Talented Running Back Gi'Bran Payne Ready To Announce His College Decision
The 2022 recruiting class for Notre Dame may not be finalized after all. Cincinnati (Ohio) LaSalle star Gi’Bran Payne is set to announce his college decision on Friday, April 15t on CBS Sports. It has been a wild ride in his recruitment until now, having to deal with adversity from a health perspective and with some coaching changes.
Payne originally signed with the University of Indiana, and at that time their running backs coach was Deland McCullough. McCullough, of course, has since moved onto Notre Dame.
On March 8, Payne was released from his National letter of intent and opted to open up his recruitment again. Since then, Notre Dame has been one of the programs linked to Payne, especially with his connection to McCullough.
A four-star recruit, Payne was the highest rated recruit that Coach McCullough had signed at the running back position during his time with the Hoosiers.
Notre Dame offered Payne all the way back in July of 2020, and they are certainly no stranger to his talent. In February of 2021, Payne named a Top 5 list of schools that included Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, Penn State and Northwestern. At the time Payne was ranked as the nation's No. 151 overall player according to 247Sports.
A knee injury cost Payne all but one game his junior season, and that also seemed to cause some schools to back off of him. His was also limited with injuries during the 2021 campaign.
His biggest impact came as a sophomore, where he ran for 790 yards and nine touchdowns on just 77 total carries. That is an outstanding 10.3 yards per carry every time Payne touched the football, and he did that in an outstanding high school league.
McCullough stayed on Payne through his injuries and ultimately landed him at Indiana despite the Hoosiers not originally being in his list of top schools. With McCullough now at Notre Dame there is clearly a connection, but Kentucky has a regional connection to Payne, with the Lexington campus being just over an hour away from Cincinnati. Payne has visited both Notre Dame and Kentucky in recent days, and those two schools are considered the major players for his recruitment.
Notre Dame landed talented four-star running back Jadarian Price in the 2022 class and both Logan Diggs and Audric Estime are just sophomores. There isn't technically a "need" at running back at the moment, so this isn't why Notre Dame is going after Payne. The staff clearly is very high on his talent, his fit at Notre Dame and that he can compete with the other backs on the roster.
McCullough's relationship with Payne has Notre Dame in a good position in advance of his announcement.
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