Notre Dame may be closing in on an early win in the 2028 class with Allen “Cinco” Kennett V, a linebacker whose recruitment has kept circling back to South Bend even as the names around him on the coaching side have changed.
Kennett has already made three trips to Notre Dame in recent months, and the relationship he’s built with Brian Jean Mary appears to have given the Irish real momentum. That progress was enough for On3 analyst Greg Biggins to recently project that Kennett will commit to Notre Dame soon.
A 4-star linebacker, Kennett stands 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds and plays at Servite High School in Anaheim, California. He briefly transferred to Santa Margarita Catholic after his sophomore season, then returned to Servite ahead of the 2026 season.
The latest Rivals Industry Rankings list Kennett as the No. 147 player in the 2028 class, the No. 10 linebacker and the No. 9 player in California.
Notre Dame’s pursuit got rolling early, and that first impression matters here. The Irish were his first offer after his performance at the Irish Invasion camp in June 2025, and from there his recruitment took off. Kennett now has more than 20 scholarship offers, with schools including Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Oregon State, Sacramento State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Washington and Wisconsin, among others.
He still has two visits on the calendar. Michigan gets him on November 7, and Oregon follows on November 14. The trip to Ann Arbor will be another look at the Wolverines after earlier contact with the program, while the Oregon visit comes after a summer stop in Eugene.
On the field, Kennett put together a strong sophomore season at Servite in 2025. He finished with a team-high 69 total tackles, including 42 solo stops, seven tackles for loss and two sacks.
He also picked off one pass and earned first-team All-Trinity League honors in his first full season at linebacker. Before making that move to defense, Kennett was primarily a quarterback as a freshman in 2024, when he completed 18 of 29 passes for 133 yards and rushed 50 times for 246 yards and two touchdowns, according to MaxPreps.
For Notre Dame, the early offer seems to have done its job. All signs point to the Irish being in position to land a commitment soon.
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