Good morning, Irish fans! Despite the lack of consistent recruiting coverage by us over here at 18 Stripes this summer (and I do apologize for that), the Fighting Irish staff has continued to put in work all summer to land some of the best football recruits in the country. As some of you are aware, Irish Invasion is taking place this weekend. And I’m here to give you a quick update on some of the guys that will be visiting South Bend this weekend.

As always, this list is liable to change. Last minute additions and scratches are not only possible, but extremely likely. Recruits with offers are in bold, current Irish commits are in bold italics.

Commits

RB Markese Stepp

DE Justin Ademilola

DT Jayson Ademilola

LB Bo Bauer

DB Derrik Allen

Good crop of commits visiting this weekend, although it would have been nice if a few more guys were able to make it. Everybody seems solid right now, but of course Kalon Gervin also seemed solid a couple of months ago before he decided to reopen his recruitment. Markese Stepp continues to be a vocal leader of this class of 2018. Derrik Allen isn’t expected to make it to the Invasion itself, but talented safety is set to visit this weekend, which is pretty important considering he’s the only DB currently committed to the Irish.

2018 Visitors

LB Cameron McGrone

Rover Shayne Simon

TE George Takacs

DB Donald Johnson

DE Jayson Oweh

DB Jaylin Williams

ATH Reese Taylor

DB Paul Moala

OL Nick Marozas

OL Carlos Vettorello

DE Tyden Ferris

DB Taj Ward

DB Tywan Francis

DB Curry Benn

DB Luke Cameron

OL Sean Boles

Cameron McGrone, Shayne Simon, and Donald Johnson are all guys I had on my too early guess at the Notre Dame recruiting class of 2018 back in February. At that time, only Simon had received a Notre Dame offer. Now, all three have offers. And the Irish have a great shot with all three. So, yeah. Kudos to me on that one.

On a more serious note, if anyone is likely to commit this weekend, it’s probably Shayne Simon. He’s really been trending to ND lately, and it certainly helps that he’s making the trip with his friends and high school teammates, the Ademilola twins. George Takacs and Cameron McGrone are also possible, though not as likely.

If recent Irish Invasions are any indication, the Irish should receive at least a couple more commits within the next week or so. We’ll see if that ends up being the case.

2019 Visitors

DB Litchfield Ajavon

DT Jacob Lacey

LB Shane Lee

DE Joseph Anderson

DE George Karlaftis

DB Brian Williams

ATH Josh McKenzie

WR Jameson Williams

WR Rahmon Hart

WR Kyren Williams

RB Treyson Potts

DB Sebastian Castro

WR Ainias Smith

WR Aeneas DiCosmo

DB Corey Thomas

WR Craig Vaughn

RB John Branham Jr.

QB Ty Evans

QB Paul Tyson

QB Sam Howell

QB Ryan Hilinski

QB Peyton Matocha

Plenty of 2019 guys coming to town. DB Litchfield Ajavon is my biggest want for this class, mainly because we NEED to hear that name for 4 years. Jacob Lacey would also be a huge grab, and the Irish staff has put themselves in really good position with him. If there’s any 2019 kid to commit this weekend, I think it would be him. Another guy ND appears to be in good position for is DE George Karlaftis. He’s an in-state kid that the Irish are hoping to make a big move for.

As far as all these quarterbacks go, I wouldn’t expect Notre Dame to push for any of them while Top 10 overall player JT Daniels is still so high on the Irish (he was at Irish Invasion last year and was by far the best QB in attendance). Bear Bryant’s great-grandson, Paul Tyson, will be in South Bend though. And that’s pretty neat.

Other names of note are NBC’s Brian Williams, Fidel Castro’s great-nephew, and a Trojan War hero from space.