committed to another school stop them from going hard after a talented defensive lineman. There's a bit of space between the Florida Gators and defensive lineman Jalen Wiggins and the Fighting Irish staff are hoping to force itself into that space with an official offer to the 4-star commit.
Wiggins has been committed to the Florida Gators since January, but he'd already started to show signs that the commitment wasn't as rock solid as the SEC school would like.
Just last week, Wiggins took a visit to Florida State. It's clear that Marcus Freeman and company would like Notre Dame football to be the ones to get one of the next looks.
Notre Dame's strategic pursuit of Jalen Wiggins: a committed DL prospect
Wiggins's visit to Florida State was an unofficial one, but he's also starting to plan out his official visits. He's slate to take a trip for Stanford on May 31. He'll then go to see the school he's still committed to in Florida on June 7. And then he takes another visit to Florida State on June 21.
That leaves one weekend where Jalen Wiggins currently doesn't have plans. Notre Dame will look to squeeze in a trip to South Bend on that June 14 weekend. It's important to note that Wiggins is in no hurry to make a definitive announcement once he finishes his officials. He's made it clear that everything could come down to December.
Notre Dame and Florida fans can of course, argue whether he should even be considered a commitment to the Gators if that's the case.
Wiggins is considered the 81st best player in the 2025 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Wiggins produced 167 tackles including 50 for loss, 30 sacks and three forced fumbles over the last two seaons at Rickards High.
Notre Dame football currently has four edge rusher or interior defensive line commits, but they would clearly like to see Jalen Wiggins become the fifth.