Top OL target Sullivan Absher includes Notre Dame in top three
Belmont (N.C.) South Point class of 2023 offensive tackle Sullivan Absher trimmed his recruitment down to three on Friday, the 6-6, 275-pounder announced on Twitter. Notre Dame made the cut along with Clemson and N.C. State.
Clemson is the most recent school to enter the Absher sweepstakes, offering him Feb. 9. N.C. State has long been a competitor for him and has already visited campus three times.
Notre Dame offered the four-star prospect back on Oct. 21 during a conversation with former Irish offensive line coach Jeff Quinn. He’s no longer a part of the Notre Dame football program, but his replacement, Harry Hiestand, hit the ground running in late January and quickly made Absher a priority target. Absher has only been to South Bend once, but he’s expected to make a return trip to campus for the spring game April 23.
“Notre Dame is probably the best offensive line program anywhere,” Absher previously told Blue & Gold. “The number of players they develop and put in the NFL year after year is insane. That’s just the tip of the iceberg; you also have the actual school with its academics. That’s top-notch as well. You’re getting an Ivy League education and a top-five football program year-in and year-out. It’s the best of both worlds.”
On3 ranks Absher as the nation’s No. 99 player and No. 8 offensive tackle, plus the No. 2 player from his home state of North Carolina.
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The On3 Consensus – a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies – lists Absher as the No. 159 recruit and No. 12 offensive tackle in the land.
Notre Dame is considered the leader for Absher according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) at 82.3 percent. 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, expert predictions, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation. And Blue & Gold logged a prediction March 14 for Absher to choose Notre Dame with 60 percent confidence level.
Absher was named to the 2021 Big South 3A first-team all-conference team. He helped pave the way for South Point to reach the 2021 North Carolina 3A state semifinals as a No. 16 seed. The Red Raiders finished the season 11-4 with their run-heavy offense, rushing for 3,973 yards and 50 scores on the ground.
