Notre Dame football lands commitment from 2024 safety Kennedy Urlacher

Notre Dame has scored another commitment in the 2024 cycle. Head coach Marcus Freeman’s newest pledge comes from Chandler (Ariz.) High safety Kennedy Urlacher, who is the son of NFL Hall of Famer and Chicago Bears legend Brian Urlacher.

Urlacher picked up an offer from Notre Dame Jan. 23 and quickly set up a campus visit for the weekend of April 15. The 6-1, 180-pounder loved his experience in South Bend, and a couple weeks afterwards announced a top-six schools list of Illinois, Kansas State, Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State and TCU with a commitment date of May 1.

And Urlacher announced his plans to play his collegiate ball for the Fighting Irish.

“The relationship with the coaches, and I really like what they said about how you can play big-time football at most of the schools I have an offer from, but you can’t get the network that Notre Dame has,” Urlacher said when asked why he picked the Irish.

Urlacher is the fifth prospect to commit to Notre Dame in the last 10 days. The Irish are up to 13 commitments in the 2024 cycle, and Urlacher is Notre Dame’s third defensive back commitment, joining Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller’s Karson Hobbs and Round Rock (Texas) High’s Leonard Moore. Hobbs and Moore are expected to play cornerback in South Bend, while Urlacher is the first safety commit for Notre Dame.

According to the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking — a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting services — Urlacher is the No. 565 overall prospect and No. 57 safety in America. He’s also the No. 12 player from the state of Arizona.

Urlacher goes in depth on Notre Dame commitment

Urlacher spoke with Notre Dame’s Chad Bowden, Marcus Freeman and Chris O’Leary about his decision to commit.

“Coach Bowden was going crazy,” Urlacher recalled. “He was really, really happy. Coach Freeman was super pumped. He’s ready to get me there and get it started. Coach O’Leary was also really happy.”

Urlacher had the conversation about committing with Bowden April 21. It was initially Urlacher’s plan to make his decision public May 22 because he wanted to wait and mull things over. Bowden sold him that there was no reason to wait if Urlacher already knew Notre Dame was the best choice.

“I said, ‘You know what, you’re right.’ He talked to me into it, and he was right,” Urlacher admitted. “So I went ahead and committed.”

While Blue & Gold projected Urlacher to land at Notre Dame on Feb. 28 with an insider prediction, it was far from a stroll in the park for the Irish staff. Urlacher admitted to Blue & Gold that after a March trip to Miami, the Hurricanes were in the lead for him. But his April trip to Notre Dame was the difference-maker. His connection with the Notre Dame staff and seeing how the coaches and players interacted was key.

“It’s more like their friends; they all get along great,” Urlacher noted.

Urlacher’s father was excited by his son’s choice of Notre Dame. The elder Urlacher even has some experience with Freeman, when they briefly played together in Chicago in 2009.

“I told him [about my commitment] in our living room, and he had chills,” Urlacher said of his father. “He was really happy.”

Urlacher is fired up as well.

“I’m pumped,” he said. “One of the main things for me was knocking the decision out early so I can focus on my senior season.”

The roadmap for Urlacher to enroll early has been set. He’s looking forward to getting to South Bend in January and will participate in spring ball in 2024.

“I’m a physical player and give 100 percent every play,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll bring great production to Notre Dame.”

The Kennedy Urlacher file

During his junior season at Chandler — a top program in Arizona — Urlacher had 34 tackles (1 for loss), 1 interception, 2 passes broken up, 1 fumble recovery returned for a score and 1 blocked field goal.

“He busts his butt. He works his tail off,” Brian Urlacher said of his son to Claudia Collins of Sports360AZ in February. “He’s always working out and doing stuff on his own. … His speed is pretty good, but I’m never going to stop pushing him. In his mind, he knows he can get better as well.

“He’s witty. He doesn’t say a lot. He’s very quiet, but he’ll throw some jabs at you, which I like. He’s even-keeled — never gets too high or too low.”

Urlacher was named to the 2022 Sports360AZ All-Academic Football Team for Division 6A with a 4.0 weighted grade-point average.

He was named to the 2020 MaxPreps Freshman All-American second-team defense.