Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 SEPT. 23, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED PREP PROFILES Anthony Sacca and his Philadelphia St. Joseph's Prep team have played quite the tough nonconference slate to start the season, opening with national pow- erhouse Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Acad- emy and then facing Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep and Lakeland (Fla.) High — two top programs in their respec- tive states — the following two weeks, respectively. Sacca — a class of 2025 linebacker with offers from Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Oregon and oth- ers — is balancing the grind of the early start to his season (his team started 2-1) with the business that is the recruiting process. On Aug. 1, college coaches were allowed to start directly contacting him, which has only ramped things up. "I haven't made cuts yet, but I'm moving towards narrowing down my list to like eight or 10," Sacca said. "I'll probably do that when the season ends and then cut it down to four or five schools before I take my official visits." Notre Dame will surely be on his short list when it comes time for him to trim down his options. The Fighting Irish offered him a scholarship in December 2021 and have been a consistent figure in his recruitment. He told Blue & Gold Illustrated that he'll be on campus for the Ohio State game Sept. 23. "I want to feel the atmosphere and see all the coaches and talk to them in person," Sacca said regarding his up- coming trip. He may take another trip or two this fall. Wisconsin is a program he wants to get out to see. But otherwise, the ma- jority of his trips moving forward will likely be after his junior season wraps up. Sacca's father, Tony, played at Penn State, and Notre Dame linebackers coach and defensive coordinator Al Golden was on that same Nittany Lions team. Golden is leading the charge for the Irish in Sacca's recruitment. "It's been constant," Sacca said. "Al Golden texts me almost every day. I text a lot with him, Coach Max Bullough and Coach [Chad] Bowden. I'll hear from Coach [Marcus] Freeman, too. "I really like the coaches. I feel like I could get developed out there well. I fit in their scheme well with what they want to do on defense. Notre Dame re- minds me a lot of my high school. Both schools treat football and academics similarly." When asked which schools he feels are recruiting him hardest, Sacca men- tioned Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. — Mike Singer The recruiting calendar changed for the 2025 class this year. Sept. 1 used to be the first date for college coaches to start directly reaching out to high school juniors via phone call and text messages. But for the class of 2025, that date moved up a month to Aug. 1. When midnight hit, Lucas (Texas) Lovejoy's Daylan McCutcheon, the na- tion's No. 15 wide receiver and No. 100 overall player in the On3 Industry Rank- ing, saw his phone explode with texts and calls. "As soon as it hit 12, I got a call," he said. McCutcheon has seen his recruiting process change since college coaches could take it into their own hands to directly contact him. "It's different now because they can text me every day and check in on me," he added. "It's definitely different than me having to call them; they can now reach out to me." McCutcheon has a long list of schools after him and there's no shortage of coaches reaching out to him on a daily basis. He mentioned three schools in particular recruiting him consistently, plus one other that hasn't offered yet but is keeping tabs on him. "Tennessee, Baylor and Notre Dame have been coming after me hard," he said. "I'm also getting a lot of texts from Clemson." The four-star pass catcher mentioned that he received a call right at midnight. Who was that from? None other than Notre Dame director of high school scouting Dre Brown. "He's very cool," McCutcheon said of Brown. "He was the first person to call me on Aug. 1. As soon as it hit 12, he was the guy to call me." McCutcheon visited Notre Dame on April 6 and loved his experience in South Bend. Since then, he's been talk- ing regularly with the Irish staff. "Everything has been going really well with them," he said. "They were showing me how things were going at practice, how Coach [Chansi] Stuckey is teaching his receivers, and they were sending me videos from them out in Ire- land playing against Navy. It's cool to be involved with the coaches and building a better relationship." In terms of fall visits, McCutcheon notes that he wants to get out to Baylor, Florida, Tennessee and Texas this fall. Notre Dame is another school on his priority visit list as well. "My dad and I have been talking and we're looking at Notre Dame against USC," McCutcheon said. "That's one game we're considering." — Mike Singer Three-Star Linebacker Lines Up Big Visit To Notre Dame Four-Star Wide Receiver Breaks Down Recruitment ANTHONY SACCA ✪ ✪ ✪ St. Joseph's Prep Philadelphia Status: Offered Class: 2025 Position: Linebacker Ht.: 6-2 • Wt.: 215 On3 Rankings: No. 6 player in Pennsylvania, and No. 26 linebacker and No. 277 overall player nationally DAYLAN McCUTCHEON ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Lovejoy H.S. Lucas, Texas Status: Offered Class: 2025 Position: Wide receiver Ht.: 5-11 • Wt.: 170 On3 Rankings: No. 21 player in Texas, and No. 19 wide re- ceiver and No. 107 overall player in the country