Four-star Braylon James goes in-depth on commitment to Notre Dame football

Notre Dame has scored a major commitment. Round Rock (Texas) Stony Point class of 2023 four-star wide receiver Braylon James announced his pledge to the Fighting Irish on Tuesday evening over finalists Stanford and TCU.

James, who is the nation’s No. 107 overall player and No. 19 wide receiver per the 2023 On3 Consensus, visited Notre Dame during the weekend of March 18 for the first time. He was leaning towards the Irish going into the weekend, and the Lone Star State product informed the staff during the visit that he’d be committing to them. He made that news public April 19.

“I fell in love with it,” James said of Notre Dame. “As soon as I stepped foot on campus and spent time with everyone on the coaching staff, it just felt really good. They made me feel like a priority.

“The campus is super historic. I walked into the Basilica and it was beautiful. Notre Dame’s network is real. I can go on and on about Notre Dame.

“I didn’t want to make a decision this early if I’m being honest, but it just felt too good to pass up on.”

James is Notre Dame’s first wide receiver commit in the 2023 class and the ninth overall pledge for the Fighting Irish.

PROMOTION: Sign up for just $1 for your first year at Blue & Gold

How did James’ commitment come together for Notre Dame?

Notre Dame originally offered the 6-3, 174-pounder a scholarship in May 2021, but the Irish didn’t seem to have much of a chance for James. He was considered a strong Stanford lean earlier this year, but once Notre Dame hired away Chansi Stuckey from Baylor to be its new wide receivers coach in January, the Irish made a big surge in James’ recruitment.

“I had spoken to him at Baylor a few times, but I started to really genuinely speak to him when he got to Notre Dame,” James asid. “We hit it off for an hour after he got to Notre Dame. After that first conversation, I was thinking about how he reminds me a lot of my mom. They have similar interests and share the same qualities. My dad got to talk to him, too, and he thought that Coach Stuckey was the truth. After that, I wanted to see where the relationship would go and how it develops. I felt really good about it.”

It wasn’t just Stuckey that James built a strong connection with. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was in consistent contact with the impressive playmaker and only strengthened his alma mater’s position for James.

“He made me feel like a priority,” James added. “I was really feeling good about Notre Dame.”

Of course, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman made an impact in the Irish beating out all the Texas schools for James, and director of recruiting Chad Bowden was in daily contact to keep showing James love.

“One day I got a text from Coach Chad who said that they need to get me on the phone with Coach Freeman,” James recalled. “Once I talked to Coach Freeman, he was talking to me about life after football. That’s a big deal to me. We were talking about family, beliefs and qualities. He genuinely wanted to get to know me as a person; we started to click. We bonded over music and faith. There were different outlets that we connected on — and that’s with the whole staff from Coach Freeman, Coach Stuckey, Coach Chad and Coach Rees.

“What happens if I get injured? What happens if something hinders me from being able to play? Will these people still care about me? They genuinely care about me. Notre Dame is really legit with this coaching staff change.”

Notre Dame quickly became a top contender for James

The Fighting Irish offered James May 26 but were never considered a factor for him. He didn’t visit last summer or fall. James liked Notre Dame but the connection with the staff just wasn’t there.

“I’ve always had interest in Notre Dame because I do value academics.” James explained. “To have a school that’s so high in academics and competing in football the way they do is unreal. I’ve always liked Notre Dame because of that aspect, but I didn’t have anyone to sell Notre Dame to me. I’m a kid from Texas and all I know is SEC and Big 12 football really. I didn’t know anything about Notre Dame and there wasn’t anyone to tell me about it.”

It was quite the flip for James to go from wanting to learn more about Notre Dame to telling the staff that he’d be committing — all in the span of about six weeks or so. And, as previously mentioned, James committed to the Notre Dame staff during his visit last month.

“They had an idea of how I felt going into the visit,” James said. “I was talking to Coach Stuckey and Coach Rees multiple times a week and Coach Freeman about once a week. They knew the relationship we built was there. They were always in my ear about Notre Dame, and I didn’t want to drag my feet any longer. When I talked to Coach Freeman in his office, that’s when I pulled the trigger.”

On paper, Notre Dame could return seven of its current scholarship receivers for 2023 season, but there always could be attrition before then. James sees that the Irish have a need for talented wide receivers and that he could potentially play early in his career.

“Coach Rees was showing me plays of their film that are similar to what I do on my highlight tape,” said James, referring to a meeting he had with Rees during his visit. “He’s not trying to get me to catch passes behind the line of scrimmage; he’s using me as a deep threat and wants to maximize me at the same time. I feel like me and Tobias [Merriweather] coming in on the edge, there’s a lot you can do with that.”

James has his recruiting hat on

He tells Blue & Gold that he’s good friends with Austin (Texas) Westlake’s Jaden Greathouse, a fellow four-star wide receiver prospect. And he’s talked some with Detroit Martin Luther King five-star quarterback Dante Moore, who he’d love to catch passes from in South Bend.

“He’s high on Notre Dame right now, but obviously he’s taking visits to other schools,” James said of Moore. “I’m growing my friendship with him so I don’t know exactly what he values yet, but I’d tell him to take a look at life after football.

“He’s the type of person who can do anything in life. He can build something special at Notre Dame. Once he’s played his time in the NFL and it’s all over, would you rather have a degree from Notre Dame or another school? That’s my message to him.”

James is locked in with his Irish pledge, something he felt better than ever about after the staff told him that if he was to take other unofficial visits, that they’d understand as long as he communicated about it with them. It’s another reason why James feels that the staff cares about him as a person.

“They really want me to make the best decision for me,” James added. “In terms of visiting other schools, right now my head is 100 percent at Notre Dame. There’s no visits I’m planning on taking or anything like that.”

PROMOTION: Sign up for just $1 for your first year at Blue & Gold

The Braylon James file

James is a highly touted four-star prospect for good reason, according to Del Valle (Texas) High head coach Bobby Acosta, who James played for before transferring to Stony Point in the offseason.

“I love his leadership skills that we saw this past season,” Acosta said. “He’s a receiver who can play every position; we even put him in the backfield to create matchups. He even played wildcat quarterback. He’s big, physical, great blocker, good ball skills, runs great routes and has good speed.

“You look at [former five-star receiver] Jacorey Brooks at Alabama who I coached at IMG Academy; Braylon shows signs of that talent. We’re excited about him.”

James was named to the Texas All-District 26-6A first-team offense for his efforts in 2021. In 10 games as a junior last fall, James caught 47 passes for 568 yards and six touchdowns. He made 39 receptions for 419 yards and five scores as a sophomore.

James committed to playing in the 2023 Under Armour All-America Game in April 2021.

He has an On3 NIL Valuation of $20,000. 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.

James will officially visit Notre Dame for the weekend of June 10. A high majority of the Irish 2023 verbal pledges will also be on campus for their official visit as well.