SerpApi.Org
One of the funnest things about Marcus Freeman’s time at Notre Dame is that when he and his staff miss out on a target, they tend to have a Plan B in the wings. That Plan B tends to be better than Plan A every now and then. Such is the case with Lucas Prock being the backup plan for Trey Tagliaferri.
Tagliaferri was committed to the Fighting Irish for almost a week before he unexpectedly flipped his Father’s Day commitment and chose Oklahoma instead. It took almost no time at all for ND to move on to its next quarterback target in Prock, and now it looks like the program is making some serious progress in getting the New Jersey quarterback to pull the trigger on a pledge.
Because of how things went down with Tagliaferri, Prock told Irish Sports Daily that Notre Dame’s QB coach Gino Guidugli is encouraging him to take things slow and make sure his gut feelings are right. Still, that approach from Guidugli and the full court press from the rest of the Irish coaching staff is making some serious progress.
"Just moving through this process steadily and making sure all the boxes are being checked," Prock said of the contact with Guidugli. "Going through it and making sure I know what I'm looking for in a program, just really going through everything together."
Notre Dame making serious progress with 4-star quarterback Lukas Prock
Prock believes that the Irish have already checked most of the mental boxes. "Relationships are the biggest thing," he added. "Then I think stability in the coaching staff and the program, talent, the degree obviously means something at Notre Dame. That's non-negotiable there, so that's good. Development's another big one."
Prock has a top five that puts Notre Dame alongside Florida, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio State. He’s added that things are going to move fairly quickly in the near future. That can only be good news for the Irish, who entered the race for the quarterback fairly late but seem like the frontrunners at the moment.
Prock trains with Tagliaferri, so he had an inside track on what went down and why the Irish are now on the lookout for that Plan B. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound quarterback from Hun School (Princeton, NJ) doesn’t hold it against Guidugli or Freeman that they went and got his training partner first.
"That was kind of a messy scenario, so I'm not going to blame anybody, but I don't think that takes away anything from what I think of Notre Dame."
Prock is ranked as the No. 68 player in the 2028 class, the No. 7 quarterback and the No. 3 player in New Jersey according to Rivals Industry Rankings. He completed 226 of 309 passes for 4,330 yards, 41 touchdowns and seven interceptions during his 2025 sophomore season at Hun School. He also rushed 11 times for 154 yards and one touchdown, finishing with 4,484 total yards in 12 games.
So what sets the Irish apart from the other schools Lucas Prock is considering? “I think it's different from any other place," he said. "Just Notre Dame itself, the academics mixed with the sports. They're not in a conference, which is different. The way they do things is different. I think it's really cool. It's a really cool place.”
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This article was originally published on slapthesign.com as Notre Dame’s QB recruiting reset rolling thanks to the 'difference' of the Irish.
