Recruiting impact of Notre Dame win vs. Texas A&M | Prospects visiting for NIU game

all right Mike the Irish came up with a huge Victory down in College Station beating the Aggies 23-13 and we've heard that the Aggies had tons of players there as they were recruiting a lot of guys down there that particular ball game but from the nutter Dame perspective for Irish recruits that were at home watching this game what type of feedback did you get from them man Irish recruits that watched it from home because there was a ton of national tension on this but also Darren Irish recruits who were at the game there was a lot of good feedback from both ends of it well yes the kids who were at the game were there as Texas A&M recruits there were many who were also Notre Dame targets um and the feedback is really has really been good I'll also add real quick Darren I talked about this in my YouTube show on Tuesday night with Tim Hyde like Notre Dame is kind of like a national conversation darling right now and that people are loving on Notre Dame right now there was a a sports radio guy I want to say he was in Washington or something and he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and he was like I hate Notre Dame but I love Marcus Freeman like Freeman in the tunnel like everyone is really excited about Notre Dame right now from this National landscape which I find um pretty fascinating um and then the recruits have taken notice as well um and I had an article come out on Sunday with recruit reaction for the game um again from all these different prospects there or not there and then on uh on Wednesday I post an article with even more recruit reaction that has come in but I did want to cover just a few guys real quick just to kind of give you a an overview on some of this so like a prospect like Tiki hola from Texas a fourstar class of 2026 defensive lineman so he's a High School junior he was at the game he spoke the blue and Golds Kyle Kelly has really good things to say about Notre Dame uh so this is a prospect from Texas went and visit to the agies Notre Dame's in pursuit of him and he saw um you know the Irish go down and beat the Home State team and then you got a player like Connor Salman from uh Virginia he came and visited uh Notre Dameon Texas A&M a lot of the visits that this class of 2026 fourstar wide receiver tells me he's going to take the the games are between schools he's considering which would include Notre Dame and Texas A&M so Notre Dame which I I've logged a prediction for for Notre Dame to land this young man very much a prediction uh something that you know it's a projection you're talking eight nine 10 months out um but you know he had a a great time at the game again he's there as an agies recruit but he's watching Notre Dame and I know he liked the Notre Dame wide receivers um and what he saw from them and then how about this one Nathaniel USU boang the younger brother of Jeremiah USU coroa this is a class of 2025 prospects to a high school senior signing in December quick side note Darren do you know the national Signing Day has moved up two weeks I had heard that December second or fourth so that you know how when Notre Dame would play on the road against Stanford and then Co the head coach would go out on the road he would just stay out on the west coast and recruit infamously Brian Kelly and Tobias Merryweather and the the burnt ends um that's gone after that game it's it goes like straight into a dead period like after that final week of the so kind of a side note but you can get more into that as San gets closer for the 25 class but auu boang is one that the staff is very much oneing top 100 overall player 6 foot 200 pound linebacker and he was at Florida to see the Gators get shellacked by Miami but he watched the game I you know I'm guessing watching you know a replay or whatever and he said I saw this is quote uh from U bowang two on threes Chad Simmons I saw an electric defense playing in an electric atmosphere Notre Dame played multiple linebackers and all of them had a great game Notre Dame played five linebackers and some young linebackers so it's there it's one thing to say hey Nathaniel we will play you as a a true freshman or you can say like that's not just lip service like we do play true freshman linebacker linebackers uh Kingston or yeah single linebacker Kingston true freshman and then sophomores Osberry Bowen you and then you got a junior and Sneed and then of course the Great haired Jack Kaiser's been here forever but yeah they they will play Young linebackers here so just a a different kind of sample size of Notre Dame recruiting impact instate kid out of state kid someone who's you know had on a different visit but Notre Dame's game against Texas A&M even impacted him while he was on a visit to another school you provided a very interesting nugget I think for fans just a second ago that maybe didn't realize that Signing Day moved up I think I'd be curious to know if this is going to be the norm Mike because Nutter Dame loves to end the year on the west coast for the reasons you gave they play the game and they stay on the west coast and recruit whether it's USC or Stanford if this is going to become the norm then it does provide Notre Dame a little more flexibility with their scheduling we still don't know if Stanford's going to be like a Notre Dame Stanford game that's away from that ACC docket or is it going to to be included so if that Stanford game is included in the four or five games Notre Dame plays every year it does open up some different options for another they never finish at home I guess there would be that opportunity if they ever wanted to go down that road yeah one thought is that I I feel like this is while the December signing this this like first Wednesday in December rather than what was it before third they might add some August or July so who the heck knows like it it's difficult to like set in stone one thought process when it comes to your recruiting calendar schedule because it is fluid year by year it just seems to be Everything Has Changed Darren you could answer this better than me there's like you you you for how much college football's changed let's say in the past 10 years with the introduction of the college football playoff more has changed in college football in the past 10 years than like the 30 years before it would you agree with that oh I think that's fair like 30 40 like it is so much different um even covering recruiting it's it's when I got into this in 2013 I used to break most of the commitments the kids didn't always tweet them out or like we were waiting on the kids am announcement that was my job I would break the news on these commitments I remember one time I was covering a commitment you know this is when I was covered USF and as a college student um I didn't even tweet it out there I put it behind the message board I said hey USF is l a new commitment put it behind the message put it behind the pay wall I was like if you want to find out who the new commitment is find out behind the pay wall That's not how it works anymore D no no a lot has changed yeah I'm just amazed that Notre Dame had a list of players this Summer that might be in the transfer portal and they're preparing for December even back before the season started that's just remarkable and who would have thought that 5 6 10 15 20 years ago okay now to this weekend home opener a lot of Buzz surrounding the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame they take on the Huskies of Northern Illinois before we talk about visitors just to build on your previous comment do you sense or do you hear from recruits or commits that there's so many things to like about Nutter Dame I mean we've got a long list but where does the enthusiasm and the excitement that Marcus Freeman showed coming out of the tunnel at Texas A&M I would have to imagine just little things like that catches kids attention and you're probably sitting at home thinking man I want to be in that tunnel with that guy leading us out on the field again I know it's small there's so many other things but to me that's a big deal also yeah I I agree with you Darren we live in a world where we're all on our phones and you're swiping in Instagram reals or Tik Tok there's something too when you're swiping and the algorithm feeds you Sports content and you see Marcus Freeman and that's the guy 100% Darren that's the guy who's texting you he's calling you and you see him hyped up um like that it's going viral and everyone's loving it I think there's there there's definitely something to that um it's no one's going to pick Notre name for that but it's a momentum Builder like it it 100% is and recruiting it can be like a Snowball Effect you want to build build build build keep momentum High keep Notre Dame cool keep Notre Dame in the news um for good reasons uh and that's definitely where Notre Dame's at right now it's like right now for a lot of these recruits now I know some people are gonna be like well not all of them mik yeah for sure um but Notre Dame is like really cool really cool right now uh you know especially coming after that that wi over took a s another school that a lot of recruits like not Dames went in and beat them by 10 points and I think those videos have more impact for kids because they know him from the start of the process yep oh yeah and that makes those videos more impactful all right what type of visitors are we gonna see in South in this weekend yeah few commits couple targets Notre name's gonna have bigger visit weekends when Louisville and um Florida State come into town your two Marquee home games of the year but for it being Northern Illinois it's pretty solid and we'll have a full visitor preview on our website Thursday so uh your listeners and my uh YouTube audience can check that out uh so here here's three names so far uh that I wanted to talk about a lot more visiting but here are three that I find interesting Ki Adams is a class of 2026 fourstar uh cornerback top top 200 overall player um lyola Blake field in uh Maryland someone who camped at Notre Dame in June got his offer from the Irish and is a big Target for Notre Dame so good to have Adams on campus for a return visit blue and the golds Cal Kelly had this scoop yesterday that Ben Nichols a class of 2026 top 200 overall player uh an interior lineman 65 315 pounds um again from the state of Michigan he's going to be on campus Michigan State Ohio State a couple the other schools in contention for Nicholls Kyle and I agree we like Ren noted a at the most for Nicholls don't be surprised if you see predictions for him to land at Notre Dame sometime in the near future and then for all of you in the hooer state this is a name to know Westfield Indiana High School class of 2026 safety Deacon King offers from Purdue May of Ohio Toledo Central Michigan buffalo and I believe a few others um three star Prospect right now according to on three number 41 safety in America and the number two Prospect from the hooer state in the 2026 class Notre Dame is not offered King yet but he is someone the staff really likes we saw King at Irish Invasion and just like when these prospects are walking into campus uh excuse me walking into the IAC he's one that's like who is that like he just he really looks the part and I thought he did well going through drills and some one-on ones that we got to see with Deacon King as well so that's three names of note visiting uh this weekend [Music]