Notre Dame IOL target Sam Pendleton sets commitment date; who is the leader?
Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan’s Sam Pendleton, the nation’s No. 352 player and No. 22 interior offensive line per the 2023 On3 Consensus, tweeted out big news on Tuesday morning.
The four-star prospect announced that he will be announcing his commitment on April 25 at 6:30 p.m. ET. He did not specify which schools are still in the running for him to choose from, but the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) believes it’s down to two schools.
The On3 RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college.
It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. Expert predictions are also a big piece of the RPM equation.
Clemson is considered the team to beat for Pendleton at 59.7 percent, and there are a couple of predictions logged from On3 fan site writers for him to choose the Tigers. However, Blue & Gold placed a prediction on Monday night for the North Carolina native to end up committing to the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has a 33.1 percent shot for Pendleton per the RPM.
The RPM can change daily, so it’ll be interesting to see if the algorithm shifts between now and when Pendleton announces his commitment. Because clearly, Blue & Gold believes differently than what it currently shows.
Editor’s note: After publishing this article, two predictions were flipped from Clemson to Notre Dame for Pendleton, and his RPM now puts Notre Dame in the lead at 94.2 percent.
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Pendleton’s recruitment with Notre Dame came together quickly
Notre Dame offered Pendleton March 16, and the 6-4, 295-pounder wasted no time setting up a visit to get up to South Bend and learn more about the Fighting Irish. He visited campus during the weekend of April 9.
Pendleton was intrigued by the Irish going into the visit, and Notre Dame gave him a lot to think about coming out of it.
“Notre Dame is one of my top schools,” Pendleton previously told Blue & Gold. “It’s kind of a dream school. I grew up watching Notre Dame on TV. I’m a big tradition guy, and it doesn’t get much more traditional than Notre Dame.”
Among the activities for Pendleton included hearing head coach Marcus Freeman address the team in a meeting, sitting in on a Harry Hiestand-led offensive line meeting, watching practice, meeting with academic advisors and a tour of campus.
“It was a really great experience,” Pendleton said. “I enjoyed my time. They value a good education and can make me a better man more than anything else.”
