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It’s a big weekend for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, and for the recruiting machine it’s running. The Irish have five high-profile recruits on official visits for the season-opening game against the Temple Owls.
4 STAR DEFENSIVE END THOMAS BOOKER
Booker is right at the top of Notre Dame’s wish list for this recruiting class, and it’s not hard to see why that’s the case. The monster strong-side defensive end stands at 6’5” and 290 pounds, and is athletic enough to play tight end (which he is doing right now for his high school). This is a Notre Dame and Stanford Cardinal battle, with the Irish probably holding a slight edge at the moment.
3 STAR SAFETY PAUL MOALA
Moala has called Notre Dame his “dream offer” but has yet to pull the trigger after the Irish offered him back in the summer during Irish Invasion. His only other offer from a Power 5 school is the Iowa Hawkeyes. It’s hard to imagine Moala would end up anywhere but Notre Dame with the combination of need and dreams.
4 STAR CORNERBACK KYLER GORDON
The Irish have a HUGE need at cornerback and the Everett, Washington product looks mighty appetizing. I’m not exactly sure how serious Gordon is about Notre Dame, and most arrows point to the Washington Huskies as his leader and the school that he will eventually sign with on signing day. Still, an official visit is an official chance.
4 STAR RUNNING BACK MARKESE STEPP
The lone committed player at the Temple game is Stepp. His high school team is winless after 3 games, so he may be a bit cranky. The good news is that with guys like Gordon and Booker, Stepp is a nice commit to have on hand as he is one of the more vocal recruiters of the 2018 class.
4 STAR DEFENSIVE END JOSEPH OSSAI
While Ossai is scheduled to visit Notre Dame this weekend, he is from the Houston area, and it seems that no one is really sure if he is going to make it up to South Bend due to all that is happening with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Regardless, Ossai is a big time target for the Irish, with the Texas A&M Aggies being the clear leader at the moment.