Mario Cristobal and Miami could be battling Notre Dame for another 5-star recruit

It seems like the Miami Hurricanes and Notre Dame will be battling on the field for wins and off the field for elite recruits for as long as Mario Cristobal and Marcus Freeman are running the respective programs.

After the Irish got a few commits to choose them over Miami last week, it's time for Cristobal to flip the switch, and it could happen with a few recruits in this cycle and a major recruit next cycle in 5-star wide receiver Jaylen Addai. If the last name sounds familiar, you might have heard of his father, Joseph Addai, a star running back at LSU, a former first-round pick and Super Bowl champion with the Indianapolis Colts. 

The younger Addai was recently named a 5-star prospect in the 2028 class by Rivals/On3, and it's a good sign that the Hurricanes have jumped out as a major contender for one of the top playmakers in the 2028 class. This recruitment is probably going to go on for a while as Addai won't be able to take official visits for another year and, being a top playmaker in a fertile recruiting ground like Houston, every school in the country is going to go after him, including his Dad's alma mater. 

5-star WR Jaylen Addai has Miami on his mind early in his recruitment

Jaylen Addai is planing on being on a few campuses this summer and Miami is going to be one of those schools. Joseph Addai, despite being an LSU graduate, is pretty familiar with the Hurricanes campus. He and former Hurricanes wide receiver Reggie Wayne used to train together in Miami regularly, along with other NFL players down in the area.

The younger Addai is also looking to make his own path and, despite having some head-turning performances at the major camps, there hasn't been any indication that he is concerned about rankings over performance. 

"At the end of the day, I feel like rankings don't really matter because people in college and people in the league....we have three stars and people that [weren't] even ranked that are doing the biggest things," Addai said. "For example, Justin Jefferson, coming out of high school, wasn't really a big recruit, and now he's one of the best receivers in the league. I'm happy with what it is, but I've still got more work to do."

Miami still has a lot of work to do in Addai's recruitment and surely Notre Dame will be running step for step with them. Cristobal has to get some revenge on Freeman for landing some of the big-name recruits both schools were after and wouldn't it be nice to see Addai be that player. With very few teams in the ACC that can recruit at Miam's level, it seems like Notre Dame has taken on the role of being the Hurricanes' biggest menace on the trail (Texas A&M is coming in a very close second). It's a challenge that Cristobal is excited to have and one he will want to win every year. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow