Notre Dame Football Recruiting 2017/2018: Blue-Gold Game Visitor Preview

The Notre Dame football Blue-Gold game is coming up this weekend, and we all know what that means for recruiting -- VISITS. Today we're going to take a look at the guys that are reported to be on campus this weekend for the spring game. Keep in mind, this list is liable to change. Odds are that some last-minute additions or cancellations will happen.

Commits

As of right now, as many as four current commits from the class of 2017 will be on campus this weekend:

• Offensive tackle Josh Lugg will be making his sixth visit to Notre Dame this weekend. This is his fifth visit since committing to the Irish back in August, and he has not visited anywhere else since that time. I'd say things are looking pretty solid here.
• Brock Wright, the top tight end in 2017, will make his second visit to Notre Dame. Brock committed shortly after Irish Invasion last summer, and things have been pretty quiet since then. Reports are that he is a solid commit, though, and he plans to enroll early in January.
• Linebacker David Adams will be on campus for the fourth time. He committed to Notre Dame just a few short weeks ago directly after the March Junior Day.
• Along with Adams will be his best friend, teammate, and fellow Irish commit Kurt Hinish. Expect those two to make a few more visits to ND together before NSD.

2017 Recruits

• Without a doubt the biggest recruiting story of this weekend will be 5-star defensive end Josh Kaindoh. The Irish really need to land another big-time end since the decommitment of Robert Beal, and Kaindoh fits the bill. After some rumors that he was going to cancel on us and visit Maryland for like the 6th time in the past month (or whatever, he's visited Maryland a lot lately), it sounds like he will in fact be in South Bend. This will be his first visit to campus and the staff will look to knock this one out of the park.
• Another 5-star will be on campus this weekend when Detroit Cass Tech standout Donovan Peoples-Jones arrives in South Bend with some of his teammates. He's a long shot, but his recruitment is pretty up in the air right now with nobody really sure where he will sign.
• The staff will look to make a move on Cass Tech safety and top target Jaylen Kelly-Powell when he arrives on campus. The Irish are in his top group along with Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, but it looks like Notre Dame is running near the back end of that group right now.
• 3-star Cass Tech cornerback Donovan Johnson will be looking to add an offer this weekend. At 5'9" he is a bit undersized, but he may be someone to keep an eye on in the future.

2018 Recruits

A lot of elite young talent will be on campus Saturday. This will be a big weekend for making an impression on some of these 2018 kids.

• Indianapolis Cathedral running back Markese Stepp will be making his first visit to campus since being offered back in late February. Right now the 4-star player seems like a Notre Dame lean and most think he will end up playing college football in South Bend. He's also high on Michigan State, Iowa, Tennessee, and Ohio State.
• Make it two Indiana running backs on campus this weekend. Kristian Pechac will be on campus for the first time. He holds just two MAC offers right now so don't expect the Irish to offer this weekend.
• Do, however, expect an offer to go out to the top tight end in the class of 2018, Zack Kuntz. The Pennsylvania native is a Penn State lean right now, but so was David Adams at this time last year. We saw how that turned out.
• Another top tight end in the class of 2018 will be on campus this weekend. The #3 tight end, Pat Freiermuth, will make the trip down from Massachusetts and could see an offer coming his way.
• Also expect an offer to go out to Cass Tech WR/DB Kalon Gervin this weekend. Michigan and Michigan State have both offered the 4-star athlete already and it will be tough to land him, but an offer this weekend would put Notre Dame squarely in the mix.
• Top 100 Pennsylvania receiver Jahan Dotson is likely to receive an offer this weekend as well. He's an elite athlete and Notre Dame is one of his favorite schools. Definitely a name to know moving forward.
• Current Top 50 offensive lineman and Oregon native Dawson Jaramillo will also be on campus for the first time. Somehow, despite his lofty ranking, he does not yet hold any offers. There's a chance that changes this weekend if the staff likes what they see from him. Could Notre Dame really be somebody's first offer?
• Ohio LB/DE Malik Vann is another kid who could receive an Irish offer this weekend. The 4-star athlete has early offers from Michigan State, Louisville, Pitt, West Virginia, Maryland, Cincinnati, and Kentucky. This is Malik's first visit to South Bend, so we'll see how things go.
• Illinois offensive lineman Wyatt Blake is making his second trip to South Bend. He holds no offers right now, but that is likely to change soon. The staff will likely spend some more time evaluating him and possibly send an offer his way in the future.
• Ohio offensive lineman Blaine Scott is making his first visit to Notre Dame. He holds early offers from Duke, Iowa State, Cincinnati, and Syracuse. Like Blake, the staff will likely continue evaluating him before deciding whether or not to offer.

That concludes our list. Looks like there will be a really good turnout of recruits, particularly with a lot big-time 2018 kids expected on campus. Although I don't expect a commitment to happen this weekend, be sure to stay tuned just in case. There is also a fairly large group of West Coast recruits expected on campus early next week, so keep an eye out for another visitor preview sometime this weekend.