Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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PREP PROFILES Notre Dame hopes to flip one of the top junior linebackers in the country from a Big 12 school. Kennedale (Texas) High junior Baron Browning picked up a scholarship offer from Notre Dame of- fensive coordinator Mike Sanford Dec. 8, after the Irish assistant visited Brown- ing's school. Browning is firm in his verbal com- mitment to Bay- lor after making a pledge to the Bears in July — but he is open to the Irish. "I'll just say we're building a relation- ship, and it's get- ting stronger and stronger," Brown- ing said. "They're definitely a school that's up there on my list." Sanford extended the scholarship of- fer while on the road — coaches are not allowed to speak with juniors at their high schools. However, Sanford was able to meet with Kennedale head coach Richard Barrett, who described his conversation with the Irish assistant as productive. "Coach Sanford just said that they think Baron is a guy that would fit in their scheme very well and could do good things for them down the road," Barrett said. "He was saying that he hopes at some time that we would consider coming up there to a junior day, or something along those lines." Prying the 6-4, 220-pound under- classman away from Baylor won't come easy for Notre Dame. Barry Browning, the junior linebacker 's father, played for Bears defensive coordinator Phil Bennett at TCU. B r o w n i n g ' s hometown of Ken- nedale is also only roughly an hour and a half from Waco, where Baylor is located, although Barrett indicated proximity to home may not impact Browning's ulti- mate choice. "Baylor is obviously close to home, but I don't think that's going to be a determining factor in where he goes," Barrett said. "Baylor's defensive coor- dinator coached his daddy in college at TCU, so that's something that might have a little to do with it. And obviously Baylor is an up-and-coming program." Browning holds offers from more than 25 schools, including Notre Dame, Baylor, Alabama, Florida State, USC, LSU and Tennessee. He finished with 74 tackles (five for loss) in 13 games as a junior. — Jordan Wells Class Of 2017 Texas Linebacker Adds an Irish Offer BARON BROWNING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Kennedale High School Kennedale, Texas Status: Interest Class: 2017 Position: Linebacker Ht.: 6-4 • Wt.: 220 Rivals Rankings: No. 12 player in Texas, and No. 5 outside linebacker and No. 90 overall player in the country