Notre Dame football recruiting: Irish make Texas NG’s list of four
The consistent recruiting mail told Daylon Mack that Notre Dame had interest in him as a college football prospect.
After taking in Saturday’s game against Arizona State from the stands in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the interest is mutual.
Days after receiving a verbal offer from Notre Dame’s Texas recruiter, cornerbacks coach Kerry Cooks, the 2015 defensive tackle prospect moved the Irish into his top four.
“It was great,” Mack said of seeing the Irish in person. “Going to the game, a lot of fans already knew who I was and I had just gotten offered. That was big to me. They were all telling me how they wanted me to come to Notre Dame and how great of a place it was.”
Mack has since placed Notre Dame alongside Texas A&M, LSU and Oregon as his top four schools. The 6-foot-2, 310-pound junior at Gladewater (Texas) High projects as a nose guard for the Irish. Naturally, he paid close attention to Notre Dame’s Louis Nix during Saturday’s game.
"Most of the time the person I was watching was Louis Nix,” Mack said. “Coach Cooks told me we had a lot of similarities. I definitely saw that watching him play. He was bothering the offense and manning double teams.”
Attention has come early and often for Mack, with handfuls of major college football programs lining up to compete for his services. 247Sports slates Mack as a five-star recruit, the No. 6 defensive tackle and the No. 25 prospect in the 2015 class. Rivals.com has yet to rank the 2015 class, but named Mack as a four-star prospect inside the Rivals250 to Watch list.
With early offers from schools, Mack had planned to make a decision by year’s end. Now with other programs in the mix, he wants to hold off a decision until he can make trips to Notre Dame, LSU and Oregon. A visit to Notre Dame might not come until the spring or summer of 2014. He anticipates it will be worth the wait.
"It was great getting an offer from a school that good at football and good academically,” Mack said. “The academics are really what my parents are the most happy about.”
Hope for Proche?
An invitation to Notre Dame’s game in Arlington caught junior wide receiver prospect James Proche off guard.
The Irish hadn’t contacted him previously, but the 6-0, 181-pound recruit was encouraged to know he’s on Notre Dame’s radar. He attended the game hoping to get to know more about the program.
“At the game, the atmosphere was great,” Proche said. “They played all the way in Dallas and they still had thousands and thousands of fans. Their fan base is great. I love their offense, obviously the jerseys, and the coaching staff seems great. It seems like a great place to be.”
Proche saw a number of top recruits from Texas while at the game.
“Them being all the way from Indiana and having that many top Texas recruits at the game was impressive,” Proche said.
A junior at Prime Prep in Dallas, Proche reports offers from TCU, Tulsa, Colorado State and SMU. After an injury-riddled sophomore season, Proche has scored seven touchdowns on roughly 22 catches for 400 yards this fall.
More attention has come to Proche as of late, with mail arriving from Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, California, Washington and Arizona State. A three-star prospect according to 247Sports, Proche said he hopes to continue to have discussions with Notre Dame.
Williams still likes ND
Andrew Williams hasn’t visited Notre Dame since January, but the Irish still remain in the running for the defensive end/outside linebacker prospect from McDonough, Ga.
The 6-4, 251-pound senior at Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy named six schools at the top of his list Wednesday on Twitter. Williams listed Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Auburn, Clemson, South Carolina and Tennessee, noting that those schools are in no particular order.
A four-star prospect, Rivals ranks Williams as the No. 11 weakside defensive end in the 2014 class. 247Sports slates him at No. 15 at the position. Isaac Rochell, a former teammate at ELCA, has seen playing time this fall as a freshman defensive end for the Irish.
