With No. 4 Notre Dame taking its first trip out west this season last weekend, defeating rival Navy in San Diego, the Irish remain in the hunt for a number of California recruits as Brian Kelly and his staff look to shore up the rest of their 2019 class.
At the top of the wish list remains defensive end and four-star recruit Isaiah Foskey from Concord, California. The 6'5, 233-pound prospect is also being recruited by California and Washington, but took an official visit to Notre Dame on Sept. 29 and looks to be the next player to commit to the class of 2019.
Recruiting analyst for Blue and Gold Illustrated David McKinney said the Irish remain focused on Foskey, but are also looking to make some other moves to wrap up the class.
“Foskey is still the top D-end target, and we found out last week that they are trying to make another run at Asa Turner, who is a four-star linebacker, who is committed to Washington right now,” McKinney said. “They went out and saw him at school, and then he went to the Notre Dame-Navy game on Saturday, so they’re trying to make another run at him. He committed [to Washington] in the summer, before the season started, but they didn’t stop talking to him and they haven’t stopped talking to him, and now obviously they have a lot of momentum on their side as far as the way they’re playing.”
McKinney said that Turner, who is also being courted by USC, already took his official visit to Washington and thus won’t be officially visiting South Bend, but the Irish still hope to add him to their 19 commits in the class so far.
With the class of 2019 filling up, McKinney said Notre Dame will now be focusing heavily on the class of 2020, where the Irish have three recruits so far: four-star quarterback Drew Pyne, and two four-star tight ends, Kevin Bauman and Michael Mayer. McKinney said that Notre Dame’s recent success on the field, with the team currently undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the first Playoff rankings, will help the Irish add pieces to the 2020 class.
“I think you’re going to mostly see [focus] in the Class of 2020, in the next class. I think that’s chiefly where their focus is right now,” he said. “When teams have really good seasons, I think a lot of people assume that it’ll get the attention of some recruits in the current class, and I think that happens, but I think that also pays off a lot more in the following class. […] They’ve already got a top-100 QB, a top-100 tight end, another four-star tight end, so they’re looking to build on that and focus heavily on 2020 right now. And I think they’re of course selling the fact that they’ve been in the Playoff discussion the past couple years and are 8-0 right now and have a navigable path to the Playoff.”
This week, the Irish head to Evanston, Ill. to take on Northwestern, a game that will be right in Notre Dame’s backyard. With Chicago always being a focus on the recruiting front for the Irish, McKinney said Notre Dame could use the opportunity to generate some attention in a region typically dominated by the Irish.
“Chicago is a pretty pro-Notre Dame area, so a couple guys could show up,” he said. “Notre Dame and Northwestern don’t really do battles for recruits, but like I said, Chicago is a Notre Dame recruiting base, so if they go in and win that game, move to 9-0 and move to at least No. 3 in the country, depending on what happens [with LSU - Alabama], there’s plenty of buzz going around for sure.”
