Braylon James

I was able to talk to my Notre Dame contact who talked to Austin Novosad immediately after the trip. I will be in contact with him as well this week but he is flying home late tonight so likely won't have direct feedback from him till tomorrow....The trip was an unofficial visit and they flew in Monday night to South Bend then left tonight so Austin could make it to workouts at Dripping Springs tomorrow morning. They won't get in till 1 am. That just speaks to the commitment he has to his team and football which is a huge reason he wants the recruiting process to be over next week.The theme was a BBQ/Cookout for the day so they played cornhole, football, home run derby, and other games. Novosad was on one team while 2024 quarterback CJ Carr was on the other team for the day which made for a competitive environment. He spent time with Notre Dame wide receiver commit Jaden Greathouse on the visit as the two of them have known each other for a long time. Braylon James was not there but they are very close as well so the two of them have been working on recruiting Austin some.He did a film session with Tommy Rees so he was able to see what the offense was doing while also seeing where they were hoping to go. Austin also got to meet with Head Coach Marcus Freeman as well. Those went well by all accounts and I think he truly likes the coaches there quite a bit despite the short time he has had to build a relationship with them.It seems like the total balance between academics and football stood out as did the alumni network and the historical football pedigree. I also think the culture there was similar to Baylor which I think is viewed as a major positive for Austin.I will have more later this week but everything I have heard tells me this was a good visit but I don't think it was beyond what was expected. To me this trip needed to be on another level for him to flip his commitment and currently I am not getting that vibe. I will hopefully talk to Austin soon and have more reactions from him but wanted to get a quick summary of what he did and some of the reactions he gave to the Notre Dame side.A couple key Quotes from Austin after we talked today..."It was a really good (trip), the academic and football balance is really high level"On Freeman and Rees"They were both emphasizing how special the place was, with the ability to win national championships and be involved with a brand that allowed you to get a great degree. I had a lot of interaction with them throughout the day."On the offensive film session"We went through some film and different play cut ups and how I would fit. They talked about my upside and how i will reach my potential there.""They did catch up (to other schools) during yesterdays visit"