Notre Dame Made An Impact On Malcolm Ziglar During His Official Visit

Standout 2024 safety Malcolm Ziglar recaps recent official visit to Notre Dame

Over the weekend, Notre Dame hosted several key targets in the 2024 recruiting class. Among the talented visitors, it was the first visit for Fuquay-Varina (N.C.) High School safety Malcolm Ziglar.

There was a lot of anticipation for Ziglar visiting campus, with a ton of uncertainties to work through. Having just been offered last month, the relationship between Notre Dame and Ziglar has been developing quickly. It needed to with so much missed time.

"The Notre Dame staff has been really great to get to know over the last several weeks,” Ziglar said. "I had spoken to Chris O’Leary a few times heading into the visit but got to spend a lot of time with him. He brings a lot of energy and is a really smart coach.”

That was only a small part of the relationships that were developed this weekend. In a very tactical approach, the Irish staff had all three North Carolina commits on campus as well this weekend. Tight end Jack Larsen, defensive end Bryce Young and wide receiver Micah Gilbert all made the trip.

"They had all the North Carolina guys up here as well,” Ziglar explained. "It was definitely cool to be able to hang out with them a bunch. They seem like really cool people.”

With it trying to make up ground so quickly, it’s important for the Irish staff to really sell the vision for how Ziglar could fit. They did that this weekend.

"They didn’t just talk about safety,” Ziglar stated. "They think that I could do a lot of things in their defense. I could play cornerback, in the nickel or either safety spot. My versatility is a big sell.”

Coming out of the visit, Notre Dame certainly made up ground on the top schools coming after Ziglar. The top contenders are South Carolina, Clemson and North Carolina, who have been on him for some time now. It remains to be seen if the visit was enough to move the needle enough but the staff certainly made waves this weekend.

As of now, the plan is for Ziglar to take his remaining official visit to North Carolina this weekend. From there, he plans to sit down and make a commitment during July.

The Fuquay-Varina standout is ranked by On3 as the nation's No. 79 overall player, No. 5 safety and the No. 2 player in the state of North Carolina.

Ziglar has now earned offers from the Irish, Penn State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisville, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt.

The 6-2, 185-pound athlete secured four interceptions as a junior and broke up another four passes. Ziglar did a lot with his chances, exploding for 155 interception return yards and returned three for touchdowns. He was also used at times on offense. Ziglar hauled in seven receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown. On 12 carries, Ziglar also totaled another 138 yards and an additional score. 

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