Tyson Ford Is Excited To Visit Notre Dame, And Recruit More Top Defenders
Notre Dame has assembled a 12-man recruiting class that ranks No. 4 in the country for the 2022 cycle, and a quarter of those prospects are along the defensive line. With three quality recruits in the fold, Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston has experienced quite a bit of success on the recruiting trail up to this point.
That success began with arguably the best current commit in the class, and that is St. Louis (Mo.) John Burroughs School defensive end Tyson Ford, a blue chip prospect that committed to the Fighting Irish back in January. Ford, who is up to 6-6 and 260 pounds now, had offers from top programs across the country before he chose Notre Dame roughly five months ago.
While other schools could pitch either a strong football program or a quality education, Notre Dame was able to offer both at one place, and that facet resonated with the four-star edge rusher.
“Really just after talking to the coaches and other schools for a while, I just realized what Notre Dame and what other schools don't,” Ford told Irish Breakdown. “That's the combination of academics and high level football as well. That's really something they could offer that no other school could offer, but also my good relationship with the coaches like Marcus Freeman and Mike Elston. That really made a big difference too, and talking to Brian Kelly a few times made me really love the school even though I haven't visited yet.”
Like Ford said, he issued his verbal pledge to the Fighting Irish without visiting campus due to the dead period. Ford is one of several commits for Notre Dame to commit before visiting, such as cornerback commit Jaden Mickey, but both players will have a chance to check out campus for themselves on official visits next month. Ford is slated to be in South Bend from June 14-16, and Mickey will take his official from June 25-27.
“I'm really excited to see kind of how the team works, how the coaches coach their players,” Ford said of his upcoming visit. “I'm not sure I'm going to be able to see a lot of action this Summer, but I may be able to see some of the players, some of the students. I just want to see the relationship the players have with the coaches and how things work around there.”
Up to this point, Ford is part of a group of Notre Dame commits that is evenly dispersed with six pledges on each side of the football, and that number is expected to roughly double before National Signing Day. But who could be joining Ford on defense at the next level? There is one Midwest safety that Ford is pushing hard to join the class.
“I think that safety position in our class, that would be really filled in nicely with Xavier Nwankpa,” Ford said. “ He's really athletic, and he's someone that would really help us out. He's a five-star. He's pretty athletic, and he's definitely a great football player. I've seen his tape, and he would definitely help us out for our class. That's someone I've been trying to work on.”
According to 247Sports.com, the Altoona (Iowa) Southeast Polk safety is listed at 6-2 and 190 pounds, so he already has college size before even starting his senior season. Nwankpa is ranked as the No. 1 safety and No. 13 overall prospect in the nation, and he's a player that Notre Dame has been in on for a long time. Recently, Nwankpa released a top seven that consisted of Clemson, Iowa, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Arizona State, which is a good sign for the Fighting Irish. But does Notre Dame ultimately stack up well against that competition? Ford shared his thoughts.
“I think we do,” Ford added. “He just dropped a top group, but Notre Dame was in there. That's pretty exciting to see. I haven't talked to him too recently, but I need to get back in contact with him, and I'll definitely try to push him hard.”
Nwankpa would be a huge addition to ND's 2022 recruiting class as one of the Midwest's top overall prospects. Nwankpa is scheduled to arrive in South Bend on his official visit June 18, so he will miss Ford by two days, but he will be on campus with quarterback commit Steve Angeli and a contingent of other commits and prospects. That weekend is setting up to potentially be the biggest recruiting gathering for the Fighting Irish all Summer long, and Nwankpa will be there to take in the campus with the coaching staff in tow.
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