2017 Notre Dame Football Big Board: QB/RB

Welcome back to the OFD recruiting Big Board for Fighting Irish football. After our inaugural 2017 Big Board posts covered the entire picture for the offense and defense, we're going to focus into position groups each week now to keep things a bit more manageable.

In Play

Avery Davis will be in town for the big junior day next weekend, making his second trip to campus. I'm not sure he's on commit watch yet, but the Irish are definitely in very good shape.

Hendon Hooker is planning a multi-school trip soon that could include Notre Dame. He has connected in a big way with Mike Sanford and, whenever he makes it to campus, he could be on commit watch.

Davis and Hooker are unintentionally locked in a very interesting dynamic; it seems unlikely that Notre Dame would take two quarterbacks in this class, which makes it just as likely that the first of of them to commit would lock out the other. Davis's skill set is similar to Everett Golson's, while Hooker is more in line with Deshone Kizer. Seems like a pretty good position to be in.

Entering the Field

Florida speedster Devan Barrett picked up a Notre Dame offer recently, tweeting that he was "proud to announce" it. A lot of top Southern schools are after him, so we'll see if the Irish can get any traction here.

In Play

Alabama commit Najee Harris plans to visit Ohio State soon, as well as a handful of other schools. As recently as January he said that Notre Dame is still in the picture for him, and they might well be, but you probably shouldn't get your hopes up.

Stephen Carr picked up offers from Oklahoma and LSU in the last week. USC still feels good about his commitment, but he's definitely looking around. Notre Dame likes Carr a lot and will push hard.

Nothing much to report on Anthony McFarland, other than that he recently picked up an offer from Texas A&M.

Toneil Carter has a visit to LSU on tap and is planning a return visit to Texas A&M.

We noted last time that Ty Chandler talked in November about setting up a visit to Notre Dame. It appears those plans are picking up speed, as ISD reported recently that he's planning a visit to South Bend "soon." The connection they mention is current Notre Dame lineman Alex Bars - he and Chandler were high school teammates for one season.

Colin Wilson has hit it off with Autry Denson, and while he's leaning towards staying in the South now that could all change quickly if Denson can talk him into taking a visit to Notre Dame.

According an article at Auburn's 247 site (free),  Trey Sermon plans to release a top six soon, with Notre Dame fairly unlikely to make the cut. The schools he mentions consistently are basically the SEC plus Ohio State.

AJ Dillon will visit next weekend for junior day and will be accompanied by his grandfather, Irish legend Thom Gatewood. Notre Dame is in a strong position here but some other schools, most notably Florida State, have made a push lately and this won't be quite the walkover that it once looked to be.

Off the Board

It pains me tremendously to say this, because he's my favorite back in this class and he seemed to have legitimate interest in Notre Dame, but... JK Dobbins committed to Ohio State. They might end up with the best class of the last 30 years.