Notre Dame Football lands elite offensive lineman, loses out on cornerback

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program landed one of the nation’s top recruits, but lost out on a 4-star cornerback in the process.

The Notre Dame Football team has a new commit, and he’s one big, bad man. Quinn Carroll out of Edina, MN announced this week that he will be heading to South Bend and play for the Fighting Irish.

The Minnesota native had his fair share of options, as the local news pointed out below that he once received over 220 recruiting letters in a single day!

Carroll told Irish Illustrated the basis on which he made his decision, and to me, it’s quite impressive.

"“When it really boiled down to things, it came down to the fact that Notre Dame is a faith-based school and they have a unique academic environment.”"

Although he could have followed in his father’s footsteps and become a Minnesota Gopher, Carroll said that he wanted to create his own experience for his friends and family by going a different direction.

Thankfully, that direction was pointed toward Brian Kelly and the Irish. After receiving 34 official scholarship offers, 33 teams were let down — but not the good guys. Per KARE 11, Carroll made his decision on live television and had this to say regarding his hometown Gophers.

"“This is nothing negative against them, and I’m sure that a lot of people are disappointed that I didn’t choose Minnesota, but, you know, they have a lot of great things to offer but I just felt called elsewhere.”"

The future Irish offensive tackle is ranked as the no. 12 offensive lineman in the country as well as Minnesota’s top overall recruit from the 2019 class. At 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, Carroll has elite height and quick feet, but will need to put on a few more pounds, ideally.

Aside from Carroll’s commitment this week, the Irish recruiting situation also saw another decision made. 6-foot-2 cornerback Kenyatta Watson, out of Loganville, GA, had his future narrowed down to either Notre Dame or the University of Texas.

As it turned out, Watson ended up choosing the Longhorns over the Irish. The 3-star recruit ranked as the no. 18 cornerback prospect and no. 163 overall recruit in his class, per 247 Sports.

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With the Carroll commitment, though, Notre Dame’s class of 2019 ranks 11th nationally. The Irish have now found themselves a pair of 4-star commits in both Carroll and John Olmstead out of Metuchen, NJ. The Irish have officially totaled seven 4-star recruits in this class.