Two years ago, the Irish successfully plucked TJ Jones and Tate Nichols from the Cardinal commitment list before almost getting Amir Carlisle, who ultimately signed with USC, to spurn Stanford for Notre Dame last recruiting cycle. The Irish aren’t likely to stop recruiting Florida linebacker Noor Davis, who recently committed to Stanford, and Notre Dame is on the verge of offering another Cardinal commitment, quite possibly their top verbal.
Aziz Shittu is either a four or five-star prospect, depending on which service you use, but there is no doubt the Atwater, Calif., (Buhach Colony High School) native is one of the nation’s best interior defensive linemen.
“It’s a big honor, but there’s still work to be done,” said Shittu of the rankings. “I’m not number one and that’s what I strive to be. I’m going to work and if I come up short, I come up short, but I know at least I tried my hardest to get to that.”
Shittu committed to Stanford in April, but his offers continue to pile up and he hasn’t completely shut down his recruitment yet.
“I’m a solid Stanford commit, but I’m definitely still looking around,” said Shittu, who added he is comfortable with the Cardinal and so are his parents.
Shittu has more than 20 offers and expects to be getting another one soon. He has been being recruited by Mike Denbrock, but Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Chuck Martin was at Buhach Colony on Friday.
“It was real cool,” Shittu said. “Everybody on the team was hyped about Notre Dame. It’s just a big-time name out in the football world.
“We didn’t talk, but he visually sized me up,” said Shittu, who has learned some prospects fudge their height and weight. “I’m 6-3, 275, legit. He asked my coach if I would be interested in coming up when they offered me.”
Shittu said a visit to South Bend is a possibility and, although he’s confident Martin was impressed with his size, he expects to find out exactly where he stands very soon.
“He told my coach that Coach Denbrock would be in touch real soon,” he said.
Shittu plans on taking all five of his official visits before making a final decision. “Stanford is getting an official visit, but I don’t have any of the other four set up yet,” he said.
It’ll take a total package for a program to surpass Stanford.
“The complete, complete fit,” he said. “Everything doesn’t have to be right, but it has to be better than Stanford, basically. That’s the number one team, that’s the leader. Matching it up, football-wise, it has to be better than that. Academic-wise, it has to be better than that. All of the stuff will be weighed in.”
Shittu is also considering taking officials to USC, UCLA, California, Washington and Auburn, among others. He isn’t sure when he’ll decide which schools he will visit, but the evaluation process will continue throughout the fall.
“I’m going to be looking at how teams are performing during the season too,” he said. “I need to see how Stanford does during the season, Notre Dame, all of these schools I’m looking at. I need to make sure they’re still at the level they were or improving.”
Shittu does believe the Irish could have a case for surpassing Stanford.
“It sounds like it,” he said. “I was talking to Coach Denbrock a while back about the academics they have and he told me about the 100 percent graduation percentage or something like that. That was good.”
