Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1491978
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2023 35 2023 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE Alabama came calling and Keeley could not say no. With Keeley, this would have been an A+. Without him, the grade gets knocked down a full tier. That's how good Keeley is, and that's how much of a difference he would have been in South Bend. But as Freeman said during his early signing period press conference in De- cember, Notre Dame can't worry about the players who did not sign with the Irish. He can only concern himself with the ones who did. Among them in this position group, Vernon is a big-time prospect. He is the No. 35 interior de- fensive lineman in the class per On3. He's already 6-4 and 250 pounds — ready to play right away. On Paper Grade: B+ LINEBACKER Signed: Drayk Bowen of Merrill- ville (Ind.) Andrean, Jaiden Ausberry of Baton Rouge (La.) University Lab and Preston Zinter of Lawrence (Mass.) Central Catholic Overview: Notre Dame has been loading up at the linebacker position lately. It makes sense considering the head coach played the position at a high level a decade and a half ago. Bowen has superstar written all over him, and Ausberry and Zinter add them- selves to a mix of young, talented line- backers waiting their turn to take over on a 2023 depth chart that seems set to be crawling with graduate students. Notre Dame secured Bowen from about an hour away and went all the way down to for- mer Irish head coach Brian Kelly's cur- rent neck of the woods to nab Ausberry. The range at which Notre Dame is able to recruit players at a very important posi- tion is impressive. Bowen is on the cover of this magazine for many reasons. One, he's a heck of a football player. Two, he's a heck of a positive influence for Notre Dame. Every recruiting class has a player who glues the whole thing together. It's a guy who loves the school he's headed to with all his heart and will do anything he can to make sure that school has nothing but good things going for it. Bowen was that guy for Notre Dame's class of 2023. Now, it's time for him to put his physical skills to use. Bowen moved up to the No. 20 linebacker in the country in On3's Janu- ary rankings reveal. On and off the field, he's everything a program wants in a linebacker signee. On Paper Grade: A DEFENSIVE BACK Signed: Christian Gray of St. Louis De Smet Jesuit, Micah Bell of Houston The Kinkaid School, Brandyn Hillman of Portsmouth (Va.) Churchland, Ben Minich of Cincinnati Lakota West and Adon Shuler of Irvington (N.J.) High Overview: OK, OK. We know Free- man said not to dwell on the players Notre Dame was not able to sign. But there is no point in avoiding the elephant in the room. If Notre Dame signed five- star safety Peyton Bowen, this would have been an A+. He was set to be the top-rated signee in the Irish's class. He signed with Oklahoma instead. The route Bowen took to Norman, Okla., was a wild one. Even he admit- ted he shouldn't have gone from a solid commitment to Notre Dame to a sign- ing day pledge to Oregon to an official signing with Oregon in the span of 24 or so hours. But any fan of Notre Dame or Oregon who says they wouldn't have liked to have seen what Bowen could do in their team's uniform is likely lying. Notre Dame, in particular, could badly use some help at safety. All of that said, bringing in five defen- sive backs (three corners and two safe- ties including Hillman, who is listed as an athlete in the On3 database) is a nice haul. This class will be remembered less for losing Bowen at the 11th hour if any of the five becomes a big-time player in South Bend. There is always the possibil- ity multiple of them pan out in a major way, too. If anything, even with the loss of Bowen, these defensive backs show how meticulous Notre Dame coaches are on the recruiting trail. Hillman and Minich were not highly sought after recruits un- til late in the 2022 calendar year. Notre Dame won the sweepstakes for them. Recruiting classes often hinge on dia- mond in the rough type of snags. Hillman and Minich could fall into that category. On Paper Grade: B Brandyn Hillman (shown on his visit with his mother, Shawn Hillman) played quarterback at Portsmouth (Va.) Churchland High, but he will probably end up at defensive back for the Irish. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER