SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Dallas Golden had seen enough college programs to offer a credible answer. A national prospect with offers from Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Florida State, USC, Clemson, Texas, Notre Dame and Michigan, the four-star defensive back was asked earlier this year which school had the best facilities of the ones he’d visited. The standout from Berkeley Prep in Tampa, Fla., didn’t have to look far for answers.
“Florida or Georgia,” Golden said. “They’re kind of close.”
Now Notre Dame will be too. The announcement of Shields Hall, the football program’s new central command coming online in two years, wasn’t what drove Golden to commit to Notre Dame on Sunday. But he’s the first prospect to go Irish since the school announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art football facility before the Blue-Gold Game. The project should put Notre Dame on level terms with some of the sport’s other heavyweights.
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That building will include nutrition, training, academic and recovery spaces. It also showed a commitment by Notre Dame to fundraise for a potential nine-figure project that backs coach Marcus Freeman.
Now Golden is on record that he wants to be a part of it.
BREAKING: Four-Star Safety Dallas Golden has Committed to Notre Dame, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’1 185 S from Tampa, FL chose the Fighting Irish over Florida State, Clemson, & Georgia
“Golden to the Golden Dome”, All Glory to God! ✝️”https://t.co/TIQF57NQOK pic.twitter.com/RDS22SIqrU
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 28, 2024
On Sunday, the 6-foot, 176-pound athlete, committed to Notre Dame over that national list of offers, giving Freeman a must-have piece in his next recruiting class. Golden is the 20th verbal commitment in Notre Dame’s 2025 class and potentially the fifth defensive back, joining a group that includes four-star safety Ivan Taylor.
Golden’s commitment returns Notre Dame to No. 1 in the team rankings on 247Sports over Ohio State, which has seven fewer commitments. Golden is a unanimous four-star prospect, ranked as high as No. 83 overall on 247Sports and as low as No. 172 on ESPN.
Why is Golden such a crucial commitment?
Notre Dame has previously tried to land talent from Berkeley Prep, notably defensive end Keon Keeley two cycles ago, losing the five-star prospect to Alabama. The Irish did land walk-on linebacker Tre Reader from the school that same cycle. A decade earlier, the Irish targeted receiver Nelson Agholor but lost him to USC, where he developed into a first-round pick.
For how well Berkeley Prep appears to track to Notre Dame, the Irish have struggled to close the deal with its top prospects. Golden is next in that parade and a strong fit for Notre Dame off the field. And it’s hard to find high-end students from talent-rich programs in the South who are willing to look toward the Midwest.
The Irish were dogged in their pursuit of Golden, getting him to campus three times in one 12-month cycle: the Blue-Gold Game in 2023, the USC home game last season and a winter junior day earlier this year. Combine that familiarity with Freeman’s recruiting pitch and that connection to Reader, and it gave Notre Dame a familiar vibe despite being located halfway across the country.
Golden also represents just the third top-100 prospect in this class to commit to Notre Dame in the 247Sports Composite, following Taylor and quarterback Deuce Knight. A year ago, the Irish signed five top-100 prospects in the 247Sports Composite. Catching that class required Golden to be a part of it.
Where does he fit into Notre Dame’s defense?
Golden is listed as a safety by two recruiting outlets, an athlete by one and a cornerback by another. Where he fits into Notre Dame’s defense will get figured out later in the process, but Golden has the build of a rangy cornerback who can get physical when necessary. That’s where he’ll start after arriving in South Bend.
Notre Dame signed four defensive backs last cycle, but it was a collection of more development talent than what Golden and Taylor represent. Cornerbacks Leonard Moore and Karson Hobbs were both three-star prospects. Safety Brauntae Johnson was projected as a wide receiver by some programs, although he was a four-star prospect. Safeties Kennedy Urlacher and Taebron Bennie-Powell are both three stars.
Golden has range and size, a cornerback build that could project on either the boundary or field sides, depending on how the Irish want to use him.
While defensive backs coach Mike Mickens is the recruiter of record with Golden, director of player personnel Chad Bowden was also key in closing the deal.
Required reading
(Photo of Marcus Freeman: Michael Miller / ISI Photos/Getty Images)
