2020 OL Peter Skoronski, WR William Nixon to visit Notre Dame on Saturday

Several recruits will visit Notre Dame over the next two months to watch Irish spring football.

Two recruits will be on campus Saturday for ND's first spring practice. Offensive lineman Peter Skoronski and wide receiver William Nixon, both 2020 recruits, confirmed with the Tribune that they will be in attendance.

The Irish hosted Skoronski, a four-star recruit, twice in 2018. The 6-foot-4, 270-pounder attended last year's Blue-Gold Game and watched ND’s Sept. 1 home bout against Michigan. The 5-10, 180-pound Nixon will make his way to South Bend for his first time.

Skoronski, from Park Ridge (Ill.) Maine South, has accrued offers from Northwestern, Stanford, Michigan, Penn State and Illinois. 247Sports ranks Skoronski as its No. 7 offensive guard and No. 170 overall player. Rivals slates Skoronski as its No. 34 offensive tackle.

At this time, Nixon seems unlikely to choose the Irish. The Waco (Texas) Midway product has Baylor high on his radar. In fact, Nixon’s father, Jeff Nixon, approaches his third season serving as Baylor’s co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach. The Bears are the only Power Five program to offer Nixon. 247Sports ranks Nixon as its No. 140 receiver and No. 797 overall player.

The Irish will conclude their 15 spring practice sessions with the Blue-Gold Game April 13 at Notre Dame Stadium. 

Numbers game

The Irish are offering scholarships to fewer recruits than usual to start 2019. Across January and February, ND offered 60 recruits. That’s 19 fewer than last year’s total through two months.

ND’s staff offered 39 and 40 recruits in January and February of 2018, respectively. Those numbers decreased to 35 and 25 this year.

The Irish offered five 2018 recruits, 28 2019 recruits and six 2020 recruits in January of 2018. Last month, the Irish offered one 2019 recruit, 23 2020 recruits and 11 2021 recruits. The Irish offered 38 2019 recruits and two 2020 recruits in February of 2018. Last month, the Irish offered 18 2020 recruits, six 2021 recruits and one 2022 recruit.

While the Irish aren’t offering as many players for their next class, they are offering more players in the classes that follow. The numbers signify how ahead the Irish are in terms of evaluating and offering scholarships.

The early signing period in December began two years ago for the 2018 class. The earlier official visits began last year. Recruits in the 2019 class could take official visits from April to June last year. Rising high school seniors previously could not take official visits until fall classes began. 

As a result, 17 of ND’s 22 2019 signees verbally committed to the Irish by July 4, 2018. The Irish focused on the remaining five during last season while looking onward to 2020 and 2021. ND even hosted an earlier junior day, on Dec. 15, inviting nine 2020 recruits to watch its Cotton Bowl practice.

The Irish hope to continue this trend. Time will tell how much that benefits them.