Notre Dame offers quickly rising 2023 Ohio safety Ben Minich
In an effort to bolster its 2023 defensive back group, Notre Dame has extended an offer to another rising senior safety.
On Wednesday, the Irish offered Cincinnati Lakota West’s Ben Minich, who is an On3 Consensus three-star prospect but is capturing the attention of many and quickly shooting up the ranks. The 6-0, 185-pound rising senior is ranked No. 533 nationally and No. 52 at his position per the Consensus, while On3’s own rankings have him slotted as the No. 33 safety and No. 13 player overall player out of Ohio.
Notre Dame is building an elite 2023 defensive backs class, as new defensive coordinator Al Golden is working to install a secondary-heavy defense. Safeties Peyton Bowen and Adon Shuler are pledged to the Irish, as are cornerbacks Christian Gray and Micah Bell.
Five-star safety Caleb Downs took an official visit to Notre Dame in June, but he is trending toward Alabama at this point, per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (44.8 percent). Landing a fifth defensive back in the 2023 class is a priority for the Irish staff, and Minich certainly has their eye.
Minich camped at Notre Dame in June and impressed. He will also return to Notre Dame in just over a week before preparing for a senior season surrounded by Power Five talent. Four-star safety and Ohio State commit Malik Hartford is a teammate of Minich’s as is Northwestern cornerback pledge Joshua Fussell.
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Minich’s junior film shows a player with innate quickness and a high football IQ, but his intelligence extends beyond the gridiron. Academics are incredibly important to him, as is evidenced by his offer list. In addition to Notre Dame, Minich currently holds offers from Cincinnati, Duke, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Per Cincinnati’s WCPO 9 News, Minich has an ACT score of 33.
Prior to the Irish offer, the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine favored Cincinnati (31.6 percent), Wake Forest (27.6 percent) and Duke (23.7 percent) for the Ohio prospect. Minich took official visits to those three schools in June. After the offer, Mike Singer of Blue & Gold entered a prediction for Notre Dame to land the defensive back, and now the Irish have a massive lead in the metric (88.5 percent). Cincinnati dropped to 3.9 percent.
