Notre Dame Now A Major Player For 2021 Offensive Tackle

Notre Dame jumped into the race for Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic offensive tackle Caleb Johnson this week. The next task for the Irish will be getting the Florida prospect to South Bend for another visit.

After a good performance at the Orlando Under Armour Camp, Johnson witnessed his stock rise. Notre Dame quickly jumped into the mix.

Blessed to receive an offer from Notre Dame! Thank you @CoachJeffQuinn and @CoachBrianKelly for the opportunity!@NDrecruiting01 @NDFootball @gamedayND @NotreDame @NotreDame247 @NDAlumni @SWiltfong247 @chris23990421 @CoachLaneTC @fbscout_florida @Floridabred81 @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/UrF3AobRWZ
— Caleb Johnson (@Caleb72Johnson) March 5, 2020

The Irish would not be the only school to offer Johnson. Penn State also followed up with an offer to the 6-7, 290-pound offensive tackle.

With Notre Dame and Penn State now part of Johnson’s list of scholarship opportunities, the Trinity Catholic prospect holds offers from some impressive programs. LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida State, Ole Miss, Missouri, Arizona State, Utah, Virginia and Georgia Tech represent the majority of Johnson’s major offers prior to the Irish and Nittany Lions joining the mix.

Johnson made it clear that he has not yet dwindled his list of offers to a definitive list of five for official visits. Quite the contrary, he’s still looking at several schools. Even during the interview, Johnson started discussing possible schools for visits, only to reconsider other schools a few moments later.

In short, Johnson and his family should still be considered in research mode. There will be some unofficial visits and possibly official visits coming up. Here are a few rapid fire comments about some of the schools on Johnson’s list.

Auburn: “They (Auburn coaching staff) are coming after me.”

Alabama: “Visiting there (unofficially) this Saturday.”

Georgia Tech: “Going to Georgia Tech Sunday (for an unofficial visit) after Alabama.”

Tennessee: “Going to get a visit.”

LSU: “Definitely need to visit there.”

Virginia: “They are really recruiting me.”

Notre Dame: “We are definitely unofficially visiting Notre Dame.”

With the aforementioned schools representing just part of his list of schools under consideration, Johnson needs to trim his school options quickly. Look for Johnson to try and get one official visit completed this spring. Attempting to project where Johnson will go at this juncture, however, would be next to impossible.

Johnson’s top school list should be considered fluid. Arizona State, for instance, could definitely receive an official visit. Johnson just does not know as much about that school as some of the others at this point. Penn State falls into a similar category as well.

Johnson used to live in Fort Wayne, Indiana so he understands the culture and people of Indiana, Notre Dame does hold that advantage. Johnson would like to visit Notre Dame this summer. Right now, that’s likely to be an unofficial visit, but with recruiting, timelines and visits may change at a moment’s notice.

The biggest question with Notre Dame, will the Irish hit the jackpot with some of the March and April visits from top offensive linemen? It’s difficult to project. The Irish probably do not lead for many, if any, of the top offensive linemen visiting. On the flip side, Notre Dame needs to sign at least four offensive linemen.

Johnson represents another intriguing offensive tackle prospect to the mix for the Irish coaching staff to go after. His recruitment could simply come down to the timing of commitments Notre Dame offensive line prospects and those of other schools.

You can find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida