We are working our way through Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class composed of 24 signees from all over the United States. Today we’re taking a look at the offensive backfield with a quarterback and running back included.
Quarterback Blake Hebert
Bio:
Originally from Maple Ridge, British Columbia outside Vancouver. His family moved to Massacchussetts where he attended private school Catholic Central for 3 years before finishing his high school career at another prep academy Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Hebert committed to Clemson on June 16, 2023, then left the Tigers’ class and committed to Notre Dame on October 14, 2024.
Ranking:
364th overall, 27th QB, 2nd in Connecticut with a 0.8976 Composite score.
Size: 7.5/10
Notre Dame’s recruiting page for the class lists Hebert at 6-3 and 220 pounds which is where the recruiting services had him, as well. He’s physically mature looking and reminds me of a shorter Blake Bortles of UCF fame. You’d mistake his face for someone much older. Hebert has a really muscular lower-body further making him appear older than an incoming college freshman.
Hebert doesn’t have protypical height but his overall size won’t hold him back from seeing the field early in his career.
Hype Factor: 3.5/10
A recruit’s junior year is probably their most important over their career and certainly launches a ton of quarterback’s up the rankings as they become more known across the national scene. Hebert missed that opportunity with his ankle injury.
However, he was one of the more highly rated sophomore quarterbacks in the nation heading into the summer of 2023 and that led to his verbal to Clemson prior to being injured. Eighteen months later he comes to Notre Dame having fallen down the rankings into low 4-star status.
Outlook: Patience for 2025
It’s not HeRbert, okay? It’s going to be a long journey with his name misspelled constantly from the Irish faithful.
I wouldn’t begrudge anyone thinking things won’t work out with Hebert at Notre Dame given he’s following up the semi-anointed CJ Carr and the former Clemson commit was a clear backup plan (or two, or three) for the program. I thought his mechanics needed a lot of work, his accuracy was really spotty at times, and his ceiling doesn’t seem very high.
However, he can move a little bit and his rawness combined with his ready-made physicality could see him develop a lot quicker than we think. Sure, he’s probably buried on the depth chart for 2025 and we won’t hear much from him, especially this spring. Still, the depth chart at quarterback can turn over very quickly and there’s a world where he’s the unquestioned backup heading into 2026.
Running Back Nolan James
Bio:
James comes out of DePaul Catholic in the greater NY/NJ metro area and was teammates with incoming Irish receiver Elijah Burress. As you can imagine, their offense was Doing Good Things™ on their way to an impressive 11-1 record in 2024
He committed to Boston College in December 2023 immediately after finishing his junior season with DePaul. On November 11th of last year, James left the Eagles’ class and committed to Notre Dame where he’s the only running back in the 2025 class for the Irish.
Ranking:
590th overall, 45th RB, 18th in New Jersey with a 0.8814 Composite score.
Size: 6/10
He’s only listed at 5-10 by Notre Dame but he’s a well-built 199 pounds. James has an athletic lower-body with big hulking arms. His frame looks more like a safety and when he plays it’s not easy to slow down his momentum with hits above the waist, he’s able to shrug those off pretty easily.
At his height, James certainly isn’t going to wow with his overall size. Despite his huge arms I think he has room to add some more weight and could develop some power back skills at the collegiate level.
Hype Factor: 2/10
You can’t be a 3-star and flip a month before Signing Day and have a lot of hype. These are just truths of recruiting.
Outlook: Good Pedigree
James had a really productive career at one of the top northeast high schools in a very competitive league. I think Notre Dame will expect to get a great cultural fit and someone who understands the grind at this level. He’s not that highly rated but I would expect him to overperform relative to his national rankings.
Unless something changes drastically, there won’t be any reps available as a true freshman. He has a good profile for special teams work, although this should be an automatic redshirt situation for 2025. Going into 2026 there could be a big opportunity.
Whenever I see a kid from New England, I wonder: how good is Connecticut high school football? Is he playing against the best?
From Connecticut. HS football here is not good. However, some of the private and boarding schools struggle to get people to pay $80k to go to school there. They first took a lot of foreign students. Now they pay a lot for a football coach and get upperclassmen and postgrads prepared for D 1 football. Brunswick only plays private school but from all over New England. If you look at the top 8-10 players in CT, they pretty much all go to private school and have big offers. Most of them transferred in at some point. Used to be that Florida would poach some guys like Aaron Hernandez. Then Michigan got a bunch like Ben Mason. Now it’s all private school and ND gets 4 in a year including a 5 star originally from Canada (will black)
July 2023 from ESPN at which time they had him #122 in the 2025 class and the #3 Dual threat QB. So this was before his Jr. year when he got hurt.
“His verified testing numbers are outstanding for any position, let alone quarterback. Here’s a look at his measurables: 75.5-inch wingspan, 10-inch hands, 4.64 laser-timed 40-yard dash and 96.33 SPARQ rating for the Elite 11. His arm strength has always been evident, but at 6-3, 215 pounds, he can roll. He posted a 20.2 mph Max Speed game film, which would be excellent for a wide receiver or a running back,” said ESPN’s analysis.
You don’t see film often like that above, that shows all the throws good and bad. If Hebert receivers run routes as well as they catch the ball, I can understand his inaccuracy at times. His Dad was a QB at Div.2 AIC, so I imagine he has been groomed to be a QB since early on.
I’ve read that ND was high on Hebert early and then Deuce Knight surprisingly committed. I imagine ND kept in contact Hebert through out the process. I like the kid, he has all the tools.
Big arm, great athlete, struggles with accuracy. Wimbush 2.0?
Woof. 2 dropped TDs in the first two minutes of tape. His WRs are not great.