Does Notre Dame Offer to Little Brother Mean Equanimeous St. Brown Is a Lock?

Equanimeous St. Brown is set for a signing day announcement. The 4-star wide receiver, who is one of Notre Dame's priority targets still on the board, told Irish 247's Tom Loy that he plans on making his announcement live on ESPN.

But perhaps bigger news came Tuesday night, when St. Brown's younger brother, Osiris St. Brown, took to Twitter to announce his own offer from Notre Dame:

The 2017 prospect received his offer from Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly during his brother's in-home visit, matching offers from Utah and Washington State, two schools (perhaps not coincidentally) listed among Equanimeous' finalists.

And in case you wondered just how important the Notre Dame offer was to Osiris, their father, John Brown, spoke with Blue and Gold Illustrated's Andrew Ivins after the good news:

"

The coaches were just talking about a lot of different subjects and then they all of the sudden they were saying how they were impressed with Osiris.

They said, 'We're going to offer you, too.'

I thought, wait you're going to offer him, or you are now?

And then they said, 'No we're going to offer him right now'—I just said oh my God.

"

On paper, the younger St. Brown is the type of prospect you might take an early gamble on. He's ranked No. 74 in 247Sports' Top 100 for 2017, and he is coming off a four-touchdown campaign as a sophomore at Orange County, California, powerhouse Servite.

But with just a week until signing day for the 2015 class, the offer also feels like the type of move Kelly wants to make before confidently declaring "checkmate."

Even if Osiris weren't a top prospect, you could hardly blame Kelly for offering Little Brother with hopes it helps persuade Big Brother, or vice versa. Similar moves take place all over college football—including South Bend a few years ago.

In 2002, Notre Dame offered and signed 3-star quarterback Chris Olsen from Wayne Hills, New Jersey. One year later, former Notre Dame head coach Tyrone Willingham won the sweepstakes for little brother Greg, a 5-star tight end.

While things ended badly—both brothers transferred after Chris didn't win the quarterback job—it was a rare recruiting victory for Willingham in South Bend. And it was one that would've never happened had Notre Dame not landed Chris first.

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While they weren't brothers, a similar story has worked out for Notre Dame, as well.

Charlie Weis signing Robby Toma out of Punaho High School in Hawaii couldn't have hurt the Irish's chances with 5-star stud Manti Te'o. Notre Dame bringing in Marcus Freeman from Cretin-Derham Hall led to Rashon Powers-Neal, Ryan Harris, Michael Floyd and most recently, James Onwualu.

This year, some Irish fans raised an eyebrow when Notre Dame accepted the commitment of 3-star safety Nicco Fertitta. It likely didn't hurt the Irish's chances with Bishop Gorman teammate Aliz'e Jones, who flipped from UCLA to join Fertitta in South Bend.

In a recruiting era where the bag man is still—sadly—alive and well, Notre Dame needs to be smart in doing everything it can to continue bringing elite talent to South Bend.

So while an early offer to an elite 2017 recruit might seem out of character for Notre Dame, if it helps lock in its top remaining target at wide receiver, that's the cost of doing business.

Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports and Rivals.