Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney is joined by national recruiting analyst Greg Smith along with Patrick Burnham of TheOsceola.com and Erik Hansen of InsideNDSports.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
MORE: Notre Dame will land a QB from the portal this offseason
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1. Javion Hilson could end up re-committing to Florida State.
Gorney’s take: FACT. There is no telling what Javion Hilson is going to do in his recruitment after early commitments to Alabama (very early) and then Florida State did not work out. But it is definitely intriguing that the five-star defensive end from Cocoa, Fla., was back in Tallahassee for another visit over the weekend. Something just feels like he really wants to play for the Seminoles but remains intrigued by others. UCF is definitely a player but Texas would be the team to watch if a re-commitment to FSU doesn’t happen as it’s definitely possible.
Burnham’s take: FACT. Could Hilson end up re-committing to Florida State? The short answer is yes. And the Seminoles have to feel like they have a chance to get Hilson back as part of the 2025 class now that he visited for the Clemson game over the weekend.
FSU can sell him something that most of the other teams involved in his recruitment can't, the opportunity to play early. Having said that, the trajectory and the optics of the second half of Florida State's season could play a part in how this turns out when they are going head-to-head with Texas, Florida, Alabama, UCF and others for one of the best prospects in the country. Hilson had decommitted from two schools already, so no matter what happens over the next several weeks, his recruitment will not be over until national signing day in December.
2. Oregon is a real threat to flip Kansas State TE commit Linkon Cure.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Not yet. Oregon is making a push for the elite four-star tight end who’s committed to Kansas State and that can always be compelling but until Linkon Cure actually schedules a visit and gets to Eugene (and then there is some real chatter about a flip to the Ducks) then I can’t consider Oregon a “real threat.” There is no doubt Cure has been very intrigued by the Ducks throughout his recruitment and he could have picked them the first time around. He didn’t. So the small-town Kansas kid still feels locked in with Kansas State but if a visit is scheduled then it will be something to watch.
Smith’s take: FACT. It may have always felt inevitable that Cure was going to pick Kansas State when he committed over the summer. However, that decision was much tougher than most gave it credit for. Cure has fantastic relationships at Kansas State and it truly feels like home. But on the other side of this recruitment, Oregon has been built into a powerhouse in a way that is unlikely to happen for the Wildcats. There is also a possibility that Cure is intrigued by making it outside of his comfort zone in Kansas.
Coach Dan Lanning and his staff do a great job connecting with prospects and they are very dangerous when they want to flip a player. This is definitely a situation that is worth watching closely as we move closer to signing day. Cure doesn’t have a return visit to Eugene set yet but I’m told it’s “very possible” that it happens. If he makes it back to Eugene for a visit, all bets are off.
3. Notre Dame definitely needs to take a quarterback in 2025.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Marcus Freeman might not want to go back to the transfer portal but he might have to delay that opinion for one more year after Deuce Knight flipped to Auburn.
The Irish are probably going to make a run at Duke commit Dan Mahan or North Carolina pledge Bryce Baker among some other possible names and while that’s not a horrible idea, why not tap back into the portal one more time for a game-ready starter from Day 1?
Knight’s flip put Notre Dame in a really tough spot - it just happened at a really bad time heading into national signing day in early December. Pretty much every 2025 quarterback has decided and flipping someone midseason is tough.
Maybe the best answer here is to wait until after the season where some elite quarterbacks could be available and push back the portal idea of not taking a QB there one more year.
Hansen’s take: FACT. Notre Dame definitely believes it needs to take a quality quarterback in the 2025 class, and so do I.
That stance has both short-term and long-term thinking in mind. Start with sheer numbers. Irish third-year head coach Marcus Freeman wants to have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster heading into each season. With starter Riley Leonard’s eligibility expiring after the season, that would leave just three for 2025 — current junior Steve Angeli, sophomore Kenny Minchey and freshman CJ Carr. And that’s if none of them transfer in the offseason.
The longer-term goal is that Freeman has stated he’d like the Riley Leonard experience to be the last foreseeable time that the Irish turn to the transfer portal for a starting quarterback. Notre Dame has done so three of the past four seasons (Jack Coan in 2021, Sam Hartman in 2023 and Leonard in 2024).
Bringing quality to ND in each cycle keeps that a realistic aspiration while also keeping the competition in the quarterbacks room high, like Irish QBs coach Gino Guidugli wants. The scenario with 2025 four-star QB Deuce Knight’s recent decommitment and flip to Auburn has some of the same vibes as the 2023 cycle, when five-star Dante Moore’s strong lean to ND ended up dissipating in the summer. And the Irish went out and flipped Kenny Minchey out of Pitt’s class in the fall. There are some good options this fall, though committed elsewhere, and the Irish have two months with which to close the deal.
