Elite Safety Peyton Woodyard Continues To Build A Bond With Notre Dame

Notre Dame continues to be a top contender for one of the best safeties in the country, 2024 star Peyton Woodyard

Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco five-star safety Peyton Woodyard has long been a top priority for the Notre Dame staff. Woodyard’s junior season is fully underway with the Braves currently sitting with a 3-0 record.

With balancing playing football and going to school, it’s more than enough to keep a student-athlete busy. Being a recruit of Woodyard’s status, he must now balance all of that with the constant recruiting attention now that the dead period has lifted.

For Woodyard, he’s enjoying the process so far. He is blessed just to be in the position, with so many notable programs after him.

"Recruiting has been great since the dead period ended and has been everything that I expected and more,” Woodyard explained. "There have been a number of schools that have continued to recruit me hard, including Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon, USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia, Texas A&M, UCLA, Washington and others.”

The California star has already begun to schedule, and take, unofficial visits to several top programs and universities. In fact, he has already seen the Irish in action from one opposing sideline.

"I had an opportunity to visit Ohio State when they played Notre Dame and I visited Oregon University when we played Cathedral Catholic this past weekend,” he noted. "I plan on going to a USC game and hopefully if time permits I may be able to get to another game this season. My main focus now is my season.”

That season is off to a great start. St. John Bosco, one of the nation's top programs, is off to a 3-0 start and Woodyard is a big part of that.

"The season has gone great so far, we have won all of our games and we have played a couple of games out of town,” Woodyard said. "I am excited to play our first home game against Kahuku from Hawaii. I had an interception in the Bishop Amat game and I am looking forward to continuing to have an impact on the defensive side of the ball.”

As for his connection to Notre Dame, it has long been a school that he has tremendous admiration for. Those relationships have continued to get stronger and stronger during the process. They have Woodyard’s firm attention as they continue to make progress under Marcus Freeman.

"I have been in contact with Coach (Chris) O’Leary and Chad (Bowden) on a weekly basis, and the relationship with Notre Dame as a whole has continued to grow,” he said. "I am looking forward to seeing them progress this season.”

It is going to be a bit of a process with Woodyard. For a recruit of this caliber, it will be a fight until the end. As it currently stands, they have as good of odds as any school to end on top.

The cousin of former Notre Dame star safety Kyle Hamilton, Woodyard is considered one of the elite prospects in the 2024 recruiting class. He is rated as the nation's No. 26 overall player and No. 2 safety on the 247Sports composite ranking. 

The 6-2, 190-pound defender has been a force so far for St. John Bosco. In two games played, he has recorded six total tackles and an interception so far. He was coming off of a dominant sophomore campaign, posting 62 total tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and a forced fumble.

Woodyard boasts an impressive offer list that includes some of the premier programs in all of college football. The notable offers include the Irish, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, USC, Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan, Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida State, Penn State, Tennessee, Michigan State, UCLA, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Washington, Oregon State, Boston College, Arizona State, Cal, Louisville, Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas among others.

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