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Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame Makes Final Cut for One of Nation's Top Pass Rushers

Mekai Brown is fresh off a visit to Notre Dame and is now set to announce his college commitment
Nick Shepkowski|
Head coach Marcus Freeman greets his players during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Friday, March 20, 2026, in South Bend.
Head coach Marcus Freeman greets his players during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Friday, March 20, 2026, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Could Notre Dame football be about to land perhaps its biggest commitment to date in the 2027 recruiting class?

That's the hope after how things have gone in recent days with highly touted defensive end Mekai Brown of Greenwich, Connecticut.

A lot has happened in not a lot of time, so let's get up to date and see where Notre Dame stands.

Mekai Brown Visits Notre Dame

Mekai Brown is one of the nation's top ranked defensive players, checking in as the No. 8 edge in the country, and No. 49 overall player in the class according to 247Sports.

Brown was set to visit Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold Game on April 24, but moved up his visit to South Bend this past weekend, and according to his own words, had a "great time".

Not long after getting home from his Notre Dame visit, Brown announced that he's ready to shut down his recruitment.

Mekai Brown Announces Commitment Date

On Monday evening Brown let it be known that he's ready to announce his commitment.

He's down to five schools as Notre Dame made the cut, along with Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Ohio State, and USC.

Common sense would tell you that fresh off a visit to Notre Dame, when he comes home and says he's ready to announce his commitment, that it should be Notre Dame then, right?

Nick Shepkowski's Prediction

Doing some digging on this one, I don't love how it sets up for Notre Dame, actually.

I'll however start with the good news, or at least the only part that I interpret as good news.

Brown's commitment is set for this Friday, April 17 at 10:30 a.m. ET. If you're doing the math (or geography), that's then 7:30 a.m. out in Los Angeles. I'm not saying he won't commit to USC based on that, but it certainly would be different than what usually happens.

However...

Some guys love all the attention that comes with being a big-time recruit and others just want to get to work. From what I've been able to gather, Brown is of the later.

USC has a policy that once a player is committed, they can no longer take visits to other schools. That would then explain why he moved up his Notre Dame visit, getting it out of the way before making an official commitment to USC.

Things can change, especially in the world of NIL, but if I had to make a guess it'd be that Brown wanted to be sure about not missing something on Notre Dame before committing to USC, so did that and will end up picking the Trojans this Friday.

Here's to hoping we look back on this late Friday morning and make fun of it.

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Nick Shepkowski
NICK SHEPKOWSKI

Managing Editor for Notre Dame On SI. Started covering Chicago sports teams for WSCR the Score, and over the years worked with CBS Radio, Audacy, NBC Sports, and FOX Sports as a contributor before running the Notre Dame wire site for USA TODAY.

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