CHICAGO — Brayden Parks’ godfather is every bit as impressed with the ambition that the Chicago Brother Rice High standout defensive tackle shows as he is with a skill set that has Parks’ college scholarship offer list swelling by the day.
Like a 4.8-second 40-yard dash clocking by a player with a 6-foot-3, 305-pound frame. And a 350-pound bench press. And the ability to translate all of that into tangible football production.
And the drive to maximize it by the 2027 four-star prospect and Notre Dame football recruiting target doing defensive line drills with a trainer at 6 a.m., before heading off to school every day.
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“I think he’s a stud,” said Parks' godfather, Chris Zorich, Notre Dame’s All-America nose guard on its 1988 national championship team and good friends with Parks’ father, Marlon Parks, since their days as high school teammates at Chicago Vocational four decades ago..
“I mean, 6-3, 300 pounds,” Zorich continued. “He has quick feet, and it’s funny. His dad and I joke all the time, because we played football, because we just liked it. Brayden does it, because he has a purpose.
“Ever since Brayden was a little kid, he was going to a pitching coach, a hitting coach. He played basketball, baseball, football. Even now, he does separate defensive line drills that his dad has to drive him to at 6 o'clock in the morning. This guy's life is so much different from ours growing up.”
And yet Zorich openly hopes they end up at the same place — Notre Dame.
“I feel the same way about my daughter [Kylie Rose],” Zorich said. “She was fortunate enough to go to Saint Mary’s and graduated last May. And I obviously would love for him to go to Notre Dame. But at the end of the day, this has to be a choice that he makes.
“I could talk to him ’til I’m blue in the face about Notre Dame, but he has to enjoy it. He has to have experiences, conversations with coaches that he has to enjoy.”
And Parks gets the Notre Dame sales pitch in stereo. His second cousin, Tony Jones Jr., played running back for the Irish 92016-19) and regularly brought Parks to Irish football games over the years.
“Even his dad [Tony Jones Sr.],” Brayden Parks said with a smile. “Every time I call him, every time I see him, he’s like, ‘You’ve got to commit and commit now.’
“I’m like, ‘I’ve got time.’”
And yet he’s enjoying the Notre Dame experience enough, with two unofficial recruiting visits to go along with the even more unofficial trips with Jones and Zorich over the years, to keep the Irish near the top of his growing list of options.
“It’s great,” he told Inside ND Sports on Sunday during a photo shoot for the top Chicago-area players staged by longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. “Just going over and talking to [head] coach [Marcus] Freeman, coach Wash [D-line coach Al Washington]. They make me feel like it’s a second home.
“Like, I’ve always been going there, but it’s been great seeing how the people are there. They’re nice. Everybody knows each other. It’s traditional. Heismans, for a long time. And it’s going to keep being like that.”
Parks is one of three underclassmen in whom the Irish are showing strong interest, the other two being in the 2028 class — linebacker/safety Kameron McGee and tight end Jack McNamara. As far as Parks’ offers, he added his 20th on Friday, and Miami and Oregon over the past couple of days to push that total to 22.
“After this spring, after I take all my visits, I’ll be very close,” Parks said of his decision timeline. “I wouldn’t say very close, but probably sometime this summer or the beginning of this season, I would have either a final list or make my decision.”
And what’s the most important factor in that decision?
“I’d say transparency is the main thing,” Parks said. “Just being honest, seeing eye to eye. Me being honest with the coach, the coach being honest with me, my family, my teammates. That’s everything.
“Me being honest with the teachers there. Transparency is going to bring you a long way for your journey in college and for the rest of life.”
And Parks loved the transparency he saw on his last recruiting visit to Notre Dame back on March 21, including his first meeting with new Irish defensive coordinator Chris Ash.
“Me and my whole family talked to him about how I would be a good fit for their program, good fit for the team,” Parks said. “But it was my first time meeting him, but it was great.”
He has much more familiarity with Freeman and Washington.
“Coach Washington is a great guy, great coach,” Parks said. “I watched him coach for about two years now. Awesome, amazing person. Family man. He really is just a great person all around.
“Coach Marcus Freeman, he’s great. Well-spoken guy. Knows his roots, family man. He’s a religious man. He’s awesome.”
And the feeling is mutual, because Parks is an elite prospect at a position group — interior defensive line — that the Irish need to get continue to upgrade in their recruiting. Turning their attention to the Chicago area has paid off in defensive line recruiting in general.
In the 2025 class, the Irish hauled in three four-star defensive ends from the area, all of whom will enroll in June — Dominik Hulak (Elmhurst IC Catholic Prep), Joe Reiff (Elmhurst York) and Christopher Burgess Jr. (Chicago Simeon).
In the 2026 cycle, they hope to add Burgess’ Simeon teammate, McHale Blade, to committed defensive ends from North Carolina — four-star prospects Rodney Dunham and Ebenezer Ewetade.
Gabe Hill from Naperville, Ill., is among the interior D-line prospects in that class the Irish are pursuing, as is Texan Tiki Hola, who makes his college announcement on Saturday, with ND in a strong position to land him.
Parks, the No. 163 prospect overall in the 2027 cycle per Rivals, is the only D-line prospect from Chicago the Irish have offered so far in the 2027 class. But they have extended an offer to 2028 phenom Caleb “Bonecrusher” Tucker, a 6-5, 367-pound defensive tackle from reigning Illinois Class 7A champ Chicago Mount Carmel.
“There’s so much D-line talent in the Chicago area right now,” Lemming said. “Al Washington could simply live in Chicago, and Notre Dame would be in great shape. And when I talked to the kids at the photo shoot Sunday, there were so many of them that listed Notre Dame as their dream school.”
Notre Dame is still Zorich’s dream school. And the 56-year-old, who had a seven-year NFL career with the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins, still spends a lot of time there, especially during football season.
He and wife Candy opened an Airbnb near campus, with a benevolent twist for guests.
“We have what is called the Zorich Experience,” he said. “It’s kind of fun. I’m the one who checks the guests in. At my place, my jersey’s on the wall. We have a bunch of photos of coach [Lou] Holtz and coach Freeman and Tony Rice and Rocket [Ismail]. I kind of go around showing them the life of a champion, let’s say. Kind of giving them this great experience.
“At the end of it, we have this huge basket of jerseys, helmets, footballs. And I sign everything. I spend like an hour with our guests. And that’s Friday night. And they obviously go to the game and we have a great time.”
As far as the state of Notre Dame football, Zorich loves where the Irish are under Freeman, coming off a 14-2 season and a march through the 12-team College Football Playoff to the CFP National Championship Game.
“Going into the Indiana game, I was telling everybody who would listen,” said, Zorich, who currently works art executive search firm Randall Partners, “that without that Northern Illinois game [a 16-14 Irish upset loss on Sept. 7], Notre Dame doesn’t go to the national championship. They were the laughing stock of college football, and Marcus was able to use that of motivation throughout the year.
“I tell people that this is the type of leader that Marcus is. I mean, the coach from Northern [Thomas Hammock] made the comment that, ‘Hey, I’d be happy to meet with Marcus and tell him what our game plan was and how we were able to exploit your team.’ And he did. They had a conversation.
“And I think that’s what’s so special about coach Freeman. You think Brian Kelly? You think Lou Holtz would have talked to the head coach of Rice after they beat the crap out of us? No way. It just shows how much of a leader that Marcus is.
“I’m not even talking about him hiring Al Golden to find that head coaching experience on the staff. Or even to hire Chris Ash, you know someone who has this head coaching experience, even though [Freeman] is going into year 4 as a head coach, his willingness to listen.
“I’m sure you’ve been around great leadership, managers and everything else. A true leader listens. That’s what Marcus did in order for them to have success, and swallow ego and take the phone call and meet with the Northern coach and talk about a game plan and how they got beat.”
And those are some of the stories he shares with Parks.
“There’s something special that’s happening in South Bend," Zorich said, “and obviously Marcus has a lot to do with it. You look at them getting into the transfer portal and NIL, with [athletic director] Pete Bevacqua and everyone else kind of understanding what it’s going to take for them to win.”
Parks is taking it all in, but thoroughly going through the process before he makes his decision.
“It’s been busy. I would say it’s a blessing,” he said. “It’s a journey. It’s my journey, the steps that I’ve got to take. And I’m thankful for everything that has been happening.”
Including the words from his godfather.
“He’s been in my life since I was born,” Parks said of Zorich. “Great godfather. [Words] can’t even explain it.”
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