What's Next: Notre Dame 2023 Safety Recruiting Isn't Complete Just Yet

Notre Dame came into the 2023 recruiting cycle with a huge need at safety, and position coach Chris O'Leary and the Fighting Irish coaching staff are off to a great start.

Notre Dame has already landed consensus Top 100 recruit Peyton Bowen, and he joined a class that already had a player in Adon Shuler who is hard charging towards the Top 100.

This early success helped Notre Dame overcome the fact it didn't sign a true safety in the 2022 class (Jayden Bellamy is a hybrid corner/safety type of player), has already lost one of its two safeties in the 2021 class and needed to move two players to safety from the 2020 class (Ramon Henderson, Xavier Watts) to fill out the depth chart.

Notre Dame responded with an outstanding two-man haul in the 2023 class, but the staff isn't done yet. A case could be made that adding a third safety to the class is ideal, especially with the way Notre Dame rotates at the position and the fact in the team's five-man secondary lineup it can easily get a third safety on the field.

CALEB DOWNS NOW GETS THE FULL COURT PRESS

From the moment Notre Dame began making a push on the 2023 class there were two safeties that I was told would be "absolute takes" no matter when they wanted to come and no matter what the scholarship or class numbers looked like. One of those players was Bowen, who committed to Notre Dame on Jan. 1.

The other was Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek safety Caleb Downs, a five-star recruit and the nation's No. 12 overall payer on the 247Sports composite ranking. If you want to talk about a "dream class" for Notre Dame it would be a safety trio of Bowen, Shuler and Downs.

Downs is an elite football player and an outstanding athlete. His combination of instincts, feel, football IQ, physicality and athleticism is truly special.

With Bowen and Shuler now in the class, O'Leary, head coach Marcus Freeman, defensive director of recruiting Chad Bowden and really anyone else involved with the program can now focus more and more of their attention on landing Downs. It won't be easy, and right now if I was a betting man I'd likely predict him to sign with someone other than Notre Dame, but the Irish are in the game, and at this point that is all that matters.

STILL OTHER TALENTED PLAYERS ON THE BOARD

Landing a third safety that isn't Downs is something that is still an option for Notre Dame, and there are some other talented players on the board. Early names to keep an eye on are Illinois athlete Jyaire Hill and Michigan safety Amare Snowden.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the board grow over the next seven to eight months as the staff gets on the road and gets prospects to visit campus during the summer.

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Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame 2021 Roster
Notre Dame 2021 Schedule

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

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