Notre Dame Looks to Add Offensive Standouts After Pot Of Gold Day

The yearly tradition of putting a blue and gold twist on St. Patrick's Day was once again a success for the Fighting Irish, as they offered close to a hundred prospects from the 2027 cycle.

Photo by The Irish Tribune

Pot of Gold Day gives Notre Dame a head start on recruiting players that are still a few years out from beginning their college careers, and is one of the many things that make South Bend a special place to come play football. Among those offered this year, there was no shortage of offensive talent from all over the country. I wanted to zero in on three of the top players at their respective positions, and what they would potentially bring to Notre Dame in the future.

WR Julius Jones Jr.

Notre Dame fans of a certain age should be familiar with the name, as his father played running back for the Fighting Irish in the late 90's and early 2000's. Although Jones Jr. did not follow in his father's footsteps in terms of the position he plays, Notre Dame fans should be very happy if he follows in his father's footsteps in choosing South Bend as his college football home.

Jones Jr. is a twitchy athlete who has a good understanding of how to release off the line of scrimmage in order to stack the defensive back as quickly as possible. He has very good acceleration and creates instant space at the top of his route. Jones Jr. possesses a very natural ability to track the ball over his shoulder without breaking stride and has elite body control when it comes to adjusting outside of his frame and laying out for overthrown and underthrown passes. He maintains good concentration on in-breaking routes, and shows no fear of being hit when he feels the safety over the top, absorbing contact and hanging on to the ball.

Wide receiver recruiting has become a contentious subject among those who follow Notre Dame football, and landing a legacy recruit like Jones Jr. would go a long way in squashing some of that talk, as would the next recruit.

WR Quentin Burrell

The 6'3" Chicago native is coming off a sophomore season in which he racked up 18 touchdowns and helped lead the Mount Carmel Caravan to a State Championship. As he fills out his frame even more, he is going to be a load for defensive backs to deal with in his last two years in high school.

Burrell understands how to get off press coverage with good hand usage and has a variety of releases he employs. Already an advanced route runner, Burrell is very smooth in and out of breaks, sinking his hips and changing direction seamlessly. He can go up and high-point the ball against virtually all of his current competition and is a huge red zone threat. Burrell has great hands and concentration, and displays good mental processing with the way he works back towards his QB on scramble drills.

It would not be an understatement to say Burrell is the type of recruit Notre Dame has to land in order to infuse the receiver room with the type of talent to keep Mike Denbrock's offense humming.

RB Kemon Spell

Thus far, Spell is averaging a whopping 15.9 yards per carry during his high school career. He plays in an offense that features some elements of a "Wing T", which is designed to be a run-heavy scheme, and Spell certainly takes advantage of it. At 5'11" and 175 pounds, Spell has a frame that should allow him to add more muscle without slowing him down. Notre Dame currently has one of, if not the premier running back rooms in the country, and Spell would certainly help carry that momentum forward.

Spell has elite contact balance and play strength, routinely shrugging defenders off him as he keeps his legs churning. He displays very good acceleration in the open field, quickly getting up to the second and third level, and will make defenders pay for poor angles by hitting the sideline and taking it to the house. Spell utilizes a nasty stiff arm and is a big play threat on every carry. He also has shown some ability out of the backfield as a receiver, not just in the flats as a check down player, but down field vertically with the skill to go up and high point the ball. Right now, he is able to out-athlete most of the teams he is facing and can win with pure speed and power, but will need to be more patient at the next level and learn to let his blocks develop before accelerating.

The current Penn State commit is a top 3 running back nationally, and for good reason. New Notre Dame Running Back coach Ja'Juan Seider was brought in to replace Deland McCullough, who was an excellent recruiter, and Spell would be an early recruiting feather in Seider's cap.

These are just a few of the standout offensive players that Notre Dame already has their eyes on. In the Transfer Portal era, you can never be too deep at any one position, and constantly reloading is how you stay in National Championship contention year in and year out. Marcus Freeman and his staff understand this and continue to use things like Pot of Gold day to their advantage.

Click to Join! - https://www.facebook.com/groups/legionoftheleprechaun