Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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62 PRESEASON 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY MIKE SINGER Notre Dame added commitment No. 26 to its 2026 recruiting class July 11 when Charlotte (N.C.) Independence safety Nick Reddish announced his pledge to the Fighting Irish over finalists Indiana, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin. The longtime Irish target spoke to Blue & Gold Illustrated before going public with his decision about why he picked Notre Dame. "The biggest factor in my deci- sion was the education," Reddish said. "Their '4 for 40' saying stuck with me. Football is going to end someday, and you need to know what you're going to do with your life after football. All the networking and everything they have to offer will help set me up for life." Reddish was one of Notre Dame's Pot of Gold Day offers back in March 2024, and he's visited campus four times. He was in South Bend last spring and sum- mer and visit No. 3 took place in April 2025. The 5-11, 180-pounder was one of 21 prospects who officially visited Notre Dame the weekend of June 13, and dur- ing the first night of the trip, it clicked internally while at Marcus Freeman's house that he wanted to commit. After a few days of reflection and thanking other coaches for recruiting him, he made the call to Notre Dame. The staff was out of the office, but he individually called up Freeman, gen- eral manager Mike Martin, director of recruiting Carter Auman and defen- sive backs coaches Mike Mickens and Jevaughn Codlin. "They were telling me how I'm not going to regret this decision," recalled Reddish. The versatile defender raved about the job the staff did recruiting him, in- cluding Freeman, the recruiting office and of course, Mickens. "He's been involved in my recruiting process forever," Reddish said. "Even after I got injured, he stuck with me and told me that God has a plan for me. "What really solidified Notre Dame for me was when Coach Freeman came to my school 10 days after they played in the national championship game. Him coming down here to talk to me was a crazy, surreal feeling." Reddish was one of five defensive backs on campus during the June 13 of- ficial visit weekend. With his commit- ment, all of them are now pledged to the Irish. "I connected with everyone," he noted. "I hung around the other defen- sive backs the most, but I got along with everyone. We all talked the entire trip; no one was on their phone very much. The whole trip was amazing." During the second game of his junior year, Reddish suffered a broken fibula. He was close to playing at the end of the season but was advised to not rush his return. Reddish is ranked as the No. 29 player in the Tar Heel State and No. 62 safety nationally in the Rivals Industry Rank- ing, and a large part of his three-star ranking is because he didn't have a ju- nior campaign. But he's been back to 100 percent for several months now and is ready to impress as a senior. "I'm overly fired up," Reddish said. "Getting back out there, flying around and being around the guys — I'm ready to play ball again." Most programs that were showing interest in him but hadn't offered yet cooled their contact with Reddish, but the main schools that were after him kept pushing. That obviously included Notre Dame. Reddish is the only sub-6 foot defen- sive back in the Irish's class and also has a unique skill set. He's more of a strong safety/nickel who is the most physical and best tackler of the group. "I'm planning to play nickel. They'll move me around, and I don't have a set position," Reddish added. "I can move anywhere in the secondary." According to his school's MaxPreps stats page, Reddish totaled 95 tackles (3 for loss), 4 interceptions, 10 passes bro- ken up, 4 fumble recoveries and 2 forced fumbles during his sophomore season. Reddish was named to the Southwest- ern 4A Conference's all-conference team in 2023. In addition to his finalists, Reddish held offers from the likes of North Car- olina, Tennessee, Ole Miss, USC, Mis- souri and UCF. Sources indicate that Virginia Tech was Notre Dame's big- gest challenger — his two older brothers — Joseph and Quentin Reddish — cur- rently play for the Hokies. Quentin is a sophomore safety, while Joseph, a junior cornerback, transferred from Wingate. Reddish will sign with Notre Dame in December and enroll early in January. ✦ COMMITMENT PROFILE NICK REDDISH Reddish — who missed the majority of his junior season due to a broken fibula — notched 95 tack- les (3 for loss), 4 interceptions, 10 passes broken up, 4 fumble recoveries and 2 forced fumbles during his sophomore campaign. PHOTO BY KYLE KELLY Strong Connections Lead Versatile Defensive Back To South Bend FILM ANALYSIS "Nick Reddish is a solid safety prospect, and he's a guy we're going back to the sophomore year to talk about. So, it's a limited sample size, but based on what we've seen, he has good range, can play the back half, runs well from hash to sideline and has good physicality. There's certainly good reason for optimism. "From our point of view, there's just a small sample size, and we haven't seen him in per- son. We're in a holding pattern for Reddish un- til we see his senior season. We were very high on his older brother who was an On300 safety who plays for Virginia Tech. We're eager to see if Nick takes similar strides as a senior this fall." — Rivals director of scouting and rankings Charles Power