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2016 Notre Dame Recruiting Big Board: Secondary

A promising safety or two would be nice.

By Eric Murtaugh
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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Welcome back to the One Foot Down recruiting Big Board for Fighting Irish football. Today, we're finishing up our first go around for the calendar year on all of the positions for the 2016 prospects. Junior Day is this weekend!

Corner
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.863 Roderick Campbell MO 5-11/180 Mild
.882 Eric Cuffee TX 6-0/190 Cold
.977 Kristian Fulton LA 6-0/165 Cold
.935 Damar Hamlin PA 6-1/175 Mild
.947 Mecole Hardman GA 5-11/170 Cold
.935 Jared Mayden TX 6-0/190 Cold
.976 Trayvon Mullen FL 6-2/175 Cold
.937 Byron Murphy AZ 5-11/160 Cold
.990 Levonta Taylor VA 5-10/170 Cold
.888 Troy Warner CA 6-0/185 Cold
.934 Joejuan Williams TN 6-2/195 Cold

We've had a pair of commits at corner in recent weeks. First, LSU picked up the nation's top corner in (FL) Saivion Smith .995 out of the IMG Academy. He picked the Tigers back in late February. In addition to being the No. 1 corner, Smith is currently ranked as the country's No. 7 overall prospect.

Notre Dame offered (FL) Chauncey Gardner .944 back in November when he was committed to Florida. About a month and a half later to begin the New Year Gardner left the Gators' class. However, he recently visited Gainesville again for their Junior Day and gave his verbal back to Florida.

On the above Big Board list Campbell, Cuffee, Hamlin, Hardman, Murphy, Warner, and Williams are new offers.

Roderick Campbell comes out of Chaminade Prep in St. Louis and is in consideration for the top player in the state of Missouri. He was at the Irish Invasion last summer and likes Notre Dame a lot. He will be unable to make it to the Junior Day this weekend because Chaminade basketball is in the state final but Campbell plans on coming back to South Bend ASAP.

A couple of weeks ago the Irish offered Eric Cuffee out of Waco, Texas. He recently attended Texas A&M's Junior Day and also earned an invite to The Opening. Cuffee has said he's not close to making a college decision.

A key target for Notre Dame is Damar Hamlin out of Central Catholic in Pittsburgh. A nationally ranked corner from western Pennsylvania is right in Notre Dame's wheelhouse but they'll be fighting Penn State and Pitt for his services. Hamlin was offered back in early November and will be making his first to campus for Junior Day this weekend.

Mecole Hardman was offered by the Irish a couple weeks ago and comes out of Elberton in northeast Georgia near the South Carolina border. In a loaded year in the state of Georgia (Hardman is the No. 101 national player and No. 12 in Georgia) he's being pursued heavily by the Bulldogs in addition to Tennessee.

Byron Murphy is one of the top players in Arizona and is being recruited by most of the Pac-12. He's coming off a Junior Day visit to the Arizona Wildcats and will see a couple other schools soon too.

The top player in San Diego County is believed to be Troy Warner who has had an eventful past few weeks. Since late February he's picked up offers from Notre Dame, Utah, Cal, Oregon, and Stanford.

Yet another late February offer by Notre Dame went out to Joejuan Williams from Nashville. He's coming off a recent visit to Auburn and will be a tough pull with additional offers from Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss.

Jared Mayden was recently invited to The Opening and will be making his college decision there this summer. Oregon and Ohio State currently lead his Crystal Ball pick.

The only corner more highly ranked in Florida than Trayvon Mullen is Saivion Smith, so you can expect Mullen to stick down South. Levonta Taylor is from Virginia Beach which is almost certainly not going to work out for the Irish.

Chicago-area corner (IL) Julian Love .860 will be back on campus for the second time in a month for this weekend's Junior Day. It is expected that he could earn an offer and a commit could very well happen.

Safety
Score Player State Ht/Wt. Temperature 1* 2* 3* 4* 5*
.978 Deontay Anderson TX 6-1/192 Cold
.952 Brandon Burton CA 6-2/195 Cold
.989 Brandon Jones TX 5-11/183 Cold
.986 Eric Monroe TX 6-0/180 Cold
.873 Ikenna Okeke TN 6-2/200 Cold
.873 Spencer Perry FL 6-2/195 Cold
.863 Devin Studstill FL 6-1/175 Mild
.957 Nigel Warrior GA 6-0/175 Cold
.904 Craig Watts FL 6-0/175 Mild

The only safety to commit from the Big Board was (LA) Cameron Lewis .901 who stayed in-state and gave a verbal to LSU last Thursday.

The newest offers for Notre Dame at this position are Burton, Okeke, Perry, and Watts.

Brandon Burton comes out of Junipero Serra in LA County and by now you know the drill with that school.

A couple weeks ago Notre Dame reached out to Ikenna Okeke and he is planning on visiting South Bend during the summer. However, it's expected that Tennessee will lock down this in-state prospect.

IMG Academy continues to crank out the D-1 talent as Spencer Perry has transferred this off-season and is moving from Alabama. He's currently listening to what Notre Dame has to offer and mulling things over.

Notre Dame, Miami, North Carolina, and Indiana are the top four for Craig Watts out of Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. With additional offers from Alabama, Michigan, Florida, and Ohio State we'll see how long that top four lasts. Like many Floridians he's mentioned visiting South Bend during the summer.

Keep an eye on Devin Studstill who was offered last May while the Irish were scouting Te'von Coney at Palm Beach Gardens High School. Notre Dame is still trying to get him on campus.

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