On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine: Notre Dame heavily favored with Kennedy Urlacher

Chandler (Ariz.) three-star safety Kennedy Urlacher has quickly become one of Notre Dame‘s top targets in the 2024 recruiting class.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder was on campus in South Bend last week for an unofficial visit, his first known recruiting trip with the Fighting Irish. But it’s safe to say that head coach Marcus Freeman and his coaching staff made a major impression.

Following the visit, Notre Dame is trending heavily in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) to land Urlacher, the son of Chicago Bears linebacker and NFL Hall of Fame inductee Brian Urlacher. The RPM gives the Irish a 97.0 percent of securing his commitment.

The younger Urlacher told BlueandGold.com that he spent most of his time on the visit with director of recruiting Chad Bowden, safeties coach Chris O’Leary, defensive coordinator Al Golden and head coach Marcus Freeman. The staff rolled out the red carpet for him.

“I was with everyone,” he said. “They were telling me that you can play big football a lot of places, but not a lot of schools have the education that Notre Dame has. … My favorite parts were definitely meeting with the coaches and touring around everywhere on campus, the facilities and everything.”

Brian Urlacher and Marcus Freeman overlapped in Chicago

While Freeman’s NFL career was a brief one, he did cross paths briefly in 2009 with Urlacher in Chicago. What kind of impression Freeman made as a young rookie on the veteran linebacker is unknown, but as a coach, he has made a major one on Urlacher’s son.

“He’s my favorite coach I’ve talked to so far — head coach-wise, he’s definitely my favorite,” Kennedy Urlacher said of Freeman. “He’s just really cool. He acts like a regular person; you wouldn’t think he’s a coach. He’s like a friend.”

Among the other schools in pursuit of the younger Urlacher are TCU, Kansas State, Miami and Kansas — all of which hosted him for unofficial visits in either March or April. The Hurricanes made a strong impression and he told On3’s Drew Schott that he hears from their coaching staff two to three times per week at this point.

“They’re definitely one at the top of the list,” Urlacher said. “They’ve always been pretty high. Throwing on that visit, it was definitely a good reason why they’re where they are on my list.”

He has yet to schedule any official visits for the summer, but given the way Notre Dame is trending, it would be a shock to not see him back in South Bend soon.

Urlacher is the No. 683 overall prospect in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He ranks as the nation’s No. 71 safety and the No. 13 recruit in Arizona.