Make it 3 players for the Notre Dame 2025 recruiting class. On Tuesday, Florida running back Justin Thurman committed to the Fighting Irish. The rising junior athlete is formerly from St. Louis and now attends Jesuit High School in Tampa.

Thurman was offered in June by the Irish and attended the cookout recently. He was quickly trending toward Notre Dame and here we are with an excellent offensive player early in the process.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9030), #281 overall, #27 RB, #43 in FL

On3 Consensus — 4 star (89.91 rating), #259 overall, #24 RB, #37 in FL

The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.

247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #229 overall, #21 RB, #32 in FL

On3 — 3 star (89 rating), NR overall, #27 RB, #45 in FL

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #26 RB, #45 in FL

ESPN — 3 star (79 rating), #260 overall, #25 RB, #36 in FL

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

There’s an argument to be made that the recruiting world is getting worse at evaluating these younger players.

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Thurman was holding top offers from Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, NC State, Kansas, Kansas State, Rutgers, Louisville, UCF, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Vanderbilt, and several more G5 programs.

Highlights

Thurman looks to be right around 6’0″ or maybe a tick below that and he looks pretty lean but with plenty of muscle tone already. He has long arms and looks bigger when he’s running the ball. Immediately, he is very smooth as an athlete. His style reminds me a lot of Dexter Williams. There’s a little bit of a glide to his gait and he displays pretty good open field speed.

Thurman has a nice burst through the hole and shows some good toughness, too. For an underclassman he shows an impressive amount of skill in all 3 phases of the game. There’s a lot to like here with a well-rounded player who should continue to develop more as a running back over the next couple years of high school.

Impact

Looking over the roster and the 2024 class and Notre Dame really doesn’t have a body-type like Justin Thurman. The Irish are betting on a very good but not insanely great athlete who will be able to take a couple steps up as a prep star and become one of the top players in this class. From every indication, he is a tremendous fit within the culture at Notre Dame which partly explains why the Irish moved so quickly to secure his commitment.

Welcome to the Irish family, Justin!