3-star S Ben Minich commits to Notre Dame

Cincinnati (Ohio) Lakota West three-star safety Ben Minich announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Friday night. The 5-foot-11.5, 185 pound defensive back chose the Fighting Irish over Cincinnati, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Stanford.

Notre Dame is now up to 22 commitments in its 2023 recruiting class, which contains one five-star, 19 four-stars and two three-stars. The Fighting Irish opened the day with the No. 2 class in the 2023 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings. Notre Dame’s group is led by Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep five-star EDGE Keon Keeley.

“It’s the perfect spot for me,” Minich told On3’s Mike Singer about his decision. “It’s not too far from home but not too close. It has great academics along with elite football. Notre Dame gives me the best chance to go to the NFL and keep living out my dreams. It all aligned perfectly. Notre Dame has a great coaching staff full of great people. It was a no-brainer.”

Minich is the third safety pledge to the Fighting Irish alongside Denton (Texas) Guyer five-star Peyton Bowen and Irvington (N.J.) four-star Adon Shuler. Notre Dame’s other commitments in the defensive backfield include Saint Louis (Mo.) DeSmet four-star cornerback Christian Gray and Houston (Texas) The Kinkaid School four-star cornerback Micah Bell.

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Prior to his commitment, Minich visited Notre Dame twice unofficially, including a trip to South Bend on July 26. He also took official visits to Cincinnati, Duke and Wake Forest.

Minich is the No. 528 overall prospect and No. 50 safety in the 2023 On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 15 player in Ohio. Even though Minich isn’t ranked in the 2023 On300, On3 rates Minich higher as the No. 33 safety and No. 13 player in Ohio.

The three-star recruit also has an On3 NIL Valuation of $6.2K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.