So, I don’t know if you folks have heard, but 2023 recruiting is going really well. Like, really well. In his first cycle as the head man, Marcus Freeman has Notre Dame ranked #1 nationally in the 247 Composite; it’s very unlikely (but not impossible!) that they’ll finish there, but our recruitnik opinion is that the floor for the class’s final ranking is likely #5, with a finish as high as #3 reasonably in play. No, wait wait, don’t walk away! We promise it’s real this time! We know you’ve heard all of this before, but this time we mean it!
In all seriousness, we believe that it is in fact quite real this time. In terms of 247 Composite average recruit score, the high water mark for the Brian Kelly era was the #5-ranked 2013 class, led by five-stars Jaylon Smith and Max Redfield and top 50 prospect Greg Bryant (RIP), checked in at 0.9230. The #8-ranked 2022 class, headlined by five-star linebacker Jaylen Sneed, was just behind with an average score of 0.9225. The internet era high (roughly 2000 forward) is Charlie Weis’s 2008 class, which featured Michael Floyd, Dayne Crist, Kyle Rudolph, and Ethan Johnson; it landed at a 0.9310 average and #2 ranking. The 2023 class currently sits at 0.9356. We track reasonable, optimistic, and pessimistic closing scenarios through the cycle; at the moment our reasonable scenario is 0.9416, our optimistic is 0.9596, and our pessimistic is 0.9326 – meaning, yes, our pessimistic outlook is 0.0016 ahead of the best class of the internet era. The class is also within striking distance of Weis’s high mark of nine top 100 players, also set in the 2008 class, with five now and four or five more it could reasonably add based on where things stand now.
So where would these hypothetical classes rank, you ask? Our realistic guess yields a 247 Composite score of 310.60, which over the last five cycles would’ve ranked anywhere from second to fourth. Our optimistic guess gives a 323.48 score, which would’ve ranked first or second in any of the last five cycles. Our pessimistic guess gives a 290.57, which would’ve ranked anywhere from third to sixth. That’s why we feel fairly confident in saying that the floor for this class is likely within the top five. There’s a very strong probability that, in his first full cycle, Freeman will break into the “not sure we can get that high” level of the Brian Kelly era. Crazy stuff man.
One final note before we jump into the board itself: The staff seems to be setting up consecutive weekends in June as the major official visit dates for this summer. We’ll get into them more after the board review, but for now just keep in mind that those are the weekends of June 10th and June 17th.
The Board
A reminder on how we do this – we’ll include the entire big board table but only review prospects who are above “Cold” status and who have had actual developments of late. Speaking of which, the temperature scale:
- Hot means the prospect is on commit watch.
- Warm means the prospect has Notre Dame in a small final group and/or is a possible Irish lean.
- Mild/Mild+ means the prospect is in regular contact with the staff and has visited or has firm visit plans.
- Cool means the prospect has some level of contact with the staff and/or vague visit plans; also the default temperature for most new offers.
- Cold is a known (or reasonably safely assumed) lack of contact with the staff and/or an elimination.
Also, on the 247 Composite scores: Roughly speaking above .9830 is a five star, above .9500 is a top 100 prospect, above .9200 is a top 200 prospect, and above .8900 is a four star. Those slide around a little within a cycle and from one cycle to the next, but they’re pretty solid ballpark numbers.
Remember that of course we don’t have perfect information on all prospects – we don’t know for sure whether a prospect has or hasn’t talked to the staff outside of what’s reported elsewhere. We don’t know for sure how high prospects are on the staff’s board. We try to make highly-educated guesses at all of it, but we don’t know.
Unit | Position | Name | 247C | Temp |
O | IOL | Harris Sewell | 0.9653 | Cold |
O | IOL | TJ Shanahan | 0.9501 | Cold |
O | IOL | Markis Deal | 0.9412 | Cold |
O | OT | Kadyn Proctor | 0.9972 | Cold |
O | OT | Samson Okunlola | 0.9847 | Cool |
O | OT | Chase Bisontis | 0.9753 | Cold |
O | OT | Cayden Green | 0.9741 | Cold |
O | OT | Charles Jagusah | 0.9683 | Warm |
O | OT | Monroe Freeling | 0.9622 | Mild+ |
O | OT | Vysen Lang | 0.8799 | Cold |
O | OT | Elijah Paige | 0.8763 | Mild |
O | OT | Koby Keenum | 0.8638 | Cold |
O | QB | Arch Manning | 1.0000 | Cold |
O | QB | Dante Moore | 0.9976 | Warm |
O | QB | Avery Johnson | 0.9352 | Cool |
O | RB | Rueben Owens | 0.9913 | Cold |
O | RB | Richard Young | 0.9910 | Mild |
O | RB | Justice Haynes | 0.9794 | Cold |
O | RB | Cedric Baxter | 0.9793 | Cold |
O | RB | Treyaun Webb | 0.9494 | Cold |
O | RB | Jeremiyah Love | 0.9228 | Mild |
O | RB | Jayden Limar | 0.9062 | Warm |
O | RB | Marquese Williams | 0.8946 | Cold |
O | TE | Duce Robinson | 0.9899 | Cold |
O | TE | Jaxon Howard | 0.9582 | Cold |
O | WR | Brandon Inniss | 0.9944 | Cold |
O | WR | Jalen Brown | 0.9835 | Cold |
O | WR | Carnell Tate | 0.9819 | Cool |
O | WR | Hykeem Williams | 0.9817 | Cold |
O | WR | Jalen Hale | 0.9817 | Cold |
O | WR | Johntay Cook | 0.9816 | Cold |
O | WR | Jaquaize Pettaway | 0.9774 | Cold |
O | WR | DeAndre Moore | 0.9760 | Cold |
O | WR | Noah Rogers | 0.9748 | Cold |
O | WR | Dalton Brooks | 0.9699 | Cold |
O | WR | Nathaniel Joseph | 0.9582 | Cold |
O | WR | Rodney Gallagher | 0.9540 | Warm |
O | WR | Jaden Greathouse | 0.9524 | Warm |
O | WR | Aidan Mizell | 0.9354 | Cold |
O | WR | Christian Hamilton | 0.9286 | Cold |
O | WR | Micah Tease | 0.9253 | Mild |
O | WR | Tyler Williams | 0.9227 | Cool |
O | WR | Rico Flores | 0.9225 | Warm |
O | WR | Malik Elzy | 0.8972 | Cool |
O | WR | Joshua Manning | 0.8950 | Cool |
O | WR | Ronan Hanafin | 0.8850 | Mild+ |
D | CB | AJ Harris | 0.9912 | Cold |
D | CB | Tony Mitchell | 0.9909 | Cold |
D | CB | Javien Toviano | 0.9877 | Cold |
D | CB | Malik Muhammad | 0.9802 | Cold |
D | CB | Caleb Presley | 0.9604 | Cool |
D | CB | Christian Gray | 0.9495 | Warm |
D | CB | Micah Bell | 0.9379 | Warm |
D | CB | Sharif Denson | 0.9334 | Cold |
D | CB | Jasiah Wagoner | 0.9295 | Mild+ |
D | CB | Kayin Lee | 0.9290 | Cold |
D | CB | Ethan Nation | 0.9279 | Cold |
D | CB | Calvin Simpson-Hunt | 0.9013 | Mild |
D | CB | Amare Snowden | 0.8960 | Cold |
D | CB | Jyaire Hill | 0.8946 | Cold |
D | DL | David Hicks | 0.9977 | Cold |
D | DL | Peter Woods | 0.9873 | Cold |
D | DL | Vic Burley | 0.9840 | Cold |
D | DL | Jason Moore | 0.9783 | Warm |
D | DL | Derrick LeBlanc | 0.9612 | Cold |
D | DL | Avion Carter | 0.9574 | Cold |
D | DL | John Walker | 0.9558 | Cold |
D | DL | Keldric Faulk | 0.9506 | Cold |
D | DL | Hunter Osborne | 0.9427 | Cold |
D | DL | Xzavier McLeod | 0.9296 | Cold |
D | DL | Jalen Thompson | 0.9183 | Cold |
D | DL | Stephiylan Green | 0.9005 | Cold |
D | DL | Kendrick Gilbert | 0.8978 | Cold |
D | DL | Ashton Sanders | 0.8678 | Cold |
D | DL | Stantavious Smith | 0.8577 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Matayo Uiagalelei | 0.9906 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Jayden Wayne | 0.9860 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Chandavian Bradley | 0.9859 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Desmond Umeozulu | 0.9471 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Ta’Mere Robinson | 0.9366 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Dylan Gooden | 0.9326 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Neeo Avery | 0.9286 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Derion Gullette | 0.8908 | Cold |
D | EDGE | Kennedy McDowell | 0.0000 | Cold |
D | LB | Nyckoles Harbor | 0.9936 | Cold |
D | LB | Anthony Hill | 0.9935 | Cold |
D | LB | Samuel M’Pemba | 0.9927 | Mild |
D | LB | Malik Bryant | 0.9831 | Cold |
D | LB | Troy Bowles | 0.9794 | Cold |
D | LB | Jaiden Ausberry | 0.9792 | Mild+ |
D | LB | Tackett Curtis | 0.9760 | Cold |
D | LB | Jordan Hall | 0.9345 | Cold |
D | LB | Tre Edwards | 0.9215 | Cold |
D | LB | Jayvant Brown | 0.9185 | Cold |
D | LB | Tony Rojas | 0.9145 | Cold |
D | LB | Jaden Robinson | 0.8937 | Cold |
D | LB | Phil Picciotti | 0.8884 | Cold |
D | S | Caleb Downs | 0.9943 | Mild |
D | S | Derek Williams | 0.9787 | Cold |
D | S | Joenel Aguero | 0.9784 | Cold |
D | S | Mikal Harrison-Pilot | 0.9550 | Cold |
D | S | Isaac Smith | 0.9291 | Cold |
D | S | Rahmir Stewart | 0.9245 | Cold |
D | S | Daemon Fagan | 0.9023 | Cold |
D | S | King Mack | 0.8885 | Cold |
Quarterback
Commits: None
Slots: 1
You either have to be a well-adjusted human adult who doesn’t follow recruiting, or you have to have been living under a rock to not know that Dante Moore is the biggest domino in the cycle for Notre Dame. The Martin Luther King (Detroit) star has Oregon, Miami, LSU, and Michigan in the picture as well, but the Irish are considered the leader by, well… everyone. Every Notre Dame beat and every other team’s beat and every regional and national analyst says the same thing, that Notre Dame leads and they can’t quite figure out who is second. This recruitment seems to be a rather agonizing question of when, not if, with the timing as much of a mystery as is who is running second. We know that Moore will not be at the June 10th recruit-a-palooza due to a 7-on-7 conflict, but there’s a solid chance he’ll visit the following weekend. Our guess is that the timing mystery wouldn’t survive much beyond that hypothetical visit.
There really isn’t much going on beyond Moore at this point. Avery Johnson is barely still on the radar; it’s hard to have a sense of how much the staff is still recruiting him, which is a statement in its own right. Arch Manning is almost certainly staying in the South, with Texas and Alabama the most likely destinations at the moment; Peyton and Eli being on campus to film a Ghostbusters skit with Jerome Bettis a few weeks ago is probably about as close as Arch will get to the Golden Dome. Running Back
Running Back
Commits: None
Slots: 2-3
This is going to be an interesting position to watch. Sedrick Irvin committed way back in September and had been solid since, but it almost seems like he’s an afterthought for the staff now just tweeted that he has decided to decommit. Timely… It’s unfortunate for a kid who by all accounts was all in on Notre Dame, but at the end of the day it’s a harsh reality of the recruiting world and both sides have plenty of time to go in different directions.
In that vein, Jayden Limar is announcing next week and Notre Dame is the favorite to land him. He’ll take his official visit on June 10th… The staff is also still heavily pursuing – and would take regardless of Limar’s decision – Jeremiyah Love, who recently posted a 4.38 40 and is taking his official on June 17th. Love has some positional flexibility, as he could potentially land at slot WR or CB, so that adds a dimension to this as well…
But wait, there’s more! Five-star back Richard Young, #19 overall in the class, just tweeted that he’ll take a midweek official visit on June 13th. He’s been in the “don’t even bother” bucket almost since the beginning of the cycle – in public perception, at least, although clearly not in Freeman’s assessment. Getting Young to visit is an enormous win for Deland McCullough, who swung through Florida recently expressly for this purpose. This is very much a long shot still, and we’d still be a little surprised if Young ends up anywhere but Alabama (think back to Tony Alford convincing Bo Scarbrough to visit), but… Man. Clearly Young is a guy you’d take no matter what.
Wide Receiver
Commits: Braylon James, 0.9714, #67/#11 position
Slots: 4-5
More intrigue here! Braylon James was a huge start to the class – not only is adding that kind of talent, and that kind of talent from Texas, a big deal in and of itself, but he’s the second highest ranked receiver commit since Michael Floyd (behind #37 Jordan Johnson in the 2020 cycle).
There are all kinds of variations in play for how the staff will round out the class from here. They’re still in the running for #39 overall Carnell Tate, although most likely trailing Ohio State and Tennessee. While Tate can be tough to read, it would surprise us slightly if Notre Dame comes back in this one, but Stuckey, Rees, and Freeman will keep swinging… Top 100 prospect Rodney Gallagher just visited and loved it, and as of today is scheduled to be back for an official visit on June 10th. He’s from Pennsylvania but he’s only about 30 minutes from West Virginia, who is the likely leader right now. That June visit will be enormous, if the Irish can make sure it happens… There are also some rumblings that one or two of the committed-elsewhere top 100 receivers may not be solid, so keep an eye on that…
Jaden Greathouse, who sits just outside the top 100, is another Texan that has high interest in Notre Dame. He also just visited and will also be back on an official on June 17th. National 247 stalwart Steve Wiltfong recently predicted Greathouse to the Irish… Four star Oklahoman Micah Tease is an interesting prospect. He prefers offense but is open to and could end up at cornerback. We think the staff would take him on either side of the ball. He will also take an official on June 10th. (See? We weren’t kidding.)
You know who else will official on June 10th? Four star Californian Rico Flores, one of the smoothest receiver prospects in the country. Notre Dame is likely his second choice behind Ohio State, but Ohio State may not have room for him. Hey, we’re fine with that… Tyler Williams, Malik Elzy, and Joshua Manning are all on the radar to varying degrees, but it’s hard to know how hard the staff is pushing for them or whether they would have to wait for other decisions. None have officials scheduled at this point…
Finally, Ronan Hanafin is another intriguing two-way prospect. He could end up at receiver, or maybe safety, or maybe even linebacker. The staff absolutely loves him as a football player, and his offer list trend this spring suggests lots of other staffs do too. Despite his somewhat middling ranking, since the calendar turned to 2022 he has picked up offers from Michigan, Ohio State, Miami, Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, LSU, and USC, among many others. He’ll take an official to Notre Dame on June 10th, sandwiched between officials to Clemson, Nebraska, and Alabama.
Tight End
Commits: Cooper Flanagan, 0.9179, #206 overall/#11 position
Slots: 1
We think Notre Dame is done here? They’re very happy with Cooper Flanagan, and have made sure to continue to recruit him as Alabama has tried to pry him away… Georgia tight end commit Luckie Lawson, who is not on the Big Board because he doesn’t have an offer, visited for the spring game, but nobody really knows what to make of that. Our guess is it doesn’t mean anything… For both Duce Robinson and Jaxon Howard, we don’t believe either side is that interested in pursuit at this time.
Offensive Line
Commits: OT Sullivan Absher, 0.9021, #280 overall/#23 position; IOL Sam Pendleton, 0.8885, #376 overall/#23 position
Slots: 4-5
Big game hunting the rest of the way for Harry Hiestand and the Irish offensive line. Five star Samson Okunlola has never really reciprocated Hiestand’s interest, despite noting NFL development as a key part of his process. Go figure. The staff will keep swinging, but anything happening here would be surprising… The Irish have been in a great spot for a long time with top 100 tackle Charles Jagusah. He’ll official on June 17th and we suspect won’t be uncommitted past that weekend – maybe even before that weekend… Top 100 South Carolinian Monroe Freeling is perhaps more in play for others than Jagusah, but we believe in the end that Notre Dame will win an offensive line battle with Clemson for the third time this cycle. He will take an official on June 10th…
We think that Elijah Paige, who will take an official on June 3rd (subversive!), and Joe Otting, who has drawn from interest from Hiestand and will camp in hopes of an offer this summer, may have to wait on other guys.
Defensive Line
Commits: EDGE Keon Keeley, 0.9948, #9 overall/#1 position; DL Brenan Vernon, 0.9587, #84 overall/#10 position; DL Boubacar Traore, 0.9350, #150 overall/#22 position; DL Devan Houstan, 0.9221, #194 overall/#26 position
Slots: 4-5
That the staff would have the group committed that they do and still be searching for another commit reeks of greediness, and we absolutely love it. Keon Keeley is the top edge prospect in the cycle, and Notre Dame’s fifth highest ranked commit of the internet era regardless of position. He’ll official on June 10th… Brenan Vernon is just the fifth top 100 defensive lineman commit since 2010. He’ll also official on June 10th… The staff flipped Boubacar Traore, who has roughly the same ranking as 2017 defensive headliner Darnell Ewell, from Boston College. He projects as a 3-tech tackle or big end. He will also official on June 10th…
Devan Houstan, from Maryland by way of Canada, is a 3-tech/nose guard prospect whose brother is a D1 basketball player (Caleb plays at Michigan, which makes Devan’s commitment even better). He will also official on… well, I’ll let you guess… Finally, top 50 prospect Jason Moore, who is also from Maryland and who also has a brother playing D1 basketball (Justin stars at Villanova – he’s the guy whose torn Achilles in the tournament scuttled their bid). The Irish are the heavy favorite to land him. He’ll take an official on, yes, June 10th with all the other linemen. Draw your own conclusions.
Linebackers
Commits: Drayk Bowen, 0.9762, #53 overall/#5 position; Preston Zinter, 0.8930, #340 overall/#28 position
Slots: 4-5
Drayk Bowen got the linebacker group started off with a bang last fall and has been as active a recruiter as Blake Fisher was in the 2021 cycle. He even placed the ND monogram prominently in his first tattoo recently. He’s an elite talent on the gridiron (and the diamond!) and he’s about as solid as they come. The Indianan has been to campus many times as a recruiting assistant and, of course, will also be at the June 10th weekend. Probably the June 17th weekend as well…
Preston Zinter followed a few months later after getting the push from the Irish staff that never came for older brother Zak, who currently starts at guard for Michigan. Like Hanafin, Zinter’s ranking belied his offer list – he holds offers from Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, and Wisconsin, among many others. The staff loves his athleticism and potential…
As happy as they are with the guys they have, the staff also rightly views five star Samuel M’Pemba as a unicorn. He has drawn whispered comparisons to Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Jaylon Smith from some corners of the Notre Dame beat. M’Pemba, who plays for IMG but hails from the St. Louis area, has been to Notre Dame multiple times and will return on June 17th for an official. He and his family is also Catholic, for what that’s worth. He could go all the way to the February signing day and every heavy hitter is after him, but there are reasons for optimism for Notre Dame here…
Top 50 prospect Jaiden Ausberry is another kid who has more interest in Notre Dame than you might expect. He goes to University Lab High School, which is on LSU’s campus, and his father works in LSU’s athletic department. Signed, sealed, and delivered for the Tigers, right? Not so fast – as evidenced by his brother Austin, who signed with Auburn last cycle. He likes the Irish and Al Golden in particular, and will also be in for an official on June 10th. Seriously, it’s a huge weekend…
Finally, the staff is pursuing Derion Gullette very hard. He doesn’t have any visits set up yet, so keep an eye on that – if we get through summer without him visiting it’s likely not going to happen.
Defensive Backs
Commits: S Peyton Bowen, 0.9739, #63 overall/#4 position; S Adon Shuler, 0.9287, #170 overall/#12 position
Peyton Bowen is arguably the greatest flight risk in the class, with Oklahoma constantly lurking, but to date he has stayed solid. The Irish staff is very much staying on top of his recruitment regardless of his commitment status, which hasn’t always been the case in the past… Adon Shuler looks more and more like a steal, most recently when his father tweeted a picture of him looking like a full grown man. Yeesh. Both Shuler and Bowen will take officials on June 10th…
The big fish on the board is five star Georgian safety Caleb Downs, who has maintained consistent interest in the Irish. I have a hard time believing the staff can pry him away from Alabama and Georgia, but Chris O’Leary is doing yeoman’s work to keep Notre Dame in the picture here. And, of course, Downs will take his official on June 10th… As much as they’ve tried, the staff never really got the ball rolling with top 100 corner Caleb Presley. He’s still on the radar but just barely; we get the sense that the Washington native will prefer staying out west…
Notre Dame has been in great shape with borderline top 100 corner Christian Gray for a long time. LSU tossed a wrench in the works recently when they hired his former high school coach, Robert Steeples, as their new cornerbacks coach; you may remember Steeples from the Jakailin Johnson recruitment, when some Irish fans wanted Kelly to hire Steeples as Todd Lyght’s replacement to land Johnson. Apparently DeSmet cranks out D1 corner prospects? Anyway… Gray recently tweeted that he’ll announce on July 4th. We still like the Irish here but it’s going to be a fight. Gray will take his official on June 10th…
The staff moved quickly on four-star Texan Micah Bell after Justyn Rhett decommitted, and by all accounts that increased interest has been mutual. Bell ran a wind-aided 10.46 and a wind-legal 10.62 100M as a sophomore, as well as posting several sub-22.0 200M times and a 23’6″ long jump. He also just posted an offer from Harvard, so no question he profiles well to Notre Dame. Bell will take his official on June 17th – we think the staff will try to close on that trip if they can…
Jasiah Wagoner just picked up a Notre Dame offer a couple of weeks ago. It’s a little early in the game, from Notre Dame’s perspective anyway, for us to feel comfortable guessing how this will go. He was interested enough to set up an official for June 17th, at least, so we’ll see what happens there.
Big Time Weekends
Circling back to those huge recruiting weekends… June is going to be a very, very busy month. In addition to running a few camps where they’ll put eyes on fringe ’23 prospects and, hopefully, elite underclassman prospects, the staff has arranged one big official visit weekend and one stupendously gigantically enormous official visit weekend.
The June 17th weekend is a smaller affair but a very impactful one. The staff will host #16 overall Samuel M’Pemba, #71 Charles Jagusah, #110 Jaden Greathouse, #140 Micah Bell, #167 Jasiah Wagoner, and #191 Jeremiyah Love. As noted above, there’s a possibility that #5 Dante Moore will be there, and we would imagine there will be at least a few current commits as well. It wouldn’t surprise us at all to see, for example, Drayk Bowen and/or Brenan Vernon there, even if they also come out for the June 10th weekend.
And that June 10th weekend… Wow. It’s a USC-game quality visit list. As of today, the visitor list includes (current commits in italics):
- #9 Keon Keeley
- #11 Caleb Downs
- #47 Jaiden Ausberry
- #50 Jason Moore
- #53 Drayk Bowen
- #63 Peyton Bowen
- #67 Braylon James
- #79 Monroe Freeling
- #101 Rodney Gallagher
- #114 Christian Gray
- #150 Boubacar Traore
- #170 Adon Shuler
- #183 Micah Tease
- #192 Rico Flores
- #194 Devan Houstan
- #206 Cooper Flanagan
- #254 Jayden Limar
- #280 Sullivan Absher
- #340 Preston Zinter
- #376 Sam Pendleton
- #410 Ronan Hanafin
Almost a tenth of the top 100 prospects in the country are visiting that weekend. Insane. Remember also that #19 Richard Young will stop by between the two big weekends. Party times, folks. Party times.
If you’re curious – and I’m guessing you are – our “reasonable” closing projection includes the addition of both Moores, Ausberry, Jagusah, Freeling, Greathouse, Gray, Bell, Wagoner, Tease, Love, Flores, Limar, and Hanafin. You could do some shuffling in there between those guys and a few other prospects but the overall picture would be roughly the same.
P.S. If anyone was wondering whether the NCAA lacrosse postseason selection committee still sucks, the answer is yes.
Recruiting was going so well and has been so interesting I re-upper with a recruiting service for the first time in like 7 years. Every other year was pretty much the exact same story.
Interestingly enough offensive line and tight end recruiting appear to be trending to drag DOWN the overall average. Currently they definitely are and even with freeling and jagasuh would still pull down the average.
Have to admit pulling ausberry would be pretty pretty pretty good. conversely losing dante to LSU would be torturous. would honestly he rather go to michigan than lsu
We’ve discussed it before in the writers’ room, but if there’s one position I’m cool grabbing lower-rated guys if the position coach likes them and coaching them up, it’s offensive line. In Hiestand we trust.
Any thoughts on whether the highest classes will not be quite as strong as they have been recently with perhaps top 100 recruits being spread among a broader set of schools with new strong recruiters at places like USC, Miami, etc. including ND?
would have to think it lowers the ceiling a bit right?!? I mean nico and presumably tate end up at tennessee, florida will be better than the past 5 years. I don’t think we’ll quite see the isolation of georgia, bama, ohio state that we had in the past
Yea that’s what I’m thinking. (And right, Tenn and Florida are two other good examples.)
So I’m hoping that getting 9-10 top 100 guys will be pretty close to the top of the new heap even though in the last few years it seems like the top programs have been getting closer to 13-14.
And so what might have been class X in recent years will – following this line of thinking, with the same score, be something like X+1 or 2 (in the better direction).
Maybe? Miami would probably tilt things more than SC. Aside from the last couple of years under Helton they still cleaned up on SoCal skill position kids. Florida kids have been more spread out and that might have a little effect, but in the end they can only take so many.
I think you have little blips from year to year but over time things pretty much stay the same. As long as Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, USC, ND, etc. have on-field success and plus recruiting staffs, they’re going to keep cleaning up.
I think that’s part of the point. USC will start taking away some those players that the top programs were getting in the last couple of years and I would imagine start poaching also from out of state too.
It would be interesting to see who/how many has been getting the top 100 players and see how that changes (or if it changes) with some of the recent coaching changes.
Looking at the top 100 for the past few years a little closer, it’s a bit of an outlier even for elite standards:
2021
Bama – 15
OSU – 14
2022
Bama – 16
A&M – 18
It wouldn’t take much spreading out for the very top team to have the more “normal” 11 or 12 top 100 players rather than the 14-16 in the last two years.
Bama’s average from 2018-2022 is 11.4 a year (2018 they only had 4) and that’s the top average during that timespan. Georgia is 2nd with 10.2 average with a low of 8 in 2021. And OSU is third with an average of 9 (low of 4).
So I would bet if we could get 10 top 100 players that we’d be in the hunt for the top class.
Just for the record ND’s average is 3 during that timespan – placing 13th.
As additional note on how well ND is doing right now with respect to top 100 players.
We’ve had 8 top 100 players in the last 3 years and 10 in the last 4. We seem likely to equal the first number and possible to equal or even surpass the 2nd number. That means we’ll get equal to or more top 100 players in this one cycle than we have in the last 3 or 4 years combined.
Whoa whoa whoa there, he may be wrong every single time but EJ Holland is still a someone!
Incorrect.
Brendan, Do you think Johnson has legit interest in ND and understands he’s just going to have to see what happens there ? I know the staff truly loves Moore but, Johnson would be the 2nd gifted QB with interest that ND passed on while they wait and see. I hope they’re correct in both their skill evaluations and interest perceived.
What do you make of Jordan Hall scheduling an OV in June ? Still cold ?
I don’t think Johnson will have to wait for ND, I think he’ll have some decent options and move on one of them. I also don’t think the staff is playing quite the high stakes game of chicken that it might seem like they are. Just a hunch.
Hall was very inconsiderate in scheduling his OV after I wrote the article, lol. I would move him up to Mild now. I hadn’t seen anything about him in forever so I wasn’t even aware that the staff was still in communication with him. Freaking ninjas on this staff.
Folks feel increasingly confident that Moore is an ND person. Nobody has really explained his recent visits elsewhere, but it seems to me that they were basically trying to leverage more NIL money out of ND. And to that I say:
Good for him and I hope it worked.
The guy sucks so take this with a grain of salt but.. Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck (Oregon’s On3 site) claims Dante is expected to receive $1 million per year in NIL from ND.
Assuming that is even close to being true, how would that work? Who is actually giving him that money?
Well, we’ve increased our 18S Premium subscription for a reason…
Personally I think $10,000 a month is a pittance to pay for this incredible journalism and a 5* QB.
@Irishchamp23
https://www.fundfoundation.org/
I never got the sense that it would be that kind of money, but great that it is (assuming its even close to what the report is)!
You think it great that these kids are being promised that much money ? hmmm or maybe harrumph is more apropos.
Well what I meant was great that we might be able to play the game that everyone is playing.
As far as the kind of game it is so to speak, I think it reveals more where we are as a society and what we value. We as a society value elite athletes and so we put our money where our mouth is. But this is nothing new – see professional sports. I think this is treating sports as being at least a few notches too high on the “how important is this” meter.
The only thing that is new is that the money is allowed to flow to younger and younger athletes. I just hope their parents can help them genuinely handle the money well at so young an age (it’s tough enough for athletes in their 20’s and 30’s).
That organization isn’t that kind of money, and there are actual charity commitments expected from the player for whatever money does go to them.
If there’s anything quietly happening along the lines of what Hopkins suggests – and to be clear, I don’t have any intel that says there is – then it would be more along the lines of what all the other schools are loudly doing.
Also, while I don’t have any intel, I do think it would be somewhat naive to think that these elite kids who could get legal seven figure deals elsewhere would come to ND for free out of the kindness of their hearts.
yea that makes more sense just it would just be from that particular charitable organization.
It seems every nd recruiting guy is very confident in dante moore to nd. I would feel much better if he wasn’t taking all these visits and at michigan now. I do think ND could easily go to back up guys and tell them they had a silent from dante and that is why they stopped recruiting them and come in and snag a solid backup plan.
One thing I may have missed, why are there no crystal balls on 247 for dante? with how whimsical they are with some of them, it seems odd
“Notre Dame could be in a similar situation if Moore goes elsewhere and the Irish turn to Johnson.”
Adam Gorney (rivals) on Avery Johnson in an article on where the top QBs are going. He seems to think Johnson is plan B or C for Oregon and ND. Right now he still predicts Moore to ND and Johnson to KSU. Johnson is a helluva athlete, excelling at baseball, basketball too. Most years I’d be happy to get him.
Very much appreciate these boards. Two nits: I’d flip the likelihoods of Love (who I’d say is at least mild+ if not warm – I think he moves to warm if ND can’t get Young) and Gallagher (who I’d say is only warm for West Virginia and may commit there before getting back on campus at ND).
I think Love has a spot right now if he wants it. I doubt anyone on staff would be so optimistic as to make anything contingent on Young, who would have a spot no matter what else happens anyway. If by some miracle they do land Young, Love could move to slot WR. I think we’ll try to get four true receivers, but the staff would be fine with five in that scenario too.
Also, I would agree on Gallagher – the tide shifted on him after I wrote this. I would actually downgrade him to “Cool” now.
No bad news allowed on this post
Moore now taking a visit to A&M… Hope he doe$n’t $ee anything he like$ in College $tation
Great to see the Board return!
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the players that aren’t in or near the top 200 on the visit lists are being underrated by the recruiting services. Of course that puts a lot of faith in Freeman and his staff in the ability to evaluate talent.
Hanafin is fascinating. Kind of reminds me of Jake Pope from last cycle – a number of people pooh-poohed his Alabama offer as non-committable, until he committed to them. The recruiting services definitely missed on Pope, who ironically enough was very near Hanafin’s ranking at #403, given that Alabama was very happy to take him.
If the services missed on Hanafin too they missed in a very big way based on the offers that have come in recently for him. Massachusetts prep ball isn’t exactly known as a hotbed and his competition is definitely suspect, but the big programs definitely seem to really want him. It’ll be an interesting recruitment to track.
Massachusetts prep definitely isn’t an elite state but maybe I’m crazy or biased by ND and B1G recruiting but they seem to be generating some more blue chip prospects than I remember from before. Especially compared to the rest of New England and NY. Anything to that or am I way off?
Here are the top 5 star/top 100/4 star (each contains the prior) from MA
2023: 1/2/5
2022: 0/0/2
2021: 0/0/2
2020: 0/0/4
2019: 0/0/0
2018: 0/0/2
2017: 0/0/0
There is top 100 OL from MA in 2024, but that’s it, although 2024 is still very early.
So yes, this year there is a very strong presence from MA and ND is taking advantage.
Michigan and BC appear to do the best in MA. It looks like ND does quite well, when it wants, but doesn’t dip in there too much.
Thanks! Looks like a bit of an uptick especially this year, though that could be an outlier. But between Hanafin and Traore and Ty Chan and a few other names popping up, it seemed like I was seeing a lot more Massachusetts guys than I expected.
This year Okunlola is out of Brockton and a 5 star composite. There’s Joenel Aguero (who I’ve never heard of before right now) who is Crystal Balled to UGAas a top 50 player, 2 guys to ND (and maybe Hanafin), and the rest are committed to PSU, Nebraska, and BC.
So even the lower ranked guys are going P5. Good job Mass.
Question on if (hopefully when) we get Dante Moore to commit – what’s the likelihood that some guys, hopefully WRs, who are on the fence about Notre Dame might be more willing to commit knowing they would get to play with him? Not likely, very likely, who knows?
It would probably help with guys ND is already in decent position for (like Jaden Greathouse), but I don’t think it swings anyone big. There was talk very early on that Moore and Carnell Tate would be a package deal, but since then Tate seems to have moved on to Ohio State and Tennessee. ND is still recruiting him but not generally considered a major contender.
Thanks! That’s kind of what I figured. I’d hoped it would mean everyone would be fawning over us even more so, but I’ll take “slight improvement with high quality players leaning towards us”
At this point, it’s more likely that most or all of the receiver class is in place before Moore decides. If things go to plan. But might actually help push him over the edge.
I wonder if getting Moore would have more of an effect on WRs in next year’s class. They would be more assured of having a top QB throwing to them.
I had that thought too but I know that QBs committing to a school and actively recruiting other players, especially WRs, is also a thing
That’s true. I would think the QB would have to commit early on for that to work well.