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Eric Thomas

Senior Notre Dame football recruiting analyst and content contributor for Irish Illustrated (247Sports), formerly a walk-on in the University of Notre Dame football program.

Sep 17, 2026

2:43
So which 2027 commits have been turning heads at the start of their senior seasons or I guess junior seasons for the guys who reclassified?
2:51
Yeah, it's been a very good season for a few guys.
2:54
The first guy that comes to mind is Jackson Coleman.
2:56
He's had remarkable consistency throughout the course of the first few games.
3:01
He went up against modern day the other the other weekend or they went up against modern day and despite the fact that.
3:06
modern day in California, Los Angeles is powerhouse.
3:08
They were more talented than Valor Christian was.

25 MINS LATER

28:00
Who are some of the other top prospects in the 2020 class who are trending toward Notre Dame right now?
speaker_8ADVERTISER
17:10
For more information, see Kalshi.com/regulatory.
17:13
Yeah, for this weekend, there's a few guys, uh, and obviously we're, we're still working to confirm, but there's two guys that really jump out at me.
17:20
Uh, number one, 2029 linebacker, Austin Phillips.
17:23
He's a top 100 prospect.
17:24
He has a ton of interest in Notre Dame.
17:26
Six two, 215, this kid is a workhorse.
17:29
I mean, he, he's dedicated to the craft.

23 MINS LATER

Tom Loy
Tom LoyGUEST
40:45
So he is the guy in '28 that they need to go out, spend every dollar possible to get him, and make sure he ends up at Notre Dame.
2:12
Eric, quickly, just to start us off, could you provide the latest on offensive tackle Jackson Hill, interior lineman Richie Flanagan, and 2028 safety Andre Jones, the younger brother of Julius Jones Jr.?
2:26
Yeah, so several injuries that took place over the last week and change or so.
2:30
Andre Jones is a little bit older, but I'll start with Hill.
2:34
Jackson Hill did not appear in their game last Friday night.
2:38
Before the game, it was made clear that he was unavailable, but no further comment was made.
2:42
After the game, Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times, he's like the Don of West Coast football recruiting, man.
2:47
That guy's been doing it forever.

8 MINS LATER

Tom Loy
Tom LoyGUEST
10:22
And you know what? Kudos to Marcus Freeman because he is a big game hunting across the country.
26:58
But Eric, I know you got some too for this ans- or this question.
27:02
Yeah, I talked, I've talked about this one before.
27:04
Clark Phillips was a corner.
27:05
He committed to Ohio State, ended up going to Utah.
27:08
Notre Dame was in on it.
27:09
They were right in that top grouping.
27:12
He was talking about taking visits in the summer, and the Notre Dame staff was like, "No, no, no, you should visit in the fall.

10 MINS LATER

speaker_3HOST
37:14
They are pushing all the right buttons.
12:39
And Eric, we'll start with you for this one.
12:42
Yeah, I have three names here.
12:43
And the first one, I mean, he's a consensus blue chipper, cornerback Langston Pridgen from DeMatha Catholic.
12:51
Look, he's an elite physical presence on the perimeter.
12:54
He's a big time hitter.
12:56
He's going to put dudes in the ground.
12:58
In coverage, he looks very, very fluid.

26 MINS LATER

38:43
That being said, if you had one position in 2028 that would be great to shatter and get a true five-star recruit, is it wide receiver, running back, or quarterback perhaps? And what chances and who do we have a reasonable chance of winning a composite five-star there?
24:46
I just want a rundown of all the remaining targets and where do we stand?
24:54
This is a pretty simple one for 2027.
24:55
Brayden Parks and Roman Iguobike.
24:59
And Roman is announcing on July 11th.
25:02
Notre Dame is the heavy favorites.
25:05
Brayden Parks is a little bit more complicated.
25:06
And Tom, I know you've been following this one very closely as well.

8 MINS LATER

Tom Loy
Tom LoyGUEST
33:37
If it was my system and my department, I mean, these are the guys that I'm going all in for.
16:01
Eric, is that concern warranted?
16:05
Yeah, I mean, we continue to hear that things are in a good spot for Notre Dame and Braden Parks.
16:14
Continue to hear that, you know, the visit went well.
16:19
There was definitely a lot of confidence and momentum coming out of the weekend.
16:22
But as I mentioned, like myself, my colleague Brian Donut, 247 Sports and several others were told at the time that like it doesn't sound like the Oregon business is going to happen.
16:30
And now that that is happening, he's supposed to fly out there if he's not now or already tonight.
16:36
Now that that is happening, there's a little bit of concern, right? Like even when you get the crystal balls and the excitement and everything that kind of comes with that coming out of the last official visit, like he's still taking this trip.
21:42
So he's much closer to those other two schools, similar to parks is much closer to South Bend than he is to Oregon.
4:13
So can you just walk us through the timeline with Kayden Henderson and how we got to this point from the time Notre Dame first started to gain traction to when they became the perceived favorite, and what ultimately changed over the last couple of days?
4:26
Yeah, I guess if you wanna start with Notre Dame getting traction, it goes back to his visit this spring.
4:30
Uh, Henderson was high on Notre Dame coming into that trip, but that really was kind of a landmark trip in his recruitment.
4:35
It really reshaped things, and from that point, Notre Dame just continued to rise and rise and rise.
4:41
And look, at, at, at various points there was a lot of confidence in other places.
4:44
There was crystal ball picks put in for Miami after a trip there.
4:47
Texas A&M continued to have confidence.

6 MINS LATER

11:16
But really, all the eyes are gonna be on Albert Simeon this weekend.
12:17
The fact that he's still taking a visit sounds like that's a positive development.
12:21
Yeah, with him, because of how up and down the recruitment had been and so many different lead changes over the course of the spring, it was clear that he was still taking on new data and kind of setting his footing on who are going to be the finalists moving forward.
12:34
So as we got into the official visits, it felt like if any of the visits were standout, especially for the Buckeyes, who he called the leaders heading into that period, it could be a situation where he decided to close things off.
12:45
But ultimately, he's making this trip to Notre Dame.
12:47
They're longtime contenders, even longtime favorites in this race.
12:51
And for the Fighting Irish, I think the biggest thing with Fakitu is they were very very close to landing him like it was not even outright favorites is a nice way to put it when Al Washington was still in place and obviously his departure for the Miami Dolphins after briefly being named a linebackers coach through wrenching things and for him the relationship side of things with Notre Dame felt like it started over but the Irish have really bridged that gap and they've done it despite not having him on campus a ton of times um Charlie about making those connections and making sure that they're building the relationship moving forward and this is a prime opportunity for Notre Dame to snatch back the lead and show him hey here's why you were close to committing before even with new leadership in town you know this is why you want to be here now and kind of going that direction in that angle and on the midweek thing I mean obviously it's it's suboptimal from the perspective of like We want to get in there on the big weekends and surrounded by people and there's a different energy on the weekends and there's a total focus on the visits.
13:51
But at the same time with a small group like this, when you have, you know, especially top priority guys, but a small group, you really are still able to dedicate quite a bit of focus and you can still replicate those experiences, even if it's less about the group communal aspect with your peers and more about, hey, we want you to spend time with current players.

10 MINS LATER

23:48
What are your thoughts on those two players as they get to campus next weekend? Well,
0:47
Who stood out for you among the three that we kind of highlighted off, off air?
0:52
Yeah.
0:52
It's, I'll start with KL Sam Fong Talia from Cumming, Georgia.
0:56
Really, really talented, young class of 2029 quarterback.
1:00
He stood out to me throughout the workout, really probably a head above everybody else just because of the combination of, like, accuracy, the ability to throw off platform.
1:09
Had good velocity.
1:10
It wasn't the best, like, consistent velocity of the group, but it was more than enough to do what he needed to do.

13 MINS LATER

14:16
Eric, maybe you can put a fine point on that.
15:20
Um, why is he somebody you, you wanted to put on this list and, and where does Notre Dame stand in his recruitment?
15:26
Yeah, it's, this is the one that folks have been, uh, have been asking about for a long time.
15:32
And obviously when you have a legacy like this, especially a high-ranked one, it, it, it captures a lot of intrigue.
15:37
But even beyond that, I think Notre Dame losing, uh, Trent Mosley last cycle to USC really kind of put a bad taste in some people's mouth with the legacy thing.
15:45
So that kind of put the, the onus more on Julius Jones from a fan perspective.
15:49
So a lot of intrigue in this one.
15:51
Um, he has a tentative commitment date, and I say tentative because, uh, it's scheduled on 247Sports for June 27th.

10 MINS LATER

25:57
You, you mention him as a wild card, so, so why is that the case and, and what do you see shaping up for him over the next few weeks?
5:03
So what have you heard about his recruiting approach and why he has been so effective so quickly?
5:10
Yeah.
5:11
You know, there's a few different points that guys bring up a lot.
5:13
Uh, part of it's just personality.
5:14
Like, Coach Partridge is someone who guys really connect with.
5:17
Um, they really enjoy spending time with him.
5:19
They feel that he's trustworthy, he's loyal, he's someone that's really, not to be overly denigrating to other coaches, but, like, he's really human.

28 MINS LATER

33:24
Yeah
1:47
Eric, how did Notre Dame get this one done?
1:51
Yeah, this has been a, an interesting one to track.
1:53
So Fulh dunso is a player that, uh, started to really appear on national radars, uh, you know, in 2025, but his really big, uh, the, the explosion of his profile really came this off-season.
2:06
Um, I was looking at it before.
2:07
I think he had, like, eight offers coming into the calendar year 2026, and now he's over 30.
2:12
Um, he leaped from, like, three-star status to four-star stat- or to, you know, top 100 four-star status, borderline five-star.
2:19
And Notre Dame got involved pretty early in that ascension, uh, period.

13 MINS LATER

15:11
So Eric, what did Notre Dame, though, see in these two lesser well-known prospects who maybe aren't getting the hype that these top 100 guys are right now?
2:52
Eric, what are your thoughts on Notre Dame's two newest secondary prospects?
2:57
The Notre Dame secondary just keeps rolling, man.
3:00
They're recruiting at a high level and I'll start with gay.
3:02
He's, he's not even necessarily like a true safety prospect.
3:06
He could very well end up at nickel and primarily start there.
3:08
So there's, there's some flexibility in his profile.
3:12
He's a guy who, when you watch him, he's so quick in transition.

6 MINS LATER

9:36
So Eric, where are they kind of with the quarterback board in the next three classes?

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