Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME 10 APRIL 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2024 Edge Darien Mayo By Kyle Kelly Olney (Md.) Good Counsel Catholic junior Darien Mayo's April 1 visit to Notre Dame is important for a few reasons. First, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Mayo is On3's third-highest-ranked Notre Dame edge target, behind only Elijah Rushing and Marquise Lightfoot. On3 ranks Mayo as No. 1 player in Maryland, and the No. 9 edge and No. 92 overall player in the country. He is the No. 2 player in Maryland, and the No. 13 edge and No. 148 overall player in the On3 Industry Rankings — a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four major recruiting media services. Second, Notre Dame is coming off a recruiting cycle in which it did not land an edge commit. So, getting Mayo to campus is an important step in the Irish cementing themselves as a top team involved in his recruitment in hopes of eventually landing his commitment. Third, the Irish are looking to establish a strong pres- ence in Maryland and hosting one of the two top players in the state could make progress toward their efforts. The No. 1 player from Maryland is Aaron Chiles, who also attends Good Counsel and is a top Notre Dame target. During the January recruiting contact period, Notre Dame coaches spent four of the 10 days they were on the road in Maryland. Besides Rushing, Lightfoot and Mayo, only five edge recruits — Jacob Smith, Mylachi Williams, Kellen Lindstrom, Loghan Thomas and Anelu Lafaele — have visited Notre Dame or plan to make it to South Bend. So, making a strong impression on Mayo will be necessary. 2024 Cornerback Jon Mitchell By Mike Singer Notre Dame needs to load up on defensive backs. There are a few good choices here, but I'm going with Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin's Jon Mitchell, who is the nation's No. 19 cornerback and No. 259 overall prospect according to the 2024 On3 Industry Rankings. And On3's own rankings view Mitchell much higher, having him as the No. 8 cornerback and No. 61 overall player in America. Notre Dame sources tell Blue & Gold Illustrated that Mitchell is a huge target for the staff and one that they're doing everything in their power to land. He'll be on campus March 25, and he actually may be on commit watch going into the weekend. As for his importance as a prospect, Notre Dame might already have cornerback commitments from Leonard Moore and Karson Hobbs, but Mitchell is an instant-impact prospect. The Irish need to keep im- proving in the secondary to beat the elite teams in college football. Alabama, Florida State and Penn State are among the other contenders for him. Mitchell's relationship with his position coach is an important factor in his recruitment, and we're told that his relationship with cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens is his best at this point in the process. Also, his mother is big on Notre Dame's academics and distance shouldn't play a factor. A side note here is that if Notre Dame gets Mitchell to commit, it could have the inside track on his teammate Jamie Ffrench, a borderline five-star wide re- ceiver in the 2025 class. Ffrench and Mitchell are visiting Notre Dame together. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RECRUIT THAT WILL VISIT NOTRE DAME THIS SPRING? Notre Dame men's lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan, now in his 35th year on the Fighting Irish sideline, has seen and done about every- thing there is to see and do in the sport. Twenty-three conference titles, 25 NCAA Tour- naments, five national final fours, two NCAA run- ner-up finishes and more than 50 All-Americans developed under his watch are a few of Corrigan's career highlights. Corrigan, 64, is the nation's longest-tenured active men's Division I lacrosse coach, and with a No. 2 national ranking through March 3 after a 3-0 start, Corrigan's program is as strong now as it's ever been. Not including 2020 when COVID-19 canceled the lacrosse postseason, Corrigan had led his program to 15 straight NCAA Tournament ap- pearances, until its head-scratching omission last season. After a slow start when Notre Dame went 2-4, the Irish won their final six games to finish 8-4, went 5-1 in the mighty ACC but were controver- sially left out of the tournament field. Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with Corrigan to talk about his solid season start, his passion for the game, the disappointment of last season and his dynamic brotherly attacker duo of senior Pat and sophomore Chris Kavanagh, who rate one-two on the team in nearly every offensive category. BGI: Backing up to last season, do you use that disappointment as motivation? Corrigan: "I'd be lying to say that there isn't a single person that was in that locker room the last day last year who doesn't think about that and remember that. But we don't talk about it, ever. "They all know what happened and I think ev- erybody is using it in their own way as motiva- tion." BGI: It's still early but what do you like so far about this team? Corrigan: "The biggest thing has been the at- titude. They've worked extremely hard. They've stayed intimately connected to each other and to the process, practicing and getting better every day." BGI: What kind of luxury is having two All- Americans with the Kavanaghs leading the team? Corrigan: "The biggest impact they have is that they play really smart lacrosse. And when you have guys that do that, it always impacts how the group plays. "They play the game the right way and that is impactful in the way that everybody plays with and around them." BGI: How good can this team become? Corrigan: "We'll see. That remains to be seen. We have plenty of work to do, plenty of things to get better at. And if you don't continue to grow and evolve over the course of the season other people will and you'll get left behind." BGI: You've been at this for a while; are you still energized? Corrigan: "Absolutely, I love what I do and I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do. I was texting with my brothers at 6 a.m. before our Georgetown game. "I told them that I didn't know if it helped but I had been up and ready to go since 4 a.m., so I guess the fire is still burning." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … MEN'S LACROSSE HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN MAYO MITCHELL Corrigan's 2023 squad started the season 4-0 and was ranked No. 2 in the nation as of March 6. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS