Notre Dame’s recruiting momentum slowed a touch Monday when defensive back and rivals.com three-star recruit Evan Fields (Midwest City High School; Oklahoma City) chose Arizona State over the Irish. With that decision, Notre Dame narrows its focus to four recruits to add to its 18-commit class of 2017.
Theoretically, that list could be five, but receiver Mac Hippenhammer (Snider H.S.; Fort Wayne, Ind.) has given little-to-no indication he will de-commit from Penn State before Wednesday’s National Signing Day.
Defensive end Jalen Harris (Desert Ridge; Mesa, Ariz.), a consensus three-star, reportedly would announce his decision between the Irish and Arizona on Monday night, but as of this posting, Harris had not ended the suspense. According to the South Bend Tribune’s Tyler James, that should change yet today (Tuesday).
Harris has been committed to the Wildcats since August, but Notre Dame got the last visit of his recruitment, giving coach Brian Kelly and his defensive staff hope.
Two other defensive linemen have given Kelly & Co. hope to bolster their trenches come Wednesday. Rivals.com three-star recruit Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (Kapolei, Hawaii) visited the Irish, Vanderbilt and Navy in this last week, and Maryland-commit Kofi Wardlow (St. John’s College H.S.; Washington, D.C.), a consensus three-star recruit, made it to South Bend last weekend as well.
Lastly, consensus three-star safety Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Bethel; Hampton, Va.) remains on the board, likely choosing between Notre Dame and Michigan State.
Aside from Harris, look for all these decisions to be made, or at least finalized, at or shortly after 7 a.m. local time Wednesday. Of course, that will be an early morning for this site and as news comes in, updates will follow.