Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/705594
tackle), Micah Jones (four-star 2018 wide receiver), Ovie Oghoufo (four-star 2018 outside linebacker), Brendan Radley-Hiles (four-star 2018 cornerback), Osiris St. Brown (four-star 2017 wide receiver) and Malik Vann (three-star 2018 defensive end). Stepp said recruiting fellow players is something he enjoys doing. "Since I'm going to Notre Dame, I want Notre Dame to have the best future possible," he said. "I want to get all the best players that I think will fit Notre Dame's culture and the way Notre Dame does stuff, so we can get there and hopefully capture some championships." Stepp, a four-star prospect who is ranked as the No. 13 running back and No. 212 overall prospect in the junior class by 247Sports, picked the Irish over Duke, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin. He verbally committed to Notre Dame a day after he was in town for the annual Irish Invasion in June. Now that he's committed, he said he can focus on topping his sophomore campaign, a season in which he ran for 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns in a traditional offense. "I don't have to worry about anything," Stepp said of his summer. "I know where I'm going, and I can just focus on other things now. Instead of taking visits I can focus on training for football and getting the stuff I need to do done." Stepp described himself as a powerful runner with the ability to run past or over defenders. He said his goals this season are to improve his blocking and catching the ball out of the backfield, while leading Cathedral — also nicknamed the Fighting Irish — to a big season. Though he admitted it took a harder sales pitch from Notre Dame to get him to warm up to the Irish, Stepp said his opinion of the school began to change after a visit to last season's game against Georgia Tech. He then said he returned for the night game against USC and the spring game in April. It was Notre Dame's 41-31 win over the Trojans that really stood out to Stepp. "That atmosphere was crazy. You're not just watching the players, but you could feel all the history, all the tradition in that game," Stepp said. FILM ANALYSIS Strengths Picking up Markese Stepp was big time for Notre Dame; backs with his talent do not come out of the Irish's backyard very often … He is a big-bodied back that runs with authority and good pad level … Despite being more than 205 pounds, he is an elusive runner with nimble feet and outstanding balance … He has all the top-level running back skills Notre Dame likes: excellent vision, instincts and high-level anticipation ability … He has experience running from the shotgun and pistol, so his transition to the Notre Dame offense will be smooth. Areas For Improvement He's by no means slow, but he must continue improving his speed … Adding strength and continuing to reshape his body will need to happen, as it does with all rising juniors … At times, he can get a bit inefficient with his initial steps out of the backfield, which must be cleaned up. — Bryan Driskell