When you hear the last name Bettis, Notre Dame fans are quickly reminded of one of the greatest players to ever dawn the blue and gold. Former Irish running back Jerome Bettis has totaled 2,341 all purpose yards and 33 touchdowns during his three year career from 1990-92. Bettis would be selected with the No. 10 overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft, going on to a Hall of Fame career on the professional level.
Notre Dame is now recruiting his son, Jerome Bettis Jr., who is a wide receiver out of Atlanta (Ga.) Woodward Academy in the 2025 recruiting class. The Irish have put themselves in a very good position with Bettis over the last several months, and now the Georgia native is once again returning to South Bend soon.
"Recruiting has been good,” Bettis told Irish Breakdown. "I plan on getting up to Notre Dame for Junior Day on the 20th. I’m also going to see Stanford later this spring.”
There’s no telling how many times Bettis has been to South Bend in his life. It will offer a unique opportunity for him to build a relationship with Mike Brown, who has just taken over as the new wide receiver coach pretty recently.
"Everything has been great with Notre Dame,” Bettis explained. "The coaching staff has always been amazing and I’m just now getting a chance to build a relationship with Coach Brown. It’s been great getting to know him. I’m excited to continue to get to know him more.”
Even with that coaching change, Notre Dame has continued to value Bettis highly. The 6-3, 185-pound pass catcher may have gotten on the radar because of his last name but the staff has continued to make it known that they want him for him, not because of the legacy.
Over the last several months, Bettis has seen his offer list expand. He now holds official offers from schools such as the Irish, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Arkansas, NC State, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Boston College, Duke and UCF among others.
Bettis is busy sorting out the hierarchy of his top contenders. That’s what the next few months will be for.
"If I had to say, it would probably be after I’ve taken some visits this spring, so committing maybe around April or May,” he said. "That’s kind of the plan right now.
"Notre Dame is definitely one of my top schools but I’ve yet to really narrow down my options,” he continued. "I’ve also been looking at Duke, Ole Miss, and Missouri as well.”
Bettis showed improvements on the field as a junior. In 14 games, Bettis hauled in 30 receptions for 369 yards and four touchdowns for a very talented Woodward squad. On defense, he also made 34 total tackles, two tackles for loss and two interceptions.
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