Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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PREP PROFILES Sometimes it's the smallest relation- ships in recruiting that prove to be the most important. At least that's the case when it comes to Notre Dame and its chances with Columbia (S.C.) Heath- wood Hall Episcopal three-star line- backer Brandon Hill. Hill, who was offered by Notre Dame Feb. 2, wasn't on the Irish's ra- dar until his high school head coach Jon Wheeler sent an email to Notre D a m e d e f e n - sive coordinator Brian VanGorder. Wheeler — who worked alongside Van- Gorder at South Carolina — said he had a linebacker that his former colleague should take a look at. These shots in the dark happen all the time within the coaching ranks, but this was the rare one that was greeted with a scholarship offer. "I was kind of surprised," Wheeler said. "Brandon's a 6-foot-3, 213-pound linebacker with a 1290 two-part SAT. So he's a sharp kid that would fit a Notre Dame, Duke or Stanford. … But I didn't think it would lead to that." But it did, and now the focus has turned to getting Hill on campus. The three-sport athlete holds other scholarship offers from Georgia, Clem- son, Virginia Tech, Tennessee and Duke. It's a group of local schools, but accord- ing to Wheeler, location doesn't matter to Hill. "He's really just taking it all in," Wheeler said of the recruiting process. "The best thing about him is that he didn't grow up some big SEC foot- ball fan. His first love was soccer, so he's really unbiased. He doesn't know or understand why Georgia or Tennes- see is such a bigger offer than Duke." But thankfully for VanGorder and the Irish, Hill's father knows that an offer from Notre Dame is a little bit different than the others, and that's what could spark a visit. "The dad was really excited," Wheeler said. "I told him that Notre Dame had offered, and he was like: 'No way.' "VanGorder invited him to a Junior Day March 21, and they're going to try their best to get up there. I think his fa- ther — who is a surgeon — is on call that weekend, but I told him that I would take him." Hill, who racked up 120 tackles for Heathwood Hall this past season, has al- ready taken trips to Florida State, Clem- son, Duke and Wake Forest. — Andrew Ivins Irish In Good Shape For South Carolina Linebacker BRANDON HILL ✪ ✪ ✪ Heathwood Hall Episcopal Columbia, S.C. Status: Offered Class: 2016 Position: Linebacker Ht.: 6-3 • Wt.: 213 40-Yard Dash: 4.59 Rivals.com Rankings: Currently unrated