Can I please get a damn rest already? I mean come on, this is getting ridiculous… [wipes away crocodile tears] The hottest program in the country added yet another blue chipper today when elite tight end prospect Ian Premer announced his commitment to Notre Dame. The 6’5″, 220-pound Kansan is the sixth 2026 commit in the last eight days, and the third top 100 commit; if Notre Dame recruiting was a hot water heater, Marcus Freeman and staff have the dial set to “don’t leave Grandma alone in the shower.” In yet another remarkable reversal, as with apparent U-turns in the recruitments of Joey O’Brien and Grayson McKeogh, there was tremendous buzz building for Kansas State to keep Premer home until the Irish surprised everyone just before the finish line (“apparent” being a critical word in all three cases, as we’re not sure how correct the buzz was for any of them). Premer took a midweek official visit to Notre Dame just after their big OV weekend; rumor had it that visit went well, but Premer was consistently private throughout his recruitment so it was hard to gauge how well. I guess now we know.

You’ll see video evidence in the highlights below, but we’ll get it out of the way right now that Premer is an exceptional athlete. Last season he played both ways for Great Bend high school. On offense he had 30 catches for 541 yards and 8 TDs along with 37 carries for 260 yards and 2 TDs. On defense he had 50 tackles and 3 INTs. And he added in a kickoff return TD for good measure. In basketball, he posted a season average of 24.4 points/11.5 rebounds/3.8 assists per game. As a sophomore baseball player he hit .476 and set a school record for triples. Just Bill Brasky levels of athletic production.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9766 rating), #44 overall, #4 TE, #1 in KS

On3 Consensus — 4 star (95.01 rating), #42 overall, #4 TE, #1 in KS

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

247Sports — 4 star (94 rating), #43 overall, #3 TE, #1 in KS

On3 — 4 star (95 rating), #24 overall, #3 TE, #1 in KS

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #123 overall, #9 TE, #1 in KS

ESPN — 4 star (84 rating), #60 overall, #3 TE, #1 in KS

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (96 rating)

Note: Jamie does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s; while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves. ISD only ranks the top 50 prospects in each class, and hasn’t ranked 2026 yet. Based on past classes a 95 rating would be the bottom end of their top 50.

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame and Kansas State, Premer holds offers from Auburn, Florida, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and USC, among many others.

Highlights

Drool… Premer is way too athletic to be the size he is. Excellent speed, quickness, coordination, power, hands, everything you could ask for. As much fun as the kick return TD and the jitterbug runs and go routes are, the play that really jumped out for me came at the 2:00 mark. That release is absolutely filthy and not something you should see from a 220 pound guy. What’s really crazy is that there’s an even filthier release at 2:41, in which Premer literally leaves a guy in his dust. And for an added bonus, look at the way he finishes the play at the 4:41 mark. Ouch.

I don’t know what he has to improve at. Enrolling, I guess? Premer is as complete a prospect as the Irish have landed at tight end in a long time – I would argue even more complete than Michael Mayer, because he can do things that Mayer couldn’t. And that’s a scary thought.

Impact

I covered how many bodies there will be at tight end in the Fryzel commit post. Obviously Premer is in the same position to start, but I think he has a better shot to contribute earlier given his skill set and polish. He’ll be a multi year starter and a very good one.

Welcome to the Irish family, Ian!