Irish Eye California

Notre Dame has always been able to recruit well in California and with a pledge from the State Player of the Year, Derek Landri as well as two other All-State linemen, Chris Frome and James Bonelli, this year is no exception. The best could be yet to come as Lorenzo Booker, Rhema McKnight and Fred Matua all have the Irish high on their list.

Lorenzo Booker, the nation's top running back from St. Bonaventure was blown away on his visit to Notre Dame two weeks ago and expect the Irish to be a serious player for Booker come Signing Day.

"Notre Dame has everything I'm looking for," Booker said. "They have a great coaching staff, their offensive line is strong and they have a great incoming line class this year as well. The offense they have is good for running backs and going away wouldn't be so bad at Notre Dame because they're on T.V every week."

This past weekend, defensive lineman Fred Matua and wide receiver Rhema McKnight both visited South Bend and the Irish moved way up for both. Matua was seriously considering committing this week but the trip to Notre Dame squashed that.

"I'm going to wait now, Notre Dame showed me a lot," Matua said. "It's not just the football there but the opportunities after football are what puts them up there."

Although reports that Rhema McKnight had committed to Notre Dame proved to be false, the Irish did make a nice impression on the talented wide out.

"They're right up there with UCLA and Washington now," McKnight's uncle Fred Grier said. "Rhema was very, very impressed with the trip and said he could definitely see himself going to Notre Dame."

It's not out of the realm of possibility to say the Irish could land all three star players, all three will be deciding on Signing Day. If that happens, the Domers will have a top 5-10 class nationally and will have broken the hearts of several schools out West.

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Check Out PacWestFootball.com to Get Further Inside West Coast Recruiting.