Ladies and gentleman, it is time to consolidate the board. We’re officially moving from doing separate offense and defense updates to doing one comprehensive update, since the board is down to 12 total prospects with a non-zero level of mutual interest. That non-zero level is defined as having a temperature of “Cool” or better, if you were wondering. I’m going to tell you in advance not to be surprised, because this is a big number: We have no less than 38 changes to the board, with a whopping 32 of them on the defensive side.

It’s been longer since we’ve done a defensive update, so it’s not outlandish that it would be lopsided, but wow… A lot of kids made decisions after taking official visits in July, not surprisingly, and our last defensive update was just before that nationwide flurry of commitments started. Conversely, on the offensive side, we only have those six changes since the last offense update but two of them were massive for the Irish.

Also, an administrative note on a development that popped up a little while ago but we’ve avoided getting into previously. 247 changed their position groupings recently, which muddies the waters a bit on rankings given that it came mid-cycle. They’ve adjusted how they bucket quarterbacks, running backs, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, and linebackers as follows:

  • QB: Now ranked just as QB – no more pro-style or dual threat sub-groupings. So Steve Angeli isn’t the #14 pro-style QB, he’s the #14 QB period.
  • RB: Similarly, gone are the all-purpose back and running back distinctions, with all backs now lumped together.
  • OL: Guards and centers have been consolidated into interior OL (“IOL” in their listings).
  • DL: This is where things get a little weird… They used to rank kids as defensive tackles, strongside ends, and weakside ends. They now rank some of them as DL, which apparently sort of means interior DL given that the bucket holds all the former DTs and most of the SDEs. “Most of, you say?” Why yes, because the new Edge designation holds all the former WDEs – and  also some of the former SDEs. And, just for good measure, some of the former OLBs. I’m not against the idea generally – Jaylen Sneed is pretty clearly a different kind of OLB than Jadeveon Clowney, after all, and we often talk about SDEs who project as 3-tech DTs – but the execution here seems sloppy.
  • LB: Like with QB and RB, there’s no more inside linebacker/outside linebacker distinction. Everyone is just a linebacker.

All of this is worth keeping in mind when you look at position rankings in this cycle. Given that they shifted midstream here I would imagine it might be mildly hosed for this cycle before being cleaned up in the 2023 cycle. The overall prospect rankings and 247 Composite scores for 2022 kids will still be pretty reliable though.

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.

Position 247C First Name Last Name Temp
OG 0.9452 Carson Hinzman Cold
OT 0.9948 Zach Rice Mild+
OT 0.9510 Aamil Wagner Warm
OT 0.9481 Julian Armella Cold
OT 0.9360 Billy Schrauth Mild+
RB 0.8739 Quinshon Judkins Mild
TE 0.8958 Benji Gosnell Cold
TE 0.8810 Arlis Boardingham Cold
WR 0.9880 Kevin Coleman Cold
WR 0.9872 Evan Stewart Cold
WR 0.9635 Andre Greene Cold
WR 0.9624 Brenen Thompson Cold
WR 0.9579 Kendrick Law Cold
WR 0.9467 Darrius Clemons Cold
WR 0.9354 Antonio Williams Cold
WR 0.8925 Omari Kelly Cold
WR 0.8742 Major Everhart Mild
WR 0.0000 Elic Ayomanor Cold
WR 0.0000 Eli King Cold
WR 0.0000 Xayvion Bradshaw Cold
CB 0.9939 Denver Harris Cold
CB 0.9585 Earl Little Jr. Cold
CB 0.9172 Ephesians Prysock Cold
CB 0.9068 Austin Ausberry Cool
CB 0.9047 Dillon Tatum Cold
CB 0.8697 Avery Powell Cold
DT 0.9715 Caden Curry Cold
DT 0.9655 Hero Kanu Mild+
DT 0.9641 Anthony Lucas Mild+
LB 0.9913 Harold Perkins Cold
LB 0.9741 Jaishawn Barham Cold
LB 0.9718 David Bailey Cold
LB 0.9355 Devon Jackson Cold
LB 0.9041 Lander Barton Cold
LB 0.9038 Robby Snelling Cold
S 0.9895 Kamari Wilson Cold
S 0.9777 Zion Branch Cold
S 0.9757 Xavier Nwankpa Warm
S 0.8889 Jake Pope Cool
S 0.8850 Cooper Barkate Cold
SDE 0.9946 Shemar Stewart Cold
SDE 0.9413 Ernest Cooper IV Cold
SDE 0.8979 Isaac Hamm Cold
WDE 0.9817 Enai White Cold
WDE 0.9762 Cyrus Moss Mild
WDE 0.9665 Kenyatta Jackson Cold
WDE 0.9397 Wilfredo Aybar Cold
WDE 0.9311 DJ Wesolak Cool
WDE 0.8315 Alex Bauman Cold

On the Board

Prospects are listed with their position, 247 Composite score, 247 Composite overall rank, and 247 Composite position rank.

  • DL Hero Kanu, 0.9656, #79/#12
  • CB Austin Ausberry, 0.9068, #258/#28

Off the Board

Deep breath…

  • DL Mykel Williams, USC, 0.9848, #28/#5
  • CB Jeadyn Lukus, Clemson, 0.9838, #31/#6
  • CB Terrance Brooks, Ohio State, 0.9793, #46/#9
  • S Bryce Anderson, Texas A&M, 0.9786, #48/#3
  • DL Dennis Dani-Sutton, Penn State, 0.9783, #49/#9
  • LB Jaylen Sneed, Notre Dame, 0.9754, #58/#6
  • WR Tetairoa McMillan, Oregon, 0.9635, #62/#5
  • CB Khamauri Rogers, Miami, 0.9734, #63/#10
  • LB Shawn Murphy, Alabama, 0.9725, #65/#8
  • WR CJ Williams, Notre Dame, 0.9636, #86/#11
  • DL Derrick Moore, Oklahoma, 0.9627, #89/#14
  • WR Tobias Merriweather, Notre Dame, 0.9484, #125/#18
  • LB Sebastian Cheeks, North Carolina, 0.9472, #130/#15
  • S Kamari Ramsey, Stanford, 0.9438, #142/#9
  • CB Jaeden Gould, USC, 0.9400, #154/#18
  • S Keenan Nelson, South Carolina, 0.9298, #172/#11
  • CB Toriano Pride, Clemson, 0.9271, #177/#22
  • S Austin Jordan, Texas, 0.9210, #197/#13
  • WR DJ Allen, TCU, 0.9207, #198/#29
  • S Cristian Driver, Penn State, 0.9175, #209/#15
  • LB Tevarua Tafiti, Stanford, 0.9110, #240/#26
  • S Jared Kerr, Texas A&M, 0.9075, #252/#18
  • CB Cam Miller, Penn State, 0.9016, #279/#30
  • S/ATH Jaden Mangham, Michigan State, 0.9000, #285/#15
  • CB Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame, 0.8958, #315/#32
  • OT Ryan Baer, Pitt, 0.8950, #376/#38
  • DT KJ Miles, Georgia Tech, 0.8925, #338/#47
  • LB Martrell Harris, Texas A&M, 0.8892, #359/#40
  • S Jake Pope, Alabama, 0.8884, #371/#26
  • S Emory Floyd, South Carolina, 0.8864, #387/#29
  • DT Kaleb Artis, Penn State, 0.8850, #456/#68
  • CB Davison Igbinosun, Rutgers, 0.8742, #533/#56
  • S Kevin Winston, Penn State, 0.8678, #644/#45
  • CB Ryland Gandy, Pitt, 0.8627, #727/#70

Flipped

  • S Taylor Groves, Michigan to Ole Miss, 0.9056, #260/#19
  • WDE Darren Agu, Notre Dame to Vanderbilt, 0.8797, #478/#26

Quarterback

Commits: Steve Angeli, 0.9127, #227/#14
Slots: 1

Running Back

Commits: JD Price, 0.9141, #220 overall/#21 position
Slots: 1-2

In our last update we moved Quinshon Judkins (pictured) from Cold to Cool, as both sides seemed to be staying in touch. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and now we’re moving him to Mild since he has set up an official for the Toledo game. (Maybe it’s just because he doesn’t want to pay for Peacock?) We like him but we’re still not really sure what to make of this; clearly the staff has some interest though, at least pending senior film availability. Stay tuned.

Wide Receiver

Commits: CJ Williams, 0.9636, #86 overall, #11 position; Tobias Merriweather, 0.9484, #125 overall, #18 position; Amorion Walker, 0.8743, #532 overall, #40 position
Slots: 3-4

The big news here is of course the staff securing the commitments of CJ Williams and Tobias Merriweather, arguably the top two receivers on the west coast in this cycle. (Tetairoa McMillan is currently ranked #62 overall but, by reports and by who is rumored to be pushing for him, may be somewhat overrated.) Williams is a potential Day 1 contributor as a big slot guy and Merriweather has all the traits of a future #1 receiver. Williams attends USC feeder Mater Dei who was courted heavily by USC and Texas, while Merriweather is a Pacific Northwest kid who was coveted by Stanford, Washington, and Oregon. They’re both big, big wins for Del Alexander and Tommy Rees…

Exactly how firm Amorion Walker‘s commitment is at this point is an open question. We’re still leaning towards him signing with Notre Dame, but a quiet visit to Michigan just after the Irish’s big BBQ weekend – which he didn’t attend – was an eyebrow raiser. He says all the right things, but as we’ve all seen, that’s not always a guarantee… We reluctantly downgraded Andre Greene to Cold. He had an official visit set up for the Cincinnati game, but yesterday he released a top six of Clemson, Georgia, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon, and Penn State. Oh well…

Nothing much to report on Lone Star State blazer Major Everhart, for the Irish or for anyone else. Watch to see if he sets up a fall visit to Notre Dame; if not, obviously this one isn’t going anywhere. He hasn’t set anything up yet but has expressed some interest… We downgraded both Elic Ayomanor and Xayvion Bradshaw to Cold after the commitments of Williams and Merriweather. Ayomanor is intriguing but redundant now; watch for Stanford here if he gets in, Tennessee if he doesn’t. And with three receivers in the fold, it seems like the staff wants to focus on prospects they feel better about than they do about Bradshaw.

Tight End

Commits: Holden Staes, 0.9036, #10 position/#268 overall; Eli Raridon, 0.8830, #18 position/#438 overall
Slots: 2

Offensive Line

Commits: OT Joey Tanona, 0.9385, #155 overall/#18 position; OT Ty Chan, 0.9235, #199 overall/#26 position; OT Ashton Craig, 0.8728, #579 overall/#52 position
Slots: 4-5

Zach Rice attended the UNC summer BBQ weekend; as we’ve said throughout, they’re likely in the lead position from him despite some optimism from Virginia and serious pursuit from, well, everyone else. We do think that Notre Dame and of course Blake Fisher made a big impression on him. If he sets up a fall visit, things could get very interesting here… There seems to be a growing consensus that Aamil Wagner isn’t the lock to Ohio State that many assumed he was throughout the process. We get the vibe that Ohio State does want him but he’s being more patient than they’d like. As we mentioned before, Kentucky is very much in the picture with his brother playing there. Gameday visits loom large. We’re cautiously optimistic…

Billy Schrauth‘s recruitment has been one hell of a roller coaster, especially given that he really doesn’t talk about it much. He was on commit watch for the Irish back in April. That commit watch kind of hung in midair for quite some time before it became obvious it wasn’t commit watch anymore, at which point momentum swung abruptly and decidedly toward Wisconsin to the point of being on commit watch there. That didn’t happen either though, and as time went on there were reports that Notre Dame had taken the lead again. The latest buzz has Wisconsin inching back into the lead and possibly really seriously being on commit watch there again. I don’t know what to make of it, but I do know that when a kid has this much trouble deciding between Notre Dame and the hometown team it doesn’t usually end in Notre Dame’s favor.

Defensive Line

Commits: DL Tyson Ford, 0.9423, #146 overall/#22 position; DL Aiden Gobaira, 0.9155, #219 overall/#29 position; DL Donovan Hinish, 0.8797, #481 overall, #73 position
Slots: 4-6

Bishop Gorman product Cyrus Moss is just as good a fit for Notre Dame as ever, but has started to clearly trend to Oregon. The Irish staff has to hope to stave them off long enough to get Moss back on campus in the fall. Whatever else happens on the line, Moss will always have a spot in the class if he wants one… Hero Kanu, curiously, made a top ten announcement a little while ago that only included nine schools. He received his Notre Dame offer shortly after, which he would later say was the hole in his top ten, and he filled that last spot quickly. Kanu grew up in Germany before moving to the States fairly recently; he visited South Bend for the end-of-July BBQ, where he not surprisingly hit it off with fellow PPI Recruits product Alex Ehrensberger. We like Notre Dame’s position here quite a bit…

Anthony Lucas is a tougher read. The DT/SDE swing candidate looked to have a top two of Texas A&M and Notre Dame for a long time; after summer visits, Alabama and Miami are making some noise too. Fall visit season will be huge; Marcus Freeman and Mike Elston will get their shot to fend off all those suitors but it won’t be easy… [Cue Eminem’s “Without Me“] Guess who’s back. Back again. DJ’s back. Tell a friend. With Darren Agu flipping to Vanderbilt, the staff has revisited DJ Wesolak. Wesolak has been sort of all over the map; Notre Dame definitely led for him at one point, then Clemson, then USC, then Arizona State, and now maybe (maybe!) Penn State. We don’t have a good read on how receptive he is to the Irish the second time around, but he’s back on the board.

Linebackers

Commits: Jaylen Sneed, 0.9754, #58 overall/#6 position; Niuafe Tuihalamaka, 0.9544 overall, #111 overall/#12 position; Josh Burnham, 0.9510, #116 overall/#13 position; Nolan Ziegler, 0.8958, #311 overall/#35 position
Slots: 4

Jaylen Sneed won linebacker MVP at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge, beating out two guys who even after rankings updates are still ahead of him in the 247 Composite (actual five-star #15 CJ Hicks and #47 Gabe Powers, both Ohio State commits, and yes of course that’s purely a coincidence). Anyway, he’s really really good, as anyone with a pair of functioning eyeballs could tell you. Sneed’s commitment shut down 2022 linebacker recruiting for the Irish with arguably the best group they’ve ever had, and undoubtedly the best of the internet recruiting era.

A brief diversion for some Michigan schadenfreude, which is always a worthwhile endeavor… Notre Dame led for Sebastian Cheeks for a long time, with Michigan (according to their mods) running second. The Irish actually turned the #130 overall player away after Sneed’s silent commitment, at which point he moved his focus to Michigan Texas, with Michigan again putatively running second. Texas also didn’t work out though, so of course at that point he moved on to Michigan North Carolina, with Michigan (stop us if you’ve heard this one) right there in it! Not surprisingly, he committed to North Carolina shortly after. Wolverine tears are delicious.

Defensive Backs

Commits: CB Jaden Mickey, 0.9127, #228 overall/#26 position; CB Benjamin Morrison, 0.8958, #315 overall/#32 position; S Devin Moore, 0.8883, #375 overall/#28 position; CB Jayden Bellamy, 0.8830, #435 overall/#42 position

The Irish landed a big commitment from Benjamin Morrison, finally winning a head-to-head battle with Washington and Jimmy Lake for a defensive back. Morrison was also courted heavily by Alabama; when Nick Saban and Jimmy Lake want a particular defensive back, his recruiting service ranking is pretty irrelevant. There is heavy conjecture among many Irish partisans that Marcus Freeman was referring to Morrison when he appeared on Chris Zorich’s podcast and talked about a kid who wanted to commit elsewhere after a visit there. According to Freeman, they had this kid, he visited the other school (presumably Washington) and was ready to flip, he ruminated as requested, and returned to the fold. Was it Morrison? We may have to wait until signing day to find out…

The crown-jewel-in-waiting for this secondary class is Xavier Nwankpa, who is talented enough to step directly into the very large shoes that Kyle Hamilton will vacate next spring. Seriously. Texas A&M and hometown Iowa are on the fringes, but really this has been and will likely continue to be a Notre Dame-Ohio State death match. Not to sound like a broken record, but fall visits will be key; Nwankpa intends to make a game for each of the Buckeyes and Irish.

How much of a focus is the elite prospect for the Irish?

That Nwankpa tweet was then re-tweeted by literally every member of the coaching and support staff, including Brian Kelly himself. If you’re into parsing social media (admittedly, a dangerous exercise), and you’re wondering if Notre Dame’s messaging is resonating with Nwankpa, check this screenshot of the Instagram live feed when CJ Williams committed:

Yes, that does indeed appear to be Nwankpa calling roomies with Williams. Was he serious? Maybe. Is it a good sign? Maybe. Is it a bad sign? Definitely not. (For what it’s worth, top 2023 WR target Carnell Tate also commented in the live stream with a simple shamrock emoji.) (Caveat lector.)

Four star Louisiana corner Austin Ausberry recently released a top six of Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, and Michigan. We’re not sure how heavily the staff is pursuing him and we don’t see the numbers working out. On the other hand he’s a recent offer, and he visited this summer and put the Irish in the final group. An interesting wrinkle here is that his brother Jaiden is a five-star linebacker in the 2023 cycle, and very much an Irish target. Would the staff take Austin to have a better shot at Jaiden? That seems unlikely, but who knows…