Elite Linebacker Noah Mikhail Setting Up Return Trip To Notre Dame

Over the past few weeks, the Notre Dame coaches have been out and about on the recruiting trail, visiting the high schools of a number of high-profile recruits in the classes of 2025, 2026, and even 2027. The elite 2025 linebacker Noah Mikhail resides in La Verne, California, and Al Golden and Marcus Freeman visited his home this past week. Mikhail and Notre Dame have been playing together for a while now. He referred to the material as his ideal school when they made them an offer well over a year ago. Even though Mikhail has been moving slowly, the Irish continue to be a major topic of discussion.

“Recruiting has been going great recently,” Mikhail told Irish Breakdown. “There has been a lot of love all around from schools. It’s been a really fun process.”

Notre Dame is one of the schools that has been by Bonita recently as the Irish continue to make Mikhail a priority. “Notre Dame is a great program,” he continued. “The development piece, along with the history and culture behind it all are all special.” The relationship gets stronger and stronger between the California star and the Irish staff with each conversation and visit. That includes the most recent trip, which Mikhail was overly appreciative just for their time.

“The visit went great,” Mikhail explained. “I appreciated the coaches coming down. Between Coach Golden and Coach Freeman it showed a lot. My relationship with Notre Dame has been great. Building relationships with Coach Golden and Coach (Max) Bullough has been very enjoyable. They do a great job when it comes to getting to know you and keeping in contact. They are always showing me love.” Mikhail hasn’t been back to South Bend since last offseason. If Notre Dame wants a legitimate chance to land him in the end, they will have to get him back. It sounds like that return trip is very much in the works. “Notre Dame has been doing a good job recruiting me,” said Mikhail. “I’m looking at a time to get back up there this spring.”

The 6-3, 210-pound defender is being pursued by some of the top programs in college football. Some of his top offers currently include the Irish, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Texas, Miami, Oregon, Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Washington, Arkansas, Arizona, Ole Miss, Michigan State, UCLA, Utah, Colorado, Stanford, Boston College, Arizona State and Cal among others.

Mikhail is regarded by all major recruiting platforms as a consensus top 100 recruit. He is ranked number one on the On3 list. Mikhail is presently ranked as the No. 7 linebacker and No. 43 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class by them. The native of California just finished an incredible junior season with the Bonita Bearcats. Mikhail led the team in 12 games with 166 total tackles, including 15 for loss. Throughout the season, Mikhail also recorded one sack, two interceptions, and three pass breakups.

Mikhail also filled in as a running back for Bonita on offense. At an average of 6.7 yards per carry, he carried the ball 54 times for 363 yards and eight touchdowns. Mikhail contributed another 37 receptions for 455 yards and five more passing touchdowns.