QB Zaire could be something special

Notre Dame quarterback commit Malik Zaire put his skills on display
Saturday at the Elite 11 regional competition in Columbus, Ohio.

Zaire performed well in the competition, but did not secure an
invitation to the national Elite 11 competition. He was one of six
players to compete in the competition's final event, but was bested by
Michigan commit Shane Morris, who earned MVP honors and a spot in
July's Elite 11 championship in Southern California.

247Sports.com national recruiting writer Steve Wiltfong saw Zaire in action.

“Malik really made some big time throws and showed some tremendous
ability as an athlete,” Wiltfong said. “As a quarterback he's got an
unbelievable amount of upside. He's everything that Brian Kelly looks
for in a quarterback recruit. It's just about it coming together on
the next level from here.”

Wiltfong said Zaire and Morris, along with Ohio State quarterback
commit Jalin Marshall, have formed a friendly rivalry that was on
display at the camp.

“Those three you can tell are all good friends,” Wiltfong said. “They
were laughing it up, having a good time, hanging out and competing
with each other.”

Anzalone up for grabs

Other news coming out of Ohio this weekend had linebacker Alex
Anzalone decommitting from Ohio State.

The Wyomissing, Pa., product decided to reevaluate his recruitment
shortly after it had been discovered that registered sex offender
Charles Eric Waugh had been reaching out to Ohio State players and
recruits through Twitter and personal interactions. An image surfaced
online of Waugh posing with Anzalone, Notre Dame tight end commit Mike
Heuerman and Ohio State commit Joey Bosa while the prospects were in
Columbus for Ohio State's spring game.

Anzalone's father Sal spoke with the Berks County Reading Eagle.

“Something's just not right at Ohio State,” he told the paper. “It's
not for him.”

Notre Dame could re-emerge as a potential suitor for the linebacker.

“I think that they're a school under consideration, but all signs
point to Florida being the team to beat right now,” Wiltfong said.

Stanford, USC and Penn State are also schools that Anzalone had
favored before his original commitment to Ohio State.

Brown qualifies for state

Irish signee Chris Brown competed Saturday in the South Carolina Class
AA Lower State Qualifier and has advanced to this weekend's state
track finals in four events.

In Saturday's races, the future Notre Dame wide receiver finished
first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.78 seconds and second in
the 200-meter dash with a time 22.27.

In field events, Brown placed first in the high jump at 6-foot-10 and
first in the triple jump at 48-1.

Irish earn No. 5 ranking

Scout.com released updated team recruiting rankings Monday for the
class of 2013 and Notre Dame was ranked at No. 5. Michigan landed the
No. 1 ranking with its class of 17 commits. Texas, Texas A&M, and Ohio
State rounded out the rest of the top five. USC came in at No. 10.