Irish Invasion Report: A drill-by-drill timeline of the elite Notre Dame camp

The University of Notre Dame welcomed around 75 elite recruits to campus Sunday for its annual Irish Invasion, one of the most important recruiting weekends every year. BlueandGold.com was there and will have several reports.

Here is a chronological look at the two-hour event.

Timeline

*-Indicates already having an offer from Notre Dame.

5:10 p.m. — Irish special teams coordinator Brian Mason brought the recruits together at midfield of the Irish Athletic Center indoor practice facility. Sketchy weather moved things indoors from the stadium. 

Mason’s message was one of “this is your chance to shine,” and “Notre Dame is different from the other stops you’ll make,” and “have fun, no fighting.” 

Calisthenics followed and was led, of course, by Matt Balis. 

It’s a no-pads, shorts, jersey, helmet workout. 

5:30 p.m. — Broken off into three groups — 14 quarterbacks, offense and defense — the QBs went into a shuttle drill, the offense ran 40s (4 players at a time) and the defense did broad jump. 

My unofficial stopwatch times on the 40 times I won’t post but here are the guys that stood out, in no particular order. 

–Darrion Dupree – 2024 (Chicago Mount Carmel)  

–Jordan Marshall – 2024 (Montgomery (Ohio) Moeller)

–Cam Williams* – 2024 (Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South) 

–Tae Johnson* – 2024 (Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northside)

5:45 p.m. — Same drills but the defense moved over to run the 40s while half of the offense did shuttles and the other half broad jump. The Irish coaches didn’t spend much time in this alignment. 

Here are some defensive standouts in the 40, again, in no particular order.

Kaleb Beasley* – 2024 (Nashville (Tenn.) Lipscomb Academy)

Jamir Benjamin – 2024 (West Bloomfield (Mich.) High)

Jacob Oden* – 2024 – (Harper Woods (Mich.) High)

5:58 p.m. — The entire group briefly gathered at midfield field again, then broke off into one-on-one shuttle cone agility/speed drills at every position group.  

The quarterbacks were competing against defensive backs in this drill, and holding their own. 

Signal callers CJ Carr (Saline, Mich) and AJ Surace (Trenton, N.J.) stood out, easily beating their DB opponents. 

Wide receivers Jaylen Watson (Detroit) and Luke Williams (Naperville, Ill.) were also impressive. 

Running back Aneyas Williams (Hannibal, Mo.) and Patrick Clacks III (Merriville, Ind.) stole the show. 

6:12 p.m. — Marcus Freeman arrives on the scene and watches the speed-agility cone drill with the linebackers and tight ends working together. 

Linebacker Garrett Stover (Sunbury, Ohio) was a beast in this drill, right in front of Freeman. 

6:20 p.m. — The entire workout moved outside and broke into individual position groups. This was the longest session of the day, with most groups being manned by the Notre Dame position coaches. 

Freeman focused his attention on quarterbacks where Parker Leise (Prairie Village, Kans.) showed solid footwork, a strong arm and one of the quicker releases in the group.

The tight ends were sent through a variety of catching drills — short-hard throws, fades and straight over the head — and no one looked smoother or more comfortable than Jack Larsen (Charlotte, N.C.) and Christian Bentancur (Woodstock, Ill.). 

Harry Hiestand and Chris Watt worked with about 10 offensive linemen. Obviously, all of them need more physical development, so it was hard to pinpoint standouts. 

7:07 p.m. — One-on-one drills began. These were split indoors and outdoors among position groups, making it difficult to provide a full breakdown for all units.

The running backs versus linebackers passing drill was highlighted by the aforementioned Aneyas Williams. 

The versatile 5-foot-10, 196-pound RB couldn’t be stopped while catching long, short and intermediate passes. Williams stood out all day in a variety of disciplines. 

Overall, the running backs dominated this drill. 

Running back Darrion Dupree (Chicago) also showed good route running and soft hands. And among the multiple quarterbacks who threw during this drill, Carr again stood out. 

Defensively, linebackers Stover and Zavier Hamilton (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) performed the best. 

7:32 p.m. — Camp concluded with a video presentation of recent and historic Irish highlights on the big board with the campers gathered at midfield. The moment was highlighted by Freeman providing an impassioned eight-minute closing speech.

In a no BS and animated delivery, Freeman told the high schoolers to not consider Notre Dame if they weren’t willing to put in the work, and in the more immediate, “Always find a better way to do what you do.”

Personal takeaways from camp today …

Best offensive player: RB Aneyas Williams

Best defensive player: LB Garrett Stover

Best quarterback: QB Parker Leise