Notre Dame Football: Irish poised for big week on the recruiting trail

Notre Dame football has been building an elite recruiting class in 2022 and the Irish are poised to add a pair of impact players at wide receiver this week.

With top-100 wide receiver C.J. Williams set to decide on Sunday, it was always going to be a big week for Notre Dame football on the recruiting trail.

But now that Tobias Merriweather, another four-star receiver, announced a decision date for Aug. 4 (Wednesday), it’s setting up to be a huge week for the Irish, who are going to land two of the 2022’s top-20 wideouts within five days of each other.

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I might be partial to Williams, however, it’s hard not to like the 6-foot-2, 193-pound wideout from national power Mater Dei in California. He’s ranked 77th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings and ranked 11th among wide receivers, as well as 7th in the state of California.

Personally, I feel like Williams should be closer to the five-star range and since the Irish started trending with crystal ball predictions after his visit, it seems like a good bet that he will commit, especially with five projections pointing towards Notre Dame football.

The average confidence level of those picks is a six (on a scale of 1-10) and Notre Dame analyst Tom Loy wrote this recently:

"“My gut feeling is that Notre Dame will win out and it’s something I feel strongly about. I think Del Alexander and Tommy Rees get this one done and land one of the top receivers in the country, and one who is an absolutely perfect fit for Notre Dame looks for in its student-athletes.”"

There are some other heavy hitters in this recruitment such as Stanford, USC, Texas, and even Alabama, which is listed as “warm” on his 247 sports profile.

We’ll find out this week, but there is no reason to expect him to land elsewhere right now.

Another likely Notre Dame football commitment

Prior to Williams making his commitment public, Merriweather is going to do the same thing earlier this week and while a number of programs are pushing hard, including Michigan, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and others, the Irish are the clear crystal ball leader.

Oregon has two crystal ball projections but the most recent was in February before visits and the Ducks aren’t even a clear contender at this point.

This is probably Notre Dame football’s to lose and the Irish, which currently have the fourth-ranked recruiting class in the country, could see that ranking improve.

Merriweather and Williams would give Notre Dame 15 four-star commitments in 2022 and Williams would be the second highest-rated pledge, while Merriweather would be fifth.

So get ready Notre Dame fans, it should be another really good week for recruiting.