ND next visit for Bredeson

Rivals100 offensive tackle Ben Bredeson has not visited Notre Dame since last September, but he expects to be back in South Bend this weekend.

"I am probably going to go to Notre Dame this weekend," Bredeson said. "It is all scheduled, but we just have to get the finalizing down. It was in the fall for the Michigan game was the last time I was there."

Notre Dame is one of four schools Bredeson has listed as leaders since early in his junior year. He will be joined on the visit by his parents and brother.

"I haven't really gotten the full academic spiel from them, so I am looking forward to that," Bredeson said. "Then, just being able to look at some of the finer things they have to offer. You always look at the facilities the first time, but what the campus is like, where you're going to stay and I'll be able to see a practice. It will be different because it won't be as chaotic as the last time I was there."

The other three schools that have been consistently named as top contenders are Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin, and Bredeson expects to see each of those campuses in the near future as well.

"I'll probably go to the Wisconsin spring game, which is on the 25th," Bredeson said. "I'll try to get up to Ann Arbor - (my brother) will go out sometime this spring, so I can just hop in the car for that. Ohio State, I am still working to get out there because that is the farthest one of the four, but I am going to try to make it work sometime this spring or summer."

It has been several months since Bredeson was able to see Ohio State as well, but he has been keeping in regular contact with the Buckeye's coaching staff.

"Coach (Urban) Meyer I talked with for quite awhile this past week," Bredeson said. "We were catching up, just seeing how things are going. He was wanting to know how the football team was going to look."

Beyond the four Midwest programs that Bredeson favors, out-of-region schools Alabama and Stanford also hold his interest.

"Those two are still big," Bredeson said. "The problem is they are pretty far and it is kind of hard to leave for a weekend. Those might have to wait a little bit and if I am still interested in them, maybe take an official. If I have the opportunity to go down, I'm absolutely going to take it."

The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Bredeson attends Hartland (Wisc.) Arrowhed High and is ranked as the No. 41 overall player in the 2016 class and the No. 3 offensive tackle prospect.