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2015 Notre Dame Recruiting Big Board: Offense

GOOD NEWS AT RUNNING BACK...

By Eric Murtaugh
Brandon Wimbush at the Under Armour All-American Game.
Brandon Wimbush at the Under Armour All-American Game.
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

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Welcome back the OFD Recruiting Big Board for January 20, 2015.

Quarterback
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.842 Jack Beneventi IL 6-6/185 Cold
.839 Jayru Campbell MI 6-3/190 Cold

We're just a couple weeks away from National Signing Day and Notre Dame is all set at quarterback with (NJ) Brandon Wimbush .978 in the fold. It looks like Wimbush ultimately will not receive his Composite 5th star but he came darn close.

The Irish are looking closely at bringing in preferred walk-on (CA) Nick Robinson .843 out of J Serra High School in Orange County. He grew up a Notre Dame fan and is interested in the opportunity. Robinson will be visiting Georgia (where he also has another walk-on opportunity) and Colorado State before coming to South Bend for his third ever visit of campus. He's currently carrying offers from Florida International and Florida Atlantic.

Several months ago there was interest for Notre Dame in (FL) Sheriron Jones .907 in the wake of Blake Barnett's departure from the 2015 class. The Irish never ended up offering and last month Jones left Florida's class.

On January 8th he gave a verbal to Tennessee.

Running Back
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.878 Tyreik Gray TX 5-11/187 Cold
.985 Soso Jamabo TX 6-3/210 Cold
.924 Kirk Merritt LA 5-11/206 Cold
.895 Ke'Shawn Vaughn TN 5-10/210 Mild
.955 Dexter Williams FL 6-0/192 Hot

Over the weekend Notre Dame made serious waves by impressing Dexter Williams and moving into contention for his services. Williams spent his official visit in South Bend a couple days ago and has now moved into commit watch territory.

Williams is supposed to visit Texas A&M this weekend but that trip may not happen. Brian Kelly is going to have his in-home visit with the Williams Family tomorrow. It appears Louisville and Miami are the remaining competition with Williams already taking his official visits to those schools. He has said he wants to decide soon but could go right up until National Signing Day. The Louisville staff will be using their in-home on Thursday.

Another back on campus this past weekend was Ke'Shawn Vaughn. The Irish made a big impression but Vaughn's post-visit quotes make it clear he understands the situation vis a vis Dexter Williams.

You can expect that if the Notre Dame coaches do not feel insanely confident about Dexter Williams later in the week that they may turn up the heat on Vaughn. However, Vaughn will be visiting Illinois this weekend and West Virginia the weekend after that. With Purdue still a major player this looks to be a 4-team race going down to National Signing Day.

Barring a late miracle it looks like Notre Dame is out of the race for Soso Jamabo. He was supposed to take an official visit to Texas A&M this past weekend and will be going to Texas this weekend. Most expect Jamabo to sign with UCLA.

Our last update at running back provides a commitment as (KY) Damien Harris .985 picked Alabama on January 9th.

That commitment stings Kentucky who appeared to have been picking up a lot of steam for the in-state Harris. However, the Crimson Tide win again.

Athlete
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.904 Jordan Cronkrite FL 5-11/196 Mild
.954 Donte Jackson LA 5-11/175 Cold
.852 Nathan Meadors CA 6-1/194 Mild

On the national stage we have a couple updates and both are bad news for Texas. This past Sunday (FL) Tim Irvin .899 flipped from the Longhorns to Auburn following an official visit to Malzahn & Co. Once an athlete who was planning on playing corner at Texas, Irvin is now listed as a wide receiver in the Composite.

Texas also lost (TX) Louis Brown .870 who was on his official visit to Austin this past weekend, left early, and decided it wasn't the place for him. Brown has now left both Baylor and Texas' recruiting classes. He is also now reclassified as an outside linebacker.

Don't forget about Jordan Cronkrite who took an official visit to Notre Dame in early December. He's coming off a visit to Louisville this past weekend and will be going to Florida later this week. The Gators appear to be picking up momentum here.

Notre Dame needed to make a big impression on Nathan Meadors and it looks like they did just that over the weekend. He's considered a UCLA lean but offered up the thoughts that Notre Dame has pulled even with the Bruins.

Meadors is still going to visit UCLA and Oregon while sticking to his NSD decision date.

Wide Receiver
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.918 Cordell Broadus NV 6-2/195 Cold
.931 Equanimeous St. Brown CA 6-5/205 Hot
.930 K.J. Hill AR 6-0/188 Cold
.838 Gary Jennings VA 6-2/190 Cold
.980 Damarkus Lodge AZ 6-2/190 Cold
.852 A.D. Miller TX 6-3/175 Cold
.908 Ryan Newsome TX 5-8/168 Cold
.933 Carlos Strickland TX 6-5/194 Cold

We had a trio of receivers decommit in recent weeks as K.J. Hill left Arkansas, A.D. Miller left Illinois, and Carlos Strickland left Texas Tech.

Hill leaving the Hogs was a particularly major blow as he was the top player in the state of Arkansas. He's coming off an official visit to Alabama and will also see Ohio State soon, as well.

Remember when we said things might not be finished for Miami commit (MD) Lawrence Cager .888 after he gave a verbal to the Canes without visiting? Well, Cager was in Tuscaloosa this past weekend.

Cager will be taking an official to Miami this weekend and possibly to Auburn the weekend before National Signing Day.

The recruiting experts expect Notre Dame to land one more receiver and that player is very likely to be Equanimeous St. Brown out of Servite High School.

ESB is still planning on deciding on NSD and it will be a shock if he picks any other school besides Notre Dame.

Tight End
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.959 Chris Clark CT 6-6/247 Cold

In case you missed it (and I'm sure you haven't) Notre Dame recently flipped UCLA commit (NV) Aliz'e Jones .974 who gives the Irish its third Top 100 recruit.

Jones becomes Notre Dame's highest rated tight end recruit since Kyle Rudolph. You can read our scouting report on the talented Bishop Gorman athlete HERE.

Offensive Line
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.999 Martez Ivey FL 6-6/270 Cold
.903 Kendrick Norton FL 6-3/305 Cold

With (LA) Jerry Tillery .931 on track to start out on defense this spring it appeared as though Notre Dame was prepared to take another offensive lineman for the 2015 cycle.

Ohio State commit (IN) Mirko Jurkovic .852, (MD) Patrick Allen .901, and (GA) Chidi Valentine-Okeke .950 were the three players getting another look by Notre Dame. However, with the return of Ronnie Stanley and the scholarship numbers already super tight the Irish will not be pursuing a third lineman.

Our last note is on special teams where Woodberry Forest (C.J. Prosise's high school) punter Liam Hedge is looking into a preferred walk-on role at Notre Dame.

The belief is that if Hedge gains admission into Notre Dame that he'll walk-on and add to the depth on special teams.

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