JaDon Blair Is The Final Piece To Notre Dame Closing The Gap At Safety

Evaluating the tenure of Chris O'Leary at Notre Dame has been interesting, and at times challenging. Despite being just 29 years old and having never held a full-time FBS position when he was hired by Notre Dame, O'Leary quickly proved himself as an outstanding position coach, and in just three seasons with the Irish he's coached a pair of All-Americans (Kyle Hamilton, Xavier Watts).

Recruiting, however, was a major problem early in his tenure. It took O'Leary some time to really get into a recruiting groove, but he appears to be doing so, and it's paying huge dividends for Notre Dame. O'Leary played a key role in Notre Dame landing Adon Shuler and Ben Minich in the 2022 class, and in the three-man class the Irish signed in 2023, a group that was headlined by Brauntae Johnson and included Kennedy Urlacher and Taebron Bennie-Powell. Notre Dame also landed a walk-on in Luke Talich that had scholarship offers from Utah and Washington State.

Those five signees and Talich helped Notre Dame overcome the fact it failed to sign a single safety in the 2020 and 2022 classes, and has seen all of its 2021 safeties transfer out of the program. O'Leary certainly picked things up on the recruiting trail, but the work he and the recruiting staff in the 2025 cycle has a chance to be special. Landing a big time safety class in the 2025 cycle was important, and O'Leary and the Irish staff are on the verge of making that happen.

Notre Dame kicked off the 2025 safety class on December 1st when elite Florida safety Ivan Taylor pledged to the Fighting Irish. Taylor is ranked as the nation's No. 29 overall player according to ESPN and No. 33 by 247Sports. He's an elite playmaker that thrives in coverage and as a tackler.

On Monday, Notre Dame another four-star safety when Connecticut standout Ethan Long pledged to the Irish. Long is a bit underrated right now, and playing in Connecticut is part of that, but he's talented player that Notre Dame had to beat Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin to land.

From a pure numbers standpoint, the Notre Dame staff could call it a day with Taylor and Long in the class, but if the staff wants to truly land a gap closing, elite safety class there is a need for one more prospect. 

For me, that prospect would be Winston-Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor star JaDon Blair. The 6-4, 180-pound safety intrigued me and emerged as one of my favorite upside players after seeing him as a sophomore. As a junior, however, Blair's game took a big jump and he emerged as one of the best safeties in the country. 

Blair racked up 57 tackles and picked off four passes this past season and earned area Defensive Player of the Year honors. He's exceptionally long, he's athletic, his instincts took a jump as a junior and his overall playmaking was outstanding. As a sophomore I was a big fan of Blair's potential, but it was what he actually accomplished as a junior, and the playmaking skills he showed as a junior are what stood out.

Blair's ranking will continue to rise. He grades out as a Top 100 player on the Irish Breakdown board, and On3 ranks him as the nation's No. 29 overall player. 

Notre Dame hasn't landed a pair of Top 100 players at safety since the 2018 class, and the trio of Taylor, Long and Blair - if Notre Dame was somehow able to land Blair - would be the best safety class to head to South Bend in over a decade. Taylor is an excellent cover man and a strong tackler, Long is super rangy and makes a ton of plays on the ball, and Blair has a unique combination of the ability to play deep center field and also come down and wreak havoc in the alleys.

That kind of three-man haul takes the safety position out of the "Not quite where it needs to be" and immediately turns it into a strength. It also would show that O'Leary is developing the recruiting chops that can match his proven ability to develop players on the field.

There's likely a long way to go here, and programs like Florida State, Michigan Penn State and more are pushing very hard for Blair. Notre Dame is in the game here, and if they can close the Irish would close the gap at safety and quickly turn this former question mark into a pending strength for the Irish defense.