The Notre Dame staff has made it extremely clear who their top priority is in terms of point guard recruiting... If the two unofficial visits, official visit, and the Notre Dame staff's attendance at a practice weren't enough to give it away, it's JJ Starling. Starling is ranked as the 34th highest ranked player in his class by 247 sports which would make him the second highest ranked commit Mike Brey has gotten in his entire career, behind Demetrius Jackson. Obviously landing a player like Starling is never easy and when Duke gets involved it gets even harder.
Last night, the four star recruit released his top 5 schools list which included the Irish, Syracuse, Duke, Northwestern, and Stanford. Starling has likely completed his visits to Notre Dame and Stanford but will visit Syracuse, Northwestern, and Duke one last time each before making a decision. Starling currently has a crystal ball prediction and a futurecast in favor of Duke but likely still has a few months left in his recruitment that Notre Dame could take advantage of.
On paper, Starling is the perfect prospect for Notre Dame and Mike Brey. The veteran head coach has always looked for high character, high academic players to add to his program and Starling fits both profiles. The top 40 guard also attends prep school less than an hour away from Notre Dame's campus and is coached by a former student manager for the Irish. On the court the La Lumiere combo guard can pull up from anywhere, create his own shot, and push the pace, all things that Brey loves in his guards.
Although Starling would be a huge addition to Notre Dame's on court product, what he brings indirectly is almost more enticing than his on court production. Starling would be Notre Dame's biggest recruiting win in years if they win the uphill battle for the star guard, beating out Duke is something Brey doesn't do often on the recruiting trail. If the experienced head coach and his staff could win the recruitment they could put a lot of the negative noise surrounding their recruiting to rest.
Securing a commitment from Starling would be such a big win for Brey that it could potentially bring him back for more after this season. During a rough 2020-21 season Brey seemed burned out, everything seemed stale surrounding the program leading many to believe he would only give it one more go, if that. Starling could bring excitement back to the program, he could make it new and flashy again. With Starling, the Irish could also become more of a destination for top 100 players like they were back in 2018.
Starling obviously won't fix all the program's problems but landing a player of his calibur makes things a lot more interesting for Mike Brey and his program. The Notre Dame staff has somewhat of an uphill battle to land Starling but if they can find a way to beat out Duke they could change the outlook on the program for years to come.
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