Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2025 43 2025 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE Faraimo brings the group's letter grade up a few notches. He's that good, and he was that much of a necessary commodity for Freeman and the Irish. Notre Dame wanted three linebackers in this class all along, and the third and fi- nal one ended up being the No. 4 player in the country at his position. That's an A-effort recruiting win for the Irish. On paper grade: A CORNERBACKS Signees: Four-star cornerback Dal- las Golden of Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep, four-star cornerback Mark Zack- ery IV of Indianapolis Ben Davis and three-star cornerback Cree Thomas of Phoenix Brophy College Prep Synopsis: The Irish are on an abso- lute roll in cornerback recruiting. Ev- ery class is full of ready-now recruits. Golden and Zackery are two more of those. They're two of the top six players Notre Dame signed in this class. They're both on the smaller side, too, so maybe one of them will step into the nickel spot right away to work in tandem with Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith. We've seen freshmen play outside in Year 1, but slot corner has always been reserved for elder statesmen. If anybody can buck the trend, it's one of these two standouts. Thomas, meanwhile, is one of those versatile defensive backs who could play a variety of positions. His development will be interesting to monitor. The fascinating thing about Notre Dame cornerback recruiting is all of that could be thrown on its head in an in- stant. We saw it with Benjamin Morrison and Leonard Moore as true freshmen. If we've learned anything in the Freeman era, thanks to defensive backs coach Mike Mickens, it's to not be surprised when a first-year corner gets on the field and starts locking opposing wide receivers up. The Irish are signing and developing dudes who can do that right now. Period. On paper grade: A SAFETY Signees: Four-star safety JaDon Blair of Winston Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor, three-star safety Ethan Long of Green- wich (Conn.) Brunswick School and three-star safety Brandon Logan of Fort Wayne (Ind.) Snider Synopsis: Notre Dame's recruiting in the Freeman era has leaned more ath- letic, and the safety class demonstrates that. Kyle Hamilton is a comp for Blair, which says enough. Long was one of the most impressive players at one of the Irish's most talented recruiting camps. Logan is a premier baseball prospect choosing to focus on football. The extra space in this section needs to be dedicated to Blair, though. He's as scintillating of a first-year athlete you'll ever see, and he's joining a Notre Dame safety group that just lost its on- and off-field leader in Xavier Watts, an opening on the two-deep a freshman like Blair can take advantage of consid- ering outside of Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stroman, Blair won't be battling too many experienced players in the safety room. How quickly he can get things to click might be an X-factor for the Notre Dame defense in 2025. Regardless, this trio of signees will carve out roles in the Notre Dame de- fense over the next handful of years. On paper grade: A SPECIALIST S i g n e e : T h re e - s ta r k i c ke r E r i k Schmidt of Milwaukee Marquette Uni- versity High Synopsis: Notre Dame has had a graduate transfer kicker as its starter three years in a row. That trend likely comes to an end on the foot of Schmidt, a December flip from Wisconsin who's rated the No. 2 kicker in the country in the On3 Industry Ranking. Notre Dame went through a roller- coaster season with Mitch Jeter as its kicker. Schmidt aims to bring some sta- bility to the position. On paper grade: A+ ✦ At 6-5, 195, talented Winston-Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor safety JaDon Blair has evoked com- parisons to former Irish All-American and current NFL All-Pro Kyle Hamilton. PHOTO COURTESY ON3 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL 2025 SIGNEES Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (High School) Matty Augustine* OL 6-7 292 Greenwich, Conn. (Brunswick School) Jerome Bettis Jr.* WR 6-2 201 Atlanta (Woodward Academy) Will Black OL 6-7 292 London, Ontario (Choate Rosemary Hall [Conn.]) JaDon Blair* S 6-5 195 Winston-Salem, N.C. (Mount Tabor) Christopher Burgess Jr. DE 6-3 245 Chicago (Simeon Career Academy) Elijah Burress* WR 6-0 173 Totowa, N.J. (DePaul Catholic) Davion Dixon* DL 6-2 322 Homestead, Fla. (Miami Palmetto) Madden Faraimo* LB 6-2 220 Oceanside, Calif. (JSerra Catholic) James Flanigan TE 6-5 230 Green Bay, Wis. (Notre Dame de la Baie Academy) Dallas Golden CB 6-0 180 Tampa, Fla. (Berkeley Prep) Blake Hebert* QB 6-3 220 Boxford, Mass. (Brunswick School [Conn.]) Cam Herron* OL 6-2 288 Indianapolis (Warren Central) Dominik Hulak DL 6-4 240 Glendale Heights, Ill. (Immaculate Conception) Nolan James Jr.* RB 5-10 199 Westwood, N.J. (DePaul Catholic) Ko'o Kia LB 6-1 209 Kahalu'u, Hawai'i (Punahou) Brandon Logan S 5-11 186 Fort Wayne, Ind. (Snider) Ethan Long* S 6-2 194 Milford, Conn. (Brunswick School) Joe Reiff DL 6-5 255 Elmhurst, Ill. (York Community) Antavious Richardson* WR 6-0 166 Greenville, Ga. (Greenville) Anthony Sacca LB 6-3 225 Delran, N.J, (St. Joseph's Prep School [Pa.]) Erik Schmidt K 6-1 210 Milwaukee (Marquette University) Owen Strebig* OL 6-8 298 Brookfield, Wis. (Waukesha Catholic Memorial) Gordy Sulfsted DL 6-4 245 Cincinnati (St. Xavier) Cree Thomas* CB 6-1 176 Phoenix (Brophy College Preparatory) Mark Zackery IV CB 6-0 170 Indianapolis (Ben Davis) * Early enrollee