Football Recruiting: Spring Game Visitor Primer

The quarterbacks will be live on Saturday and so will the recruiting action, as a plethora of signees, commitments, and targets will visit Notre Dame for the annual Blue-Gold game. It's not a big list, but there are some key targets on it and it could be a very productive weekend for the Irish. We'll also delve into next weekend a bit, as some key West Coast recruits will swing through Chicago and take the opportunity to visit Notre Dame.

Prospects

As always, prospects are listed with their position and 247 Composite overall/position rankings, and ordered by class first, then 247 Composite overall ranking. Current Notre Dame commits are in italics.

2016:

Cary Angeline, TE, #213/#9

Tony Jones Jr., RB, #358/#24

Chris Taylor-Yamanoha, ATH,  #699/#49 (no offer)

Trent Maynard, OT, #740/#65 (no offer)

John Shannon, LS, NR/NR

Notes:

Pennsylvania Dutch Country behemoth Cary Angeline will visit for the second time in the last couple of months. On his first visit, he came with his father and he officially received a scholarship offer; this time around his mother and sister will visit with him. He also cancelled an unofficial visit to Penn State last weekend. Read into all of that what you will. If any recruit is on commit watch this weekend, it's Angeline.

Tony Jones Jr. will make his first visit to South Bend since committing on Junior Day oh so long ago. Jones is as solid to the Irish as a prospect can be, and has said that he will work hard to recruit other top prospects as well. Expect him to be an active communicator with other recruits on this visit, at home, and on the camp circuit.

The abundantly named Chris Taylor-Yamanoha will visit the Louisville spring game today and Notre Dame tomorrow. The California native doesn't hold an Irish offer yet, but he has a respectable list of offers that includes Louisville, Boise State, Arizona, Oregon State, and Boston College and is starting to draw interest from USC as well.

Hoosier lineman Trent Maynard will make his second unofficial visit to Notre Dame. With three or four spots available for linemen in this class, Tommy Kraemer on board, Liam Eichenberg likely to join soon, and in good shape to land at least one of Ben Bredeson, Parker Boudreaux, or Michael Jordan, Maynard is most likely a fallback option for the staff at this point. He's definitely a guy they'll stay in contact with, though.

John Shannon, the #1 long snapper in the country (seriously), will join Tony Jones in making his first visit since committing and, perhaps, recruiting other kids. He'll probably get together with Scott Daly too and see who's better at snapping a ball into a trash can from across the parking lot. Or something like that.

2017:

Note: Technically these are 247 Composite rankings, but the 2017 Composite only has 247's own rankings figured into it right now.

Isaiah Pryor, S, #28/#2 (no offer)

RJ Potts, S, #204/#15 (no offer)

Notes:

Georgia uber-talent Isaiah Pryor was slated to come in for Junior Day but decided to attend a Rivals camp in Atlanta that weekend instead, promising that he would visit Notre Dame soon after. True to his word, he's coming to the spring game with his family and will almost certainly get his official offer face-to-face. Isaiah's father Richard (again, seriously) played for Bob Elliott at Iowa and they have a great relationship. Expect Notre Dame to make a big move here with an offer.

RJ Potts is another local kid - Indiana has done a great job of turning out Division 1 football talent over the last 5-10 years - with serious interest in the Irish. His family loves the entire Notre Dame package. If he doesn't earn an offer this weekend he almost certainly will soon, and much like with Pryor, expect the Irish to leap to the front of the pack when that happens.

Signees Supporting the Effort

Several signees from the 2015 recruiting cycle will be in town as well, and no doubt they'll be assistant recruiters for the weekend. Brandon Wimbush, Shaun Crawford, Trevor Ruhland, Mykelti Williams, and Avery Sebastian will all take in the game. As a former Penn State commit, Wimbush might have a few additional thoughts to share with current Penn State target Cary Angeline.

Key Visitors Coming in Next Weekend

The 2016 recruiting news isn't just limited to what's happening this weekend - the Irish will have some major visitors from California next weekend as well. Javon McKinley (#76 overall/#11 position), arguably the top wide receiver on the staff's board, will be in Chicago with his 7-on-7 team. The entire team, which includes Irish targets Jack Jones (ATH, #79/#4), Troy Warner (CB, #343, #34), and All-Name Team shoe-in Chacho Ulloa (S, #634/#42), will take the opportunity to visit Notre Dame as well.

McKinley is considered by many to be a USC lean by default, but there are indications he's in the Max Redfield mold and has very serious interest in Notre Dame. Jones is a Long Beach Poly kid, which to most Irish fans means he's a walking kick to the fruitstand, but the staff is on him and we'll see how it goes. Warner committed to Oregon shortly after receiving a Notre Dame offer, but some believe the staff had him as the top corner on their board and they'll work hard on him while he's on campus. Finally, Ulloa doesn't have an offer yet but could add one over the weekend; he's also high school teammates and best friends with McKinley, and they've talked about going to college together.

The game is afoot.