Elite DL recruit Damari Simeon includes Notre Dame football in top 10
A highly ranked defensive line prospect who has visited Notre Dame twice has included the Fighting Irish among his top schools.
On Sunday, Richland (N.J.) St. Augustine Prep’s Damari Simeon announced a top 10 of Notre Dame, Duke, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
In On3’s rankings, the 6-foot-2, 275-pound Simeon is a four-star prospect who ranks as the No. 46 overall player, No. 3 defensive lineman nationally and No. 1 player in New Jersey in the 2026 class.
According to the On3 Industry Ranking — a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services — Simeon is a three-star who ranks as the No. 6 prospect in the Garden State, No. 40 DL in America and No. 373 overall player. However, Simeon is a candidate to receive a rankings bump when recruiting services overhaul their 2026 rankings this winter.
Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington offered Simeon after he visited for the program’s “Grill and Chill” on July 25. Then, Simeon returned to campus for the Stanford game on Oct. 12. After his second visit, he told Blue & Gold recruiting insider Mike Singer that the Irish were a “perfect fit.”
“They’re up there on my board,” Simeon said on Oct. 22. “Academics are really big for me when it comes to my family and everything. So, I want to go to a place with great academics, but also great football.
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“Notre Dame fits that perfectly.”
Who is Notre Dame battling for four-star defensive lineman Damari Simeon?
Since visiting Notre Dame in October, Simeon added 16 more scholarship offers. Among them were Stanford, Northwestern, Southern Cal, Miami, Florida State, Oklahoma and North Carolina, who did not make his top 10.
So far, Simeon has only made nine unofficial college recruiting visits. Penn State has hosted him three times, the most of any school. Duke has hosted him twice, along with Notre Dame. He’s also been to Syracuse and Wisconsin. During the January recruiting contact period, Simeon visited Wisconsin on Jan. 16 and Duke on Feb. 1.
Last month, 18 schools’ coaches visited Simeon at St. Augustine Prep: Duke, Virginia, Kentucky, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Texas A&M, Michigan, Stanford, Boston College, Rutgers, Michigan State, Maryland, Syracuse and Wisconsin.
The St. Augustine Prep X account (formerly known as Twitter) did not report any Notre Dame football coaching staff member stopping by the school in January.
