Notre Dame football recruiting: Stars to descend on Notre Dame

The biggest weekend to date for Notre Dame’s 2014 recruiting class sits in front of the Irish football program.

Five-star targets, faithful commits and young players hoping to catch the eye of the coaching staff will all make their way to Notre Dame in the coming days.

At least seven 2014 prospects with offers are scheduled to arrive on campus from Friday to Monday with six verbally committed 2014 recruits set to return as well.

The weekend is highlighted by the stars visiting campus, but plenty more players will arrive for the various camps being hosted by Notre Dame. Thursday’s camp for punters, kickers, and long snappers even resulted a new offer being extended by the Irish coaching staff to 2014 punter Tyler Newsome from Carrollton, Ga.

Other camps set for the weekend include Friday’s Future Stars Camp, Saturday’s 7-on-7 Passing Camp for high school teams and the Lineman’s Challenge.

Summer camps are an annual tradition at Notre Dame, but the stars visiting campus may be the most impressive group in recent years.

"I think every year they have their weekends where they have a lot of talent on campus,” said 247Sports.com national recruiting writer Steve Wiltfong. “There’s certainly a lot coming in this weekend, maybe it’s a little more than normal, but Notre Dame’s always done a nice job of getting touted guys to come visit them during the summer.”

Commits like offensive guard Jimmy Byrne will be joining the festivities to help recruit some of the targets, and in Byrne’s case, work with his future position coach Harry Hiestand on Saturday.

“It’s important to be there for those guys coming in and really work on my own game too with coach Hiestand and meet with some of the commits I haven’t seen yet,” Byrne said.

Fellow offensive line commits Alex Bars and Quenton Nelson are scheduled to be on campus in addition to quarterback DeShone Kizer, running back Elijah Hood and linebacker Greer Martini.

Here’s a look at the top targets visiting campus with comments from Wiltfong and CBS Sports Network recruiting analyst Tom Lemming:

OLB/DE Lorenzo Carter

6-5, 235

Norcross, Ga.

247Sports ranking: No. 1 weakside DE, No. 3 in the country

Rivals ranking: No. 1 weakside DE, No. 5 overall

Lemming: “He reminds me a lot of how Jevon Kearse looked and played — explosive with long arms and looks real thin at 235. I think he’s a bona fide future No. 1 draft pick if he stays healthy. He’ll wind up gaining 30-40 pounds of muscle and he already looks like a great player.”

LB Kevin Mouhon

6-2, 220

Norcross, Ga.

247Sports: 17 ILB

Rivals: No. 15 OLB

Lemming: “Kevin’s a solid player. He’s been overshadowed by a couple of his teammates. But he’s a good solid linebacker type guy. He has good size, not great size, good speed, not great speed. He’s a good solid player."

DT Thomas Holley

6-4, 290

Brooklyn, N.Y. (Lincoln)

247Sports: No. 10 DT, No. 73 overall

Rivals: No. 4 DT, No. 84 overall

Lemming: “A good solid player. It’s a real good year for defensive tackle. Florida has four or five really good ones. They’re all over the place. He’s a guy that’s from Brooklyn, like Ishaq Williams, who has a way to go. He has real good size, moves OK, and would be a real solid defensive tackle.”

DT Matt Elam (visiting Monday)

6-6, 340

Elizabethtown, Ky. (John Hardin)

247Sports: No. 2 DT, No. 10 overall

Rivals: No. 24 DT

Wiltfong: “Notre Dame came in a little late to offer compared to some other schools with Elam, but getting him on campus that quickly, they obviously have as good of a chance as anybody. Getting him on campusand having a chance to make an impression is big. Alabama and Kentucky have kind of asserted themselves out in front for Elam.”

WR Corey Holmes

6-2, 175

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

247Sports: No. 31 WR

Rivals: No. 31 WR, No. 228 overall

Lemming: "Corey Holmes is a four-star guy. They’re more of a run-oriented team. Corey doesn’t catch quite as many passes that a guy of his talent would normally indicate. He has decent size, has real strong hands and he runs well. He’s a very good player."

Wiltfong: “I think Notre Dame leads for Corey. That will be another visit where they could maybe even land him if everything goes great.”

WR Trevion Thompson

6-2, 180

Durham, NC. (Hillside)

247Sports: No. 8 WR, No. 81 overall

Rivals: No. 28 WR, No. 192 overall

Lemming: “I love him. I gave him four-plus stars. He’s a physical, real muscular guy. I really liked him a lot. He’s big time. He could be a guy that would be one of the major surprises nationally.”

WR Cameron Sims

6-4, 190

Monroe, La. (Ouachita Parish)

247Sports: No. 10 WR, No. 92 overall

Rivals: No. 36 WR, No. 245 overall

Lemming: “I love him. He’s a possession-type, tall, physical receiver. He’s a good steady red-zone receiver. He has good leaping ability, strong hands and average big-time speed.”

Other confirmed 2014 prospects visiting campus:

RB Donte Thomas-Williams, 6-2, 221, Durham, N.C. (Hillside)

S/LB Drue Tranquil, 6-2, 205, Fort Wayne, Ind. (Carroll)

CB Donovan Clark, 5-10, 170, Fort Wayne, Ind. (South Side)