Eric Thomas on Notre Dame’s Recruiting Buzz After Huge Junior Day Weekend

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Water usually wins. It rots wood and tears docks apart, unless you build with treks. Trek's marine grade decking is 100% submersible, built to resist rod and salt and fresh water. Water has met its match. Trek's decking. Visit treks.com slash docks. If you want spring break to feel like, and a moment away from the kids, to feel like, and your reward status to feel like, Thank you for being a Hilton Honors Gold member. Enjoy your daily food and beverage credit. And now that nightcap and the lounge can feel like, it matters where you stay. With Hilton Honors, earn the most valuable gold status faster, and unlock benefits at over 9,000 locations worldwide. Hilton, for this day. Notaring just hosted one of its biggest recruiting weekends of the year, and the reaction

1:00from top prospects might tell us everything about where the Class of 2027 is headed. It's next Unlocked On Irish. You are Locked On Irish, your daily podcast on the Noter Dame Fighting Irish, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome in to Locked On Irish, your daily home for Notering Football. I'm your host, Tyler Wojak, and thank you so much for making this your first watcher listen of the day on Monday, March 23rd. Before we dive in, make sure that you're subscribed to the YouTube channel or following the show wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps us out and keeps you locked in on our daily coverage. And we have got a loaded show for you today because on top of starting spring practice over the weekend, Notering just hosted their massive Junior Day event and the early returns on the recruiting trail are really encouraging. Eric Thomas from Irish Illustrated is going to stop by to talk about which recruits the Irish made serious moves with where they may have even closed the gap or even taken a lead on some of the top prospects in the country and what this all means for the Class

2:03of 2027. Plus, there are a few names coming out of this weekend that you need to have on your radar right now. Let's get into it. It's always great to have Eric Thomas recruiting analysts for Irish Illustrated on the show, especially after one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year for Noter Name. So let's start big picture and Eric, I'm going to let you set the stage for us. What is Junior Day at Noter Name? Why is it such a big deal in recruiting and what all goes into making a weekend like this successful? Yeah, it's, Junior Days are a big deal and they've been growing things since even not when I worked in college. Back in the day, when I did it, it was like, you know, 10 guys would come, sorry, cat. 10 guys would show up and they would do a photo shoot and they would meet with the coaches. So it was a lot of meetings and a lot of informational and that's really sort of evolved over time. Now, you know, school's host, one Junior Day in off season is usually a pretty big group and it's sort of a way to kick off like the major swing of off season recruiting. There are sometimes visits that happen before that and everything, but it's actually an

3:03event that is structured to be like, okay, we are going full bore into this class. We're trying to, you know, assesses may target it's possible, get FaceTime and really create a platform to launch from for the rest of the spreading into the summer. So it's an opportunity to check in with guys who, you know, maybe they haven't been in Notre Dame in like a year and you offered them a while ago and you want to get the temperature and ratchet things up before the summer. For guys who you have sustained contact with, it's an opportunity for you to say, hey, you know, we know you were just here in the fall. We want to make sure you understand you continue to be a top priority in that we're having face to face conversations about what these next steps are. So it's a lot of that talking to some of the guys. There was various meetings. There was meetings for, you know, offensive defense that met with the strength and conditioning staff. There was a lot of information about what makes Notre Dame special and, you know, from the culture tradition standpoint, the stuff you classically think of. And then there's also the sort of different side of how they do these meetings, which is what makes Notre Dame special about the people. How do we have the strength staff in place to give you an edge that maybe you wouldn't get it other programs? How are we attacking training and off-season lift that are going to allow you to maximize

4:07your talent? It's all about giving information to these guys in a way that engages them. It's fun, gets them face time with the coaches, gets them on campus, and this year they moved it to March so they could specifically structure that with spring ball. So these guys would have that exposure to the team. They would be able to see those guys and compete. And not only is that message sort of hitting differently now, right? Because you're seeing the guys who buy into that and embody it. Now you're getting to get the firsthand reactions. You're getting to see some of these guys and talk to some of these guys about, hey, you know, I just had a meeting about this. What does that mean to you? Whatever it is. It's an all-encompassing opportunity to attack the 2027 class in this case. And this year specifically really moved the needle with selected top targets or interesting guys that are on the rise in the board for 2028. Yeah, it sounds like this wasn't just about getting as many guys on campus but getting them around each other. So how important is that piece? Because Notre Dame isn't just focused on building a relationship between like the coaching staff and the recruit.

5:07And trying to build a relationship between the other recruits and their families. And how much did that show up this weekend? I think that was massive. And ultimately, especially when you look at like the defensive staff turning over, they had a lot of the defensive commits come into town and spend some time with each other. Because what is that but familiarity, right? Like that's an opportunity for those guys to have something familiar and entrenched on that visit, even if there's a lot of newness for them to engage with. So it was not only a tool for, hey, you know, we have these guys who they're going to be along the sideline. They're going to be at these events and they're going to be able to describe exactly what went into their thought process of, here's why Notre Dame was the best place for me. But they're also going to be acting as a retention tool. They just had to replace Mike Mickens, but they had three committed defensive backs that are this weekend. All those guys have familiarity. They have a good relationship and they're able to work with one another to not only recruit some of these other guys, but sort of reinforce like, yeah, man, I did love X, Y or Z about Notre Dame. We have talked about that. It's almost like a tacit solid bit, but I know it came up. Like I've heard several feedback points that, you know, Teddy Joe Carter was working a

6:10lot of the rooms and that the defensive backs will really kind of get naft of the other guys. I think it was Ace Austin. I heard it was really getting after Zayden Gamble and some of the other defensive backs. So it's casual and it's tacit, but it's a really important thing because especially in like NIL and transfer portal, like we think relationships matter less, but they don't. They're just more, they're more likely to, you know, bounce somewhere else or move around. But the more points of solid relationship and connection you can create, especially between each other, it's just a leg up in a world where people are sort of looking for something that's going to anchor them that same way. You know, you already brought them up. So I'll ask about them now because I was going to save it for later, but Teddy Jard, like his situation is obviously unique as a reclassified quarterback who's literally going to be joining the team in just a couple of months here. You know, how different is his experience on his official visit weekend compared to the rest of the recruits knowing that he's basically a member of that roster, but he's also kind

7:10of working the rooms with the recruits, like you mentioned. So how did that work for him this weekend? It was almost not quite a one to one, but it was almost comparable like the midweek visits last summer. The game premier went on where there's just not a lot of guys there. Like it's kind of a lower key thing because he only had the 2026 guys like there's not a lot of them there. Obviously, like it's a little bit more of a tight group. So for him, the experience is different because he's not like, hey, I want you to be my class. I want to come and play four years with you and really build around that core with you. It's much more future thinking. It's, hey, I'm going to get a year in this program. I'm going to build myself into the future of this program. I want you to come here and be ready for that what I'm there. So it's a little bit of a different self in the recruiting side. It's a little bit of a different experience, but fundamentally like the structure of the visit, very similar. He went through, you know, photo shoot, multiple days of visits, a lot of meetings because he's a sign E. I'm sure they went over a little bit more like the wayport meeting install stuff like that. You know, just a little bit more access than maybe you would want to do for a target on an official visit when you're not trying to overload.

8:10But for him, I think the main thing is there's just more of a volume of information pertinent to his arrival that they're able to funnel to him in this time than for most guys when you're trying to sell. But that's really the main difference. They can cut out some of the bad of, hey, we want you here and they can really focus on, hey, here's what you need to do when you get here. Let's focus on a few of the other biggest names, Zyron Forstahl. He's a five star defense event and one of the most highly coveted recruits in the entire country. So what did you hear about how his visit went and where Notre Dame stands coming out of the weekend? Yeah, things are really positive on that side. I mean, looking at the notes that I've gotten throughout the course of the day and I haven't had a chance to speak with, was Zyron myself, unfortunately, but just from the feedback that I've heard, it sounds like Notre Dame is firmly in that race. Now it's one where I'm not sure that they did enough to move and get over the hill that is Texas A&M, right? I think that that's one that Notre Dame still sort of has to climb with the next stage.

9:13But it sounds like Notre Dame at least cemented their status as like realistic contender for Zyron Forstahl, which was more of a theoretical thing for this visit, right? It was like, he really likes them, but is he going to end up actioning and wanting to connect and be with Notre Dame? After spending some time with the coaches and making those relationships, take that next step to that in-person meeting, like, yeah, clearly there's something real there. So I still think that Notre Dame is going to be in this one, you know, down to the end. I think that they're probably going to be one of the, you know, the final two or three in this. I have a little bit of hesitation saying, oh, Notre Dame put themselves in whole position when Texas A&M seems like they had a real healthy lead coming in the weekend. Sticking on the defensive line, top 100 prospects like KJ Green and Braden Parks were also there. Parks especially feels like a key one. And I believe 24-7 has emrated as a top 10 prospect in the entire country and their rankings. He's like, I think in the 70s and the 24-7 sports composite, but still really high ranking for him. Do you get the sense Notre Dame is in a strong position there now?

10:14I think Notre Dame is in the best position in land, Braden Parks. He has some other interested suitors, but he's had a lot of interest in Notre Dame. And, you know, the old adage is follow the visits. He just keeps coming back to Notre Dame. He keeps making them a priority. They continue to make him a priority. Ultimately, there is, you know, some interest down south. There's some interest in, like, Illinois. He's got this arbor coming up. Like, there's a couple of places that are trying to turn his head, but I ultimately feel like this is going to be centered around the Midwest powers when it comes down to decision-making time. And I think Notre Dame has the best case to land them, especially with his continued connection with, you know, Coach Bartridge building. He has a great relationship with Coach Freeman. I think that's when Notre Dame is going to be able to get that done, but it's not going to be on a timeline. I think that makes people super comfortable. Like, he's been considered a Notre Dame lean for a while. People, when they hear that, they're like, a water's new just commit. And it's not always that easy. Like, these guys want to go through the process. They want to validate these decisions. They want to take visits. They want to get the data points. So I think for him, that's kind of where he's at. Like Notre Dame is probably even in his mind, internally, number one, if it's not the top

11:18school, right? If that's how I was thinking about it, but I just, I don't know that he's in a position to commit in any immediate turn. What about Green? Green's more interesting. Notre Dame, I wrote before the weekend that I would be shocked if Notre Dame got him. And it's not for a lack of trying. It's not for a lack of competitiveness within the race. It's just difficult with what schedule looks like with his official visits already set. And some other factors that are kind of working against Notre Dame time wise. But from what I've been able to pick up, like, it sounds like it was a great visit for KJ Green. It sounds like he really enjoyed his time on campus, specifically, which partridge made a pretty big impression on him. You know, he's, he's a guy that I think at any given moment, he's a little bit tougher to get a read on. You know, a few visits, he's, places cards a little close to his chest. So it's a little bit tough to be like, oh, you know, how excited truly are you coming off of this visit? And it sounds like he was even giving off a little bit of that excited, you know, after

12:18glow of the visit of ocean, which is sort of rare for him. So that tells me that there's some staying power here. And this is something that stuck with him. But again, I can't say, you know, Notre Dame pushed themselves number one in this race or there, but they're solid contender. They're going to be, you know, that top three group probably with him. I just don't necessarily know right now, having not had a chance speak with him directly if where they slot in there. But it's once again, it's all good news. It sounds like Notre Dame really gave themselves staying power and a race where kind of like the John Meredith thing, right? Like he was supposed to be there and then I'm showing up now. It seems like they're pedoring out like that felt like it could have been the case early when this visit was announced for KJ. They kept pushing. And I was like, OK, this is pretty serious. Like he's interested, but he's got these other official set. Like, is he going to be serious in the follow up? Seems like he's pretty serious about the follow up at this point. So we just got to see the action. And then from that point on, pretty much the time will get. Eric is going to be right back with us in a moment to discuss how Notre Dame made a big move

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15:23From supply, the Coast Visa commercial credit card is issued by Celtic Bank. All card accounts are subject to credit approval. Welcome back to locked on Irish today. Eric Thomas and I are reacting to Notre Dame's big junior day recruiting event from the weekend. But I also wanted to remind you that you can get your first month of the everyday club for free when you use code March. You'll unlock ad free episodes and entry into our private discord where I'm hanging out daily. Click the link in the show notes or go to locked on Irish studsupricast.com to claim your free month. Now back to Eric. At linebacker four stars, Joaquim Gouda and Noah Glover both sound like priorities at a position of need. It's something that you and I have talked about before, like if there's been one position where Notre Dame really hasn't been landing those super high caliber guys in a consistent basis. Now, they got Man Framow and they got Kingston William. Well, awesome. So they're definitely winning at times, but I think collectively, they've had some misses there as well. So how much ground did Notre Dame make up with those two linebackers? Yeah, they definitely impressed Gouda. Like I know that they're well, I impress both.

16:24They definitely had a great, I don't want to put this, they definitely impress both. There's room to go. I think that in both those races, so I'm trying to get my keyboard working here. In both of those races, I think Notre Dame has a little bit of a bridge to cover with making up ground with Georgia still. Gouda in particular strikes me as one where they have a lot more ground to go, but I think Notre Dame is going to be a player to the end for Glover at least. And they took the right steps for Gouda for there to potentially be an official visit, which coming into this, I would not have expected. So overall, I think they hit the mark with Gouda better than I actually anticipated. And with Glover, it was kind of as expected. He was really impressed. I could tell from everything I was hearing that Notre Dame kind of hit a lot of the marks with him. Again, I just don't know where they stand against Kirby Smart and those guys right now. It's a fair point, but staying on the defensive side, this is a big recruiting weekend, specifically for the new assistant coaches.

17:25It's Charlie Partridge, it's Brian John Marie, and Aaron Henry. And this is like their first major recruiting weekend now as coaches at Notre Dame. So what kind of impression did you get about those guys and how they're sort of acclimating and handling these big Notre Dame recruiting weekends? They sounded really positive. I heard quite a few comments about how Charlie Partridge was a character. And that was sort of relayed in a positive way, like, hey, you know, he's a guy who's going to have a big personality. He's going to kind of light up the room that he's in was kind of the way it was phrased. For the other guys, I didn't hear as much about them on like an individual, like, oh, they were like the guy you had to see or whatever. But I did hear that Brian John Marie made a pretty big impression with Joaquim Gouda in particular. I think that for all the guys who were there setting that relationship was kind of the important factor here and then what they were trying to accomplish. And I know that with Gouda in particular, that was kind of like one of the big points of like why Notre Dame hit the marks.

18:26It was that relationship and kind of getting that time. So I would say he definitely was sort of a smash and success in that race, at least in particular. Who did I miss, Aaron Henry? With Aaron Henry, his biggest thing going in this weekend, like they had some targets, his biggest thing was retention, right? He's got to lock in and make sure that these guys understand like, hey, there's a new sheriff in town. You're still our top priorities. We're trying to get you rolling. We want to make sure that you're locked in. We don't have to spend as much time worrying about like, hey, do we got to have a call with Ace to make sure my amy's not calling or whatever it is. And I think he hit those morphs. Like I've heard from some of the defensive back commits that they still feel comfortable in that commitment that really excited about the energy this weekend. They're excited about the direction of that room, like what they saw in practice was really exciting to them. So from that perspective, I think he really hit all the marks for the target side of things. I think that there's some good work done like Zaden Gamble seems like he's strongly considering Notre Dame more. So, you know, there's a couple points that I still have to chase down and get kind of

19:27the root of like, hey, how much of that was him versus your means of Marcus and all that if I want to answer the question, but sort of on both of his perspectives, he had a big retention push and targets and it sounds like it was, you know, green lights across the board on both of those fronts. All right, let's go over to the offensive side. The tight end board is still loaded, even after a Seneca driver committed to Oklahoma somewhat surprisingly. I would say Jackson Dollar and Cooper Terwilliger were both on campus. So what's the latest there and how does Notre Dame position itself with those guys after missing out on one of their top targets at that position? Yeah, for Jackson Dollar, I'll start there. I talked to Jackson this morning. He and I have been going back and forth for quite a while at this point. We have a pretty good dynamic and Notre Dame has been kind of towards the top for him for a while, if not the outright leader at large sections, right? And talking to Jackson this morning, he talks about how he fell in love with Notre Dame Early, his family fell in love with Notre Dame Early. This trip was really a lot of validation of why he felt that way.

20:28He talked about the meaningful way that they've kept the door open, but how at no point has that not the wind out of Notre Dame sales or kind of put them behind everything else. So right now I see that race, there's other players, there's room for other players to emerge. He is meaningfully keeping that door open, stress, stress, but right now this is probably Notre Dame in Georgia, sort of a two-man race to the top here. And I think Notre Dame is still their race to lose, but that doesn't mean that Georgia can't go out and take it. And I know from talking to a few people that it's widely expected that another top tight end from Illinois, Brock Williams is going to end up committing the Texas here soon. He was also very high in Georgia's board, so once he's a Texas commit, they're basically going to be all in the land Jackson dollar. It's going to be no holds for him. So it'll be interesting to see kind of once those dominoes fall, how things change a little bit in that race, but I think it's Notre Dame's to lose. His family understands the value, he understands the value. He came into this trip, like, I need to improve my relationship with Coach Dan Brock,

21:29just point blank is what he told me. He's like, I have a great relationship with Coach Biven, I have a great relationship with Coach Freeman. Along with Coach Dan Brock has kind of fallen through the cracks. He's not as active and recruiting. So they spent time. And that was the key factor here, and he told me, you know, he checked those boxes. He really appreciated the time he spent with Coach Dan Brock. He compared him to Tyler Eiffert and laid out a plan like that for how to get him to that next level and kind of the utilization as that vertical threat, kind of being able to go up over top of DBS and get behind linebackers the same way they use I for back of the day. So all of that, like, really tracked well with him. He really appreciated that conversation. He told me about, you know, he doesn't like it when he has to sort of suss out like, okay, I'm a unique player at tight end. So how many of these coaches want me to be me versus how many of these coaches have an idea for the player I am and they want me to fit that box. So he's sussing that out the spring and he felt that Notre Dame really checked the box and we want you to be you because what you are is valuable to us. And I think that's going to help them long term. So I still think that's Notre Dame is to lose.

22:30Like I said, he's probably looking at a commitment sometime after official visits in like July, August timeline, as for Cooper, that's an interesting one. It sounds like Notre Dame made up real ground this weekend. As for some of the other guys, it's there was a presumed leader coming in. So it's a little bit difficult for me to say, like, oh, yeah, they really bridged the gap with Michigan, who is the other leader in his race. Like they really bridged the gap with some of these other big 10 powers that are, you know, hard after him. But Notre Dame coming into this visit was like, we think we can be a competitor here. We're just not sure, you know, without getting one campus, that the mutual interest is actually strong enough for us to sustain in this race. And I think they got some clarity there. That mutual interest is strong enough for them to push the thing to the end. I don't know if they left this weekend as like the outright leader in this race. They clearly got a bunch of tight end prospects, you know, on the board. But I do think that they solidified like we're going to get an official visit. And we're going to be able to compete with this thing down to the end,

23:30barring of, you know, a set of driver commitment. They also have a lot of running back prospects on the board. And there were multiple big time names. I campus this past weekend, including four stars, Tracey Gara, Isaiah Rogers, and Lathen Wisenton. So did one of those requirements stand out to you as one where Notre Dame really helped itself? Yeah, sorry, I was just checking my messages from one of their dads. I would say the Tracey Gara, one really stands out. Like it sounds like they're really connected with him, his family. He talked about, and I don't want to misslead what he means here. He's talking about adjusting his official visit schedule to include Notre Dame. I don't know if that actually means he's going to reschedule one of the visits he has on the weekend of 12th of the 19th and get that prime window. Or if that means that he's just going to move having a minute to get a minute week and, you know, whatever he has personally, that wasn't immediately clear. But Notre Dame will get an official visit from the Cigar family. They loved it. They loved connecting with Coach Cider. They felt that, you know, they came into this with a lot of excitement

24:36about what the relationship with Notre Dame could be. And a lot of, you know, understanding from the coaches, what they had told them of what an experience of being a Notre Dame athlete is like. And I think being able to live that and see that and kind of back up that message meant a lot to the family, you know, as a whole not just, not just trade, but the whole family really connected with like, okay, there's some action behind these words. Like they're talking about how this is about life after football and the best of both worlds we're seeing in a moment. The feedback that I got there was, there was a lot of, a lot of solid contact, if you will. Like Notre Dame had the checks and boxes and they really did that. So I think that they're going to be in that race to the end. He's arguably their top running back target on the board left in 2027. No robbers is right there too. And I'm not sure if I'm ready to say, like, oh, yeah, I think they're going to get him. But I do think they're probably in the top two. And they're in striking distance with an OV, you know, perfectly capable of pushing them over the top. So as for some of the other guys, Latham Wiesenton, it sounds like it went really well. I'm not sure how much ground they made up on some of the Texas schools.

25:37It's always tougher to get a read on some of those Texas kids, especially if they already have official visits set to those schools. So I'm not, I'm not sure 100% how much ground they actually ended up making up on Texas Tech and Texas, especially since some of the priorities with those schools tend to be different. But it sounds like at least it went really well and they put themselves in striking distance where if he's willing to leave the American South, Notre Dame is going to be in a good spot. I know that there was a lot of excitement about Elijah Framwell. He's talked about getting back to campus. I believe they're probably going to try and get him on campus. June 5th for Irish invasion. And then Isaiah Rogers sort of raved about the trip as well. He's a guy that coming into this, he wasn't unknown to Notre Dame fans. Like he'd obviously been a target. But it almost felt like he's going to Penn State. Like the actions around Penn State, like people have been talking about Penn State there for a while. And at this point, I'm not so sure that that's a foregone conclusion, whether that's Notre Dame or someone else. But it does seem at the very least that he's opened up a little bit

26:41to the possibility that this isn't going to end up with him in happy valley. And this trip seems to have done a number of moving that needle that Notre Dame could be that alternative. We're going to be right back with Eric to talk about a wide receiver who Notre Dame thoroughly impressed over the weekend, but first a word from Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when moment of shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator play by play. You decide trade every play with Robin Hood. Now available across the US, download the Robin Hood app now to begin futures and clear swap trading involved significant risk. It is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Today's episode is also brought to you by 5-hour energy.

27:44Welcome to the 5-hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow or cotton candy. There really is something for everyone. The board is set, the flavors are ready, and I've got my number one pick for the 5-hour energy flavor draft. I'm drafting Barry. Big bold mixed berry flavor with notes of raspberry and blackberry, a little tartness to keep it balanced and a clean finish with minimal aftertaste. It's smooth, easy to recognize and just flat out dependable. That's my number one overall pick. In the second round, I like cherry. In my sleeper, I've got my eye on confetti craze that rich, freshly baked cake vibe with smooth vanilla frosting notes sounds like a wild card that could shoot up draft boards fast. Find your new favorite flavor of 5-hour energy shots available online at 5-hourenergy.com or on Amazon. And then at wider seaver, top 100 prospect Julian Caldwell feels like an interesting one to me because I didn't really get the impression that many people thought Notre Dame was a real player and that recruitment. It was his first visit. He had a really strong reaction

28:44and I believe he has family ties nearby. So how real is Notre Dame as a contender they're coming out of the weekend? Yeah, he told me the way I put it was they jumped the list and he could see them being the school he chose at the end. I think he's another one where like the official visit schedule's tough and he acknowledged to me in our call today that he's like, look, if I get out there, it's probably going to be a midweek which is a little bit tough. It's a different experience like it's not optimal. But he talks about like I want to make sure that I get out there and he emphasizes me. He's like, I want to make that a priority because I want to make sure that I not only show the Notre Dame coaching staff some love because they've making me a priority for a year and I only just got out here. But sort of secondarily, he's like, I think there's enough of a fit and a match here that I could see myself there. Caldwell is an interesting one because Texas is tied up with LSU, a couple of recruitment specifically around some five star prospects. I cannot even Royal, excuse me, is the big one that he's a Texas commit, LSU's coming far.

29:46So it might be a little bit difficult for Texas to land the in-state care, but you kind of have to keep a look out there. I think Notre Dame has a chance, which I didn't expect to say coming out of the weekend to be honest. Once again, it's not that they've done a bad job in this race or anything, but once he's a Texas kid from Texas, has the offers from the long horns and where else down there? And he's been much more involved. This isn't the Caden Finley situation where he's been involved with Notre Dame since he got the offer consistently been visiting a bunch. He's a lot less aware of Notre Dame and what he was going to be walking into. So I think Notre Dame moved the needle more than I expected with him coming out of the weekend and they've definitely cemented their going to have ongoing conversations probably for the next couple of weeks about solidifying OB and getting that. We'll see where that lands. The conversation around that point was a little bit interesting. He definitely feels like he could end up in Notre Dame. He thinks there's a fit, there's a connection,

30:48but from talking to him, I felt like maybe there was some questions that were still in answer. Is the best way to put it? It's an impression, he didn't tell me this. So I'm trying to figure out the best way to put it, but it felt like when we were talking about, there was maybe a few points that he still needed to discuss with the coaches to feel fully comfortable saying, like yeah, Notre Dame is a place I can be, but they took the right steps to get down that path and identify what those questions were. If that makes sense. That's why I get them back to campus again soon and maybe answer those questions. Okay, just a couple more here. Based on everything that you've been hearing about how the weekend went, are there any names that we should be circling as potential near-term commitments or guys just trending heavily toward Notre Dame? Near-term is interesting. As of right now, it sounds like people keep saying, like I wanna go through my visits, I wanna go through my process and anything like that. I guess the ones, I guess if I had to name a few, like Julian told me specifically, he's looking at July.

31:48I know Jackson's looking at July. Maybe, I can't why I can just be in process when I entered Simeon's gonna take officials. The one that maybe could is Braden Parks. He talked about the timeline. He wants to go through it. Maybe not near-term, but like I talked about he wants to do it in the summer. Maybe he's a guy that commits like right before officials if I'm going like stretch what near-term means. Maybe I could see him cut in the officials and committing and I know that kind of goes against what I said, but just there's enough interest there that maybe he pulls the shater early. Beyond that, we have a couple of announced commitments like I'm looking here, we have a couple of dates for these guys. For one that I think won't go Notre Dame's way, I think Joachim Gouda might commit to Georgia than near-term, not immediately again, but I wouldn't be surprised if before the official visits he makes that decision. I think if he commits before official visits Gouda in particular, it's probably not a good thing for Notre Dame. So that's one.

32:49I think Zaden Gamble has his commitment data announced. Yet near-term is a little bit tough from this weekend just because how many guys explicitly said that they would take their time, but I would say that Braden Parks is the one that like just before officials, he might be able to flip and then one of the running backs, like Trace the Garham particular, I think that they have to get him back for an official visit, but the feedback is so good and like his family was blown away by Notre Dame. So like if they come back like a week from now and are like, you know, I think we know what's gonna happen here, like that wouldn't shock me. I don't have data to say that's gonna happen, but like that wouldn't shock me in particular. Like he, the feedback that I got from their side was pretty exciting. All right, last question I have for you. What are the biggest things that you're watching for as Notre Dame continues to recruit and potentially start landing more guys in the class of 2027? The biggest thing I'm watching for, I'm watching for Julius Jones because that is the domino that will set everything in the wide receiver room.

33:50There is no, there's no situation where Julius Jones wants to be a Notre Dame, they don't take him and there's no situation where Notre Dame is not going to be patient and allow him the process to make that decision. So there's gonna be some other receiver dominoes, especially coming off back-to-back big classes that may have to fall because of that. That's one that I'm watching. I'm watching for Trace Sagarra to continue to build things with Notre Dame because I think he's kind of similar in the running backs room. It's him and Noah Roberts at the top. I don't think they're gonna get Robert. So I think that that's a big one. I'm looking for if they can get Jackson Dollar down to a commitment before official visits. And then on the defensive side of things, I think what we're looking for is quick action to schedule official visits to some of these top targets. And that one's a little bit more generalized on the defensive side, but like there's so many guys who are in that camp, they gotta make sure that they're getting KJ Green on campus despite his schedule. They gotta make sure they're getting forced all on campus.

34:51They gotta make sure that they're getting braving parks back on campus. So I think his is scheduled, I'm not looking at it. They gotta make sure they're getting some of these defensive linemen back and some of these linebackers back for official visits because they haven't had a lot of time to recruit them. There's a lot of newer targets on this board because coaching turnover. So the biggest thing I'm watching on the defensive side is who is announcing their official visits in these next couple of weeks and kind of making that a priority to book these weekends? Because the more we see some of these newer targets and some maybe even some of these long standing targets that are starting to trend away start to schedule other visits and close off the a number of opportunities to get in South Bend. That's where I think you start to be a little bit concerned about like did this turnover come at just a rough moment to transition with all defensive coaches going right besides the DC like is that just a little bit too much for them to salvage in this class that they had a lot of optimism and really built towards. I don't think that's the case. I think they're gonna be landing quite a few of their top targets on the defensive side of the ball but especially on the defensive line.

35:51Just keep an eye out for those official visits being scheduled because it is so, so important that especially for the guys that are here this weekend, they action that quickly and build that momentum. You like AJ Green going out the three, four weeks without schedule an official visit. It starts to look a little bit rough. You can read all of Eric's work covering junior day and everything else going on in Notre Dame recruiting over at irishillistrated.com Eric. We always appreciate the time. I'm sure we'll do this again soon because I feel like more news is on the way. Yeah, absolutely brother, I appreciate it. All right, that's gonna do it for today's episode. Thanks again for making locked on irish your first watch or listen to the day. If you enjoyed the show, make sure that you're subscribed on YouTube or following on your favorite podcast platform and don't forget to like the video or if you're listening, take a second to rate and review the podcast. It really helps us grow the show. And if you never miss an episode of the everyday or club is built for you, get locked on irish ad free plus members only discord access and more. Head to locked on irish.supercast.com to join the club. And I'm gonna be back here tomorrow morning to break down early impressions from the start

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