For as long as Notre Dame has been playing football there has been a rivalry with Michigan.
That strange thing about the rivalry is that as strong as it is when the teams meet on the gridiron, it’s perhaps just as strong off it.
Notre Dame’s independence can be traced back Michigan playing a major role in keeping Notre Dame from joining the Western Conference (now the Big Ten) and most of the schools blackballing the small Catholic university in football.
The on-again, off-again rivalry on the field isn’t scheduled to be played again for almost another decade, but the battles continue and the latest one has to do with a major recruit.
The highest rated player in Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class according to the 247Sports composite rankings is safety Ivan Taylor. Taylor is the son of 12-year NFL veteran Ike Taylor, who helped the Pittsburgh Steelers to two Super Bowl championships.
Taylor committed to Notre Dame on Dec. 1, 2023 and is a major piece of its elite incoming secondary.
The problem for Notre Dame is however, Taylor didn’t stop making official visits after he committed to the Fighting Irish. A visit to Alabama in early-June raised a lot of eyebrows for Notre Dame fans and some of the smoke was thought to have cleared a week later when he made an official visit to Notre Dame.
However, it was an official visit he took to Michigan a week later that appears to have turned into a problem for Notre Dame.
Ivan Taylor rates as a four-star prospect and the nation’s 49th overall player in the 2025 recruiting cycle according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Despite being a Notre Dame commitment for over seven months, most recruiting experts in the know seem to think a flip to the maize and blue is coming.
247Sports national recruiting expert Tom Loy made that prediction as have both Steve Wiltfong and EJ Holland of On3 Sports.
These crystal ball predictions come on the heels of Taylor’s most recent official visit, which was to Michigan in mid-June.
There is good and bad news when it comes to Notre Dame seeming more and more likely to lose the commitment of Ivan Taylor.
The good, or perhaps not so bad of news, is that it comes at a position of strength for Notre Dame’s 2025 recruting class. Notre Dame has recruited their defensive backfield at a downright elite level this cycle and although Taylor would be missed, this is the easily the unit of the class that can best absorb the blow of a lost commitment.
The bad news is obvious in just how highly sought after Ivan Taylor is. It’s one thing to look at recruiting rankings and see a top-50 player. What especially tells the story of the potential in Taylor is his list of scholarship offers which includes not just Notre Dame and Michigan but Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami (FL), Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, USC, and others.
Andrew Ivins of 247Sports says of Taylor:
Will eventually need to add some mass and improve play strength, but should be viewed as a potential multi-year starter for a top 25 program. Likely to find a home at the third level of a defense, but sticky enough in man-coverage possibly warrant a look as an inside corner on Saturdays.
Notre Dame appeared to be done assembling its defensive backfield for the 2025 recruiting class just days ago when four-star safety JaDon Blair announced his commitment.
The unit is loaded with talent, but anytime you lose your top-ranked player at a position it stings. Memories of just two recruiting cycles ago when highly-regarded Peyton Bowen flipped from Notre Dame to Oklahoma and then to Oregon certainly would be brought back up for Notre Dame fans who closely follow recruiting.
A name to keep an eye on for Notre Dame fans if Taylor is to officially flip is safety Brandon Logan of Fort Wayne, Ind. Logan doesn’t have the recruiting ranking or NFL bloodlines that Taylor does but holds offers from multiple Big Ten programs. He is however currently committed to Vanderbilt to play baseball so getting him to switch away from that may be much easier said than done.
