Notre Dame Football Target, 2018 DE Jayson Oweh, to Visit Notre Dame Tomorrow with Parents

It’s no secret that Notre Dame Fighting Irish football is desperate for some talent at defensive end. The Irish haven’t had a consistent pass rush since the Stephon Tuitt years, and ND has failed to bring in just about all of the elite pass rushers they have targeted in recruiting, save for current sophomore Daelin Hayes.

So, when a 4-star defensive end from New Jersey decides to swing through the Midwest and visit Notre Dame and Ohio State, it’s a huge deal for the Irish program.

Jayson Oweh, from Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ, is rated as a composite 4-star and 176th overall in the 2018 class by 247sports. He just committed to playing in the Under Armour All-American game, and holds offers from ND, Penn State, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and a slew of other schools, with Ohio State additionally showing a great deal of interest. The Nittany Lions and Buckeyes are considered the favorites for Oweh, and at the moment they own all of the 247sports Crystal Ball predictions (75% for Penn State, 25% for OSU — which will surely increase if/when they offer).

Oweh is a freak athlete at 6’5”, 236 pounds, and is exactly the type of defensive end Mike Elko needs to get a serious pass rush off the edge.

With a visit to Ohio State immediately following the ND visit, look for Coach Brian Kelly and the rest of the Notre Dame staff to pull out their best pitch to Oweh and his parents — they need to make up a lot of ground with this kid, and fast.

Elsewhere in Football Recruiting...

Various Notre Dame football commits and recruiting targets have been named to the Butkus Award Watch List, which honors the best linebacker in the country (both at the high school and college levels).

Irish commits Matthew “Bo” Bauer and Ovie Oghoufo were both named to the watch list, as well as several top targets, including Shayne Simon, Cameron McGrone, and Jack Lamb.

Notre Dame fans are hoping one of these guys will follow in the footsteps of Manti Te’o and Jaylon Smith, who both won the Butkus Award at the high school level, attended Notre Dame, and ended up winning the award at the college level as well.

Skylar Diggins-Smith Does Crunches I’ve Never Even Dreamed of Doing

A new WNBA commercial has been released and is airing on TV, featuring a few WNBA stars showing off their incredible athleticism and basketball skills. Notre Dame’s own Skylar Diggins-Smith is featured in this one.

The ad campaign is titled “Watch Me Work: Your Move” and Diggins-Smith appears at the 19-second mark, doing some crazy upside-down crunches.

Gotta love Skylar getting some love for how well she’s playing, and proving to be the badass that she is in a nationally-televised advertisement.

Other Notre Dame-Related News

• Ara Parseghian fell ill after suffering an infection in his hip, which has undergone 5 surgeries. Pretty cool that his network of friends and former players is rallying around him, though, and is a testament to how much of a legend he is, both as a coach and as a person. Definitely keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers
• Tyler Newsome, Drue Tranquill, and Nic Weishar were added to the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List - the award honors community service performed by college football players
• Former Notre Dame offensive guard Trevor Robinson has officially retired from the NFL after a 5-year career
• Tom Noie put together a comprehensive look at how former Notre Dame basketball players are performing in the NBA summer leagues; spoiler alert, Jack Cooley is still the man
• Is the ACC the best conference in college football? A lot of the coaches in that conference seem to think so...
• Check out this self-made Heisman website from Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor. It is unbelievably great. Some highlights:

- This GIF:

- “thanks to amazing hang times”

- “H29smanSZN”

- “Likes cool dogs”

- “animals love him!”

• This is the greatest Notre Dame GIF ever, and you can take it to the bank that I will use it more than 1,000 times in my coverage of ND hoops this coming season:

BONZIE 4 PRESIDENT, Y’ALL