What's Next: Notre Dame Is Not Done With Running Back Recruiting In 2023
The last week shook up the future of the Notre Dame running back depth chart, as the Irish staff moved on from previous commit Sedrick Irvin Jr. late last week. Last night Notre Dame got back on track at running back when the staff landed Lake Stevens (Wash.) High School standout Jayden Limar.
Limar is ranked higher than Irvin, he was a far more productive runner in 2021 and he is the more talented player based on film. It's hard not to see dropping Irvin and adding Limar is anything but an upgrade.
Despite the addition of Limar, the Notre Dame coaching staff is still going to push to add even more to the 2023 backfield. There are a few players on the board and the staff is doing its homework on a few other players, but right now there are two obvious players at the top.
JEREMIYAH LOVE
Notre Dame offered Love - a standout from St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers - back in late February, and he's been a priority target ever since. For awhile the presence of Irvin in the class and pending commitment of Limar meant Love was looked at as more of an athlete than a running back.
With Limar in the class but Irvin out of it the staff can now focus on Love as more of a pure running back. If that's the direction Notre Dame goes it should help them in their pursuit of this dynamic running back.
Love is slated to visit Notre Dame officially the weekend of June 17-19, which comes a week after he'll be in Ann Arbor to visit Michigan. He also visited Georgia and Oregon in the month of May, but right now the Irish and Wolverines appear to be the top two contenders.
Notre Dame will have a chance to close out on Love during his June visit, and if it can it would not only give them a second running back victory over Michigan (UM was also a finalist for Limar), it would allow first-year running backs coach Deland McCullough to land one of the most explosive runners in the country.
A one-two punch of Limar and Love would be a very, very good haul for McCullough in his first year at Notre Dame.
Love is ranked as the nation's No. 90 overall player in the country according to ESPN and No. 102 by On3 after racking up 996 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on just 95 carries (10.5 YPC) as a junior.
RICHARD YOUNG
Irvin being pushed out of the class wasn't the only huge running back news last week. It was also announced that Lehigh Acres (Fla.) Senior running back Richard Young had scheduled an official visit to Notre Dame for June 13-15.
Young had previously released a list of seven top schools, but Notre Dame was not on that list. That didn't stop McCullough from continuing to build a bond with the five-star running back. It ultimately led to Young feeling good enough about his connection with McCullough, and his interest in Notre Dame being strong enough to schedule a visit.
It was expected that Ohio State would get a visit along with Oklahoma (June 3-5), Alabama (June 10-12), Georgia (June 17-19) and Oregon (June 24-26). Instead, the Buckeyes won't get an official and he'll instead come to Notre Dame.
At this point in time the Irish should be considered the fifth out of five schools on that official visit slate. If you would have told me two weeks ago that McCullough would have been able to convince Young to take an official visit to Notre Dame I likely would have laughed at you, so I wouldn't count him out at this point. But Alabama will be tough to beat at this point.
Young is ranked as the nation's No. 11 overall player according to ESPN and he's ranked No. 19 overall on the 247Sports composite ranking.
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