Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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42 NOV. 5, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY MIKE SINGER W hen Notre Dame plays USC at home that is typically the marquee recruiting event of the fall for the Fight- ing Irish. But Notre Dame plays the Tro- jans on the road this season. Fortunately, Marcus Freeman's pro- gram still faces an attractive opponent to draw in a big crowd of recruits. Clemson comes to town Nov. 5, and somewhere between 50-100 prospects are due in for the Irish. Many of the recruits will be underclassmen, and a good majority probably won't end up with an offer from the Irish. This is a situation where quality and quantity will blend perfectly. Notre Dame will draw a large crowd and also have plenty of quality visitors on campus. The most important target due in for the Irish is Denton (Texas) Guyer's Pey- ton Bowen, the No. 2 safety and No. 15 overall player in America per On3. Bowen has been committed to Notre Dame since New Year's Day, but other programs haven't let up in their pursuit of him. It's mainly been Oklahoma and Texas A&M after the five-star recruit, but Bowen visited Oregon the weekend of Oct. 22 and is considering a trip to Michigan. Sources on the Notre Dame side of things feel confident that Bowen will stick with the Fighting Irish, but as long as he takes other visits there will be rea- son for concern. Notre Dame will have at least two of- ficial visitors on campus Nov. 5. One of them is Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean's Drayk Bowen (no relation to Peyton), who is the No. 18 linebacker and No. 208 overall prospect nationally according to On3. According to Blue & Gold Illus- trated's count, Bowen has visited Notre Dame 17 times. Those have all been un- official visits, while his trip this week- end will be for an official visit. What's the difference? In short, the official visit is an all-expenses paid trip by the school, paying for the recruit's food, transportation, lodging and ac- tivities for the weekend. They're also allowed to go off campus during an offi- cial visit when accompanied by coaches or players. An unofficial visit is paid for by the prospect, and he can only have contact with coaches on campus. An official visit has a clock of 48 hours, while an unofficial can last sev- eral days as long as it's during a permis- sible recruiting period. As the rules currently stand, pros- pects are only allowed to take five offi- cial visits and only one per school, while they can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits. Bogart (Ga.) North Oconee's Khalil Barnes, who is the No. 93 player in Geor- gia and the No. 81 cornerback in the na- tion per On3, will be on campus for his Notre Dame official as well. He picked up his offer from the Irish Oct. 13 and quickly set up the official visit. While he's listed as a cornerback, Notre Dame is recruiting him as a wide receiver. Barnes was previously committed to Wake Forest. A couple of notable class of 2023 prospects who are more under the ra- dar as seniors are expected in for the matchup against Clemson. One is Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton's Roch Cholowsky, who Notre Dame is looking at for both baseball and football. The 6-2, 180-pounder has been mainly a baseball player up until this point of his high school athletics career, but his success on the gridiron at quarterback has caught the Irish's attention. Whether he's a scholarship player or how that would all work out between both sports is still to be determined, but he's one to keep an eye on. Detroit St. Mary's class of 2023 wide- out Ryan Mooney, a former Notre Dame baseball commit, also will be on cam- pus. Mooney backed off his Irish pledge after his football recruitment heated up, earning scholarship offers from Iowa, Central Michigan, Boston College and others. Notre Dame could extend a scholarship offer to him. Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller's Kar- son Hobbs, who is the No. 15 prospect in Ohio and the No. 31 cornerback nation- ally per On3, will make a return visit to South Bend. The South Carolina verbal commit visited Notre Dame for the Cal game in September and picked up an offer from the staff while on campus. Hobbs admittedly grew up a big fan of Notre Dame, and the Irish are a school to watch closely in his recruitment. ✦ A Look At Key Names Expected To Visit For The Notre Dame-Clemson Game Irish commit and Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean standout Drayk Bowen, who is the No. 18 linebacker and No. 208 overall prospect nationally according to On3, will take his official visit to Notre Dame for the Clemson game. PHOTO COURTESY ON3.COM