Notre Dame football has been in a good spot with four-star LB Jaiden Ausberry for a long time but are the Irish close to sealing the deal?
There’s no question that Notre Dame football has been among the hottest college football teams on the recruiting trail recently and that includes the 2023 class, as well as 2024.
Notre Dame football is ranked No. 1 in both years according to the 247 sports team rankings and based on some recent expert projections from recruiting analysts with 247 sports and On3, the chances of the Irish finishing No. 1 in the 2023 class should be improving soon.
At least that’s how I interpret the recent crystal ball movement with Jaiden Ausberry.
Ausberry is from Baton Route, Louisiana, and is ranked 69th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for the 2023 class at 6-foot, 205 pounds. He’s an elite linebacker and Notre Dame football has been viewed as the favorite.
However, some other heavy hitters have been in the mix. LSU is one of them, but the Tigers didn’t get an official visit. Michigan did, along with Texas A&M, and Auburn.
The Tigers seemed like the real threat, although Alabama has been in the mix too and since Ausberry was expected to make his decision sometime this fall, possibly after taking another official visit, it was probably hard for experts to confidently predict where he’d wind up.
All signs point to Notre Dame football
Now though, something has changed. The crystal ball projections have been coming in with an average level of confidence at a six. The On3 prediction machine also gives Notre Dame an 83-percent chance to win this recruitment now after more expert projections.
This all leads me to believe that Ausberry will be making an announcement sooner rather than later about his commitment. Otherwise, why the sudden trend?
He could hold off and other programs outside of Notre Dame will likely try to get him to do just that in order to stay alive for his commitment.
But if Notre Dame can lock him down soon and get a public commitment before the start of his senior season and before he could take any other official visits, that would be huge, and reading the tea leaves, that might be what’s happening.