Notre Dame Football Recruiting 2012: Irish's Biggest Remaining Recruiting Needs

For the Irish on the recruiting side, things have gone pretty well. They have returned to being one the hot named schools on the trail.

The Irish have 15 commitments, and nine of the players are rated four stars or higher, including three 5-star commitments, per Scout.com.

I'm just going to give you the latest news of some of their top remaining targets.

Irish in Final Three for Payton

4-star WR Jordan Payton has Notre Dame in his final three, along with Cal and Michigan. Assistant coach Tony Alford paid Payton a home visit last week that weent well.

The tradition and graduate rate appeal to the 6'2", 190-pound WR from Southern California. Michigan was his leader for awhile, and Cal has been recruiting him hard; this is a toss-up.

Don Bosco Pair to Visit Soon

DB/OLB Elijah Shumate and his teammate, CB Yuri Wright, are set to visit Notre Dame either this weekend or next weekend. They are half of the "Don Bosco Four," along with DE Darius Hamilton and WR leonte Carroo.

Rutgers has been trying to land all four, but Notre Dame looks to be very serious for both SHumate and Wright. The Irish will roll out the red carpet for both players when they arrive in South Bend.

Armstead Rounding Up

Arik Armstead officially visited Notre Dame earlier this fall, but the Irish have remained in pursuit for him. However, Armstead has also visited Cal, Alabama and Oregon.

Toss in the notion that Auburn will likely get a visit, and Texas and Washington are in the hunt—along with USCand you see why the Irish will keep on the big fella pretty hard until NSD.

Garnett Scheduled for South Bend Trip Last Weekend

Last weekend, 5-star OL Josh Garnett was scheduled to Notre Dame, as the Washington native has admired the Irish for quite some time.

Garnett has also scheduled trips to Miami in January, and another one to Auburn should be finalized soon. Michigan hosted Garnett in November, and Washington and Stanford have seen him on campus too.

Is It Really Notre Dame vs. Florida for Agholor?

Nelson Agholor, the 6'2", 180-pound ATH from Florida, took an unofficial visit to South Bend in October. Dante Fowler has told Scout.com that he thinks Agholor is down to Florida and Notre Dame.

Agholor's high school coach says Notre Dame was a school that Agholor really wanted to see in person.

Yet, Agholor hasn't done much talking about his recruitment, as he really doesn't tip his hand. From USC to Florida to Auburn to Texas to Oklahoma and more, Agholor has a ton of college programs on edge waiting to see what he's going to do.

Top Four Odenigbo

6'3", 220-pound DE/OLB Ifeadi Odenigbo has narrowed his list down to a core four of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford and Northwestern. Obviously, academics play a huge role in this race.

Notre Dame RB coach Tim Hinton paid Odenigbo a home visit recently and informed him that the Irish want him to play stand up OLB in their 3-4 defense. 

Kiel Race Starting to Shape Up

It looks like we have some concrete evidence of the real suitors in the Gunner Kiel race. According to Gunner's father, Kip, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, LSU and Arkansas are the main programs of note right now.

I like the Irish's chances here, as Gunner is the nephew of former ND QB Blair Kiel and is an Indiana native. I think Kiel signs with the Irish in February, but not without a fight from LSU, Vandy, Indiana and Arkansas.