Our review of the 2024 Notre Dame recruiting class is finally here! Better late than never, right? This year, Brendan was too bogged down trying to run all of the New Jersey Little League and he had to sit this cycle out. But not completely, he’ll have a small submission towards the end with the class prop bets. Before getting into individual comments in coming articles, today we will do a broad overview of this class.

*These grades were done prior to spring practice*

Class Rankings by Service

247: 10th (19 four-stars, 12 three-stars, 90.79 average rating) *

Rivals: 9th (1 five-star, 17 four-stars, 5 three-stars, 3.83 average stars)

On3: 11th (13 four-stars, 10 three-stars, 91.08 average rating)

*247 includes incoming transfers in their rankings.

I think this 2024 cycle seemed stronger than last year and the rankings are slightly better overall to reflect that. This is a good time to remind everyone that On3 finished this recruiting cycle making CJ Carr the no. 16 quarterback and no. 232 overall player in the country. It didn’t make sense months ago and it looks worse today.

Class Composition

Here are the number of signees by position.

QB – 1
RB – 2
WR – 3
TE – 1
OL – 4
DE – 2
DT – 2
LB – 3
CB – 2
S – 3

We covered this in the National Signing Day Primer, and it was a quiet year for flips and decommitments. Officially, wide receiver Logan Saldate flipped from Oregon State and that was it for the Irish this year.

Brandon Davis-Swain (Colorado), Owen Wafle (Michigan), and Isiah Canion (Georgia Tech) left the Irish class at various points months ago. As of this writing, Davis-Swain remains 1 of only 11 freshmen recruits for the Buffaloes while they feast (or famine) on an absurd 40 transfers coming to Boulder. I thought Wafle was forgettable as an Irish recruit and now even more so at Michigan. Canion is the top recruit in the Yellow Jackets’ class, which good for them.

The 18 Stripes Class Grades

As a reminder, here’s our standard grading scale for this exercise:

95-100: Truly elite prospect with All-American potential
90-94: Multi-year starter with All-conference level potential
85-89: Eventual starter with chance to play as underclassman
80-84: Raw prospect with decent potential but a couple years away from impact
75-79: Likely a backup
70-74: Reach by the coaching staff

Staff Offense Grade Defense Grade Overall Grade
Eric 90.1 85.7 87.9
Tyler 89.3 86.0 87.6
Overall 89.7 85.8 87.7

Believe it or not, our overall 18 Stripes grade for the entire class was the exact same for 2024 as 2023. The difference is that last year both sides of the ball were pretty much even with our grades. This year, as you can see there’s a sizable advantage to the offense.

Offense Signees

*Starred player heights and weights are from early enrolled freshmen and their und.com roster page, all others are listed from their 247 Sports profiles.

247C 18S Player City/State Ht/Wt Position
0.9685 95.0 CJ Carr Saline, MI 6-3, 206* QB
0.9783 94.5 Cam Williams Glen Allyn, IL 6-2, 201* WR
0.9785 92.5 Guerby Lambert West Roxbury, MA 6-6, 280 OL
0.9469 90.5 Kedren Young Lufkin, TX 6-0, 229* RB
0.9140 91.0 Micah Gilbert Charlotte, NC 6-2, 204* WR
0.9126 90.0 Aneyas Williams Hannibal, MO 5-10, 203* RB
0.8950 84.5 Logan Saldate Salinas, CA 5-11, 185 WR
0.9017 91.5 Styles Prescod Fishers, IN 6-6, 283* OL
0.8900 85.5 Jack Larsen Charlotte, NC 6-3, 240* TE
0.8924 87.0 Peter Jones Malvern, PA 6-5, 295* OL
0.9031 85.5 Anthonie Knapp Roswell, GA 6-4, 276* OL

The biggest gap between Tyler and me comes with Styles Prescod where I went with a 93 and Tyler a grade of 90. Everyone else was at least within 2 grade points of each other between me and Tyler’s assessment.

I was higher on Carr, Aneyas, Gilbert, Larsen, Jones, Knapp, and Prescod while Tyler put in a higher grade for Young, Cam, Saldate, and Lambert.

After seeing spring practice I’d bump up Carr’s grade probably by 2 points and Gilbert as much as 3 or 4 points. Such is benefit of hindsight now that we’ve seen them practice at the college level.

Defense Signees

247C 18S Player City/State Ht/Wt Position
0.9646 95.5 Bryce Young Charlotte, NC 6-7, 246* DE
0.9810 95.5 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa Bellflower, CA 6-3, 236* LB
0.9221 86.5 Brauntae Johnson Fort Wayne, IN 6-3, 170 S
0.9181 86.0 Loghan Thomas Lakewood, OH 6-4, 205* DE
0.8940 86.5 Leonard Moore Round Rock, TX 6-2, 177 CB
0.8867 82.0 Sean Sevillano, Jr. Clearwater, FL 6-1, 333* DT
0.8769 84.0 Teddy Rezac Omaha, NE 6-3, 195 LB
0.8811 87.5 Karson Hobbs Cincinnati, OH 6-1, 180 CB
0.8819 79.5 Taebron Bennie-Powell West Chester, OH 6-1, 180 S
0.8892 83.5 Bodie Kahoun Roanoke, VA 6-2, 214 LB
0.8808 80.5 Kennedy Urlacher Chandler, AZ 5-11, 195* S
0.8786 83.5 Cole Mullins Hoschton, GA 6-4, 244* DL

The biggest gap on defense with our grades was 3 points between both Bodie Kahoun and Taebron Bennie-Powell. In each case, I was lower with both grades.

I was higher on Young, Sevillano, Rezac, Hobbs, Johnson, and Urlacher while Tyler put in a higher grade for Thomas, Mullins, KVA, Kahoun, Moore, and Bennie-Powell.

The 6 lowest grades from 18S this cycle are all on defense. Either we’re bad at this (which could be true!) or Notre Dame will likely be forced to do a very good development job with this 2024 group.

Transfer Station

Here are our grades for the transfers coming into the program for 2024:

QB Riley Leonard – 90.5
WR Kris Mitchell – 90.0
WR Beaux Collins – 84.5
WR Jayden Harrison – 80.0
DE RJ Oben – 89.0
NB Jordan Clark – 81.5
S Rod Heard – 85.5
PK Mitch Jeter – 95.5
P James Rendell – His nickname is Thor so, I guess 100?

Leonard, Mitchell, Harrison, Oben, Clark, and Jeter have already gone through spring practice for the Irish. Well, we didn’t get to see Leonard that much before his foot injury so he’s still very much a TBD based on our grades.

I was super low on Harrison and didn’t think he’d be much more than an occasional gadget player in 2024. Although he got injured late in spring practice he looks to be on his way to being far better than this grade would suggest. We didn’t see a lot from Jordan Clark in the spring but he does look to be the starter at nickel. He was such an unknown before spring and seems to be developing nicely for the Irish.

Grading Out

Addressing Needs: B+
Last year: B-

The coaching staff did a good job this cycle with numbers almost everywhere. The one poor spot is the defensive interior where there just isn’t much of a pipeline of size and talent right now. Cole Mullins was a linebacker in high school 10 months ago and was repping as a tackle during spring practice–and I’m not sure it’s because that’s a long-term plan for him right now. Even in the 2025 class, there’s one true tackle prospect (Davion Dixon) and already a plan to bulk up the newly committed Gordy Sulfsted and his 240-pound frame.

I don’t see anything to complain about on offense in 2024. Job well done!

Defensively, I think at least one absolutely ready-made defensive back would’ve been nice in this class. They absolutely went with bodies here–and if Tae Johnson actually develops to his ceiling it’ll solve a lot of problems down the road–but it’s possible this 2024 group could go into 2025 still trying to find a place on the field.

Home Run Factor: A-
Last year: C

This is where 2024 feels a lot more meaningful than 2023, despite our overall grade being the exact same! Of course, CJ Carr looking like a Dude™ so early will color the class for the time being. Likewise for KVA on defense. To have a couple of anchors on both sides of the ball in the class is huge for the future. Surrounding them with a handful more of really, really, really good freshmen is about as good as it can get until Notre Dame takes a sizable step up into the top 5 in the national recruiting rankings.

Immediate Impact: B+
Last year: B

It turned out last year probably didn’t end up reaching a grade of B when it was all said and done, but it wasn’t too far off. Defensively, it was much worse. Corner Christian Gray was really the only solid contributor and 9 out of the 12 defensive players ended up taking a redshirt. That doesn’t include former PWO Luke Talich who was a pleasant surprise and burned a year before getting hurt.

Offensively, things were far better from the 2023 class. Jeremiah Love, Jaden Greathouse, and Jordan Faison all made a nice impact while Charles Jagusah coming on late during the bowl prep was a huge win for the program.

This 2024 cycle feels poised to have a little more say as freshmen. If I’m the redshirt commissioner I’d be looking at as many as 11 players that I would play more than 4 games in 2024. It might not end up being quite that high but more freshmen seem in the mix than last year.

Class Comments

Last year’s class sputtered to the line and didn’t feel great when signing day rolled around after such high hopes earlier in the cycle. Welcome to Fighting Irish recruiting, baby.

2024 has felt different especially at the top end where CJ Carr leads the class and his presence reflects a ton of positivity about what this cycle could mean for Notre Dame down the road. It’s also a class that seems like it’s going to (fingers crossed) really hit big on KVA, Gilbert, Bryce Young, and maybe a couple others.

The lack of unquestioned elite of the elite recruits does remain frustrating, though.

Notre Dame has signed 8 players in the top 100 Composite under Freeman since the transitional 2022 class and 5 of them were here in this 2024 cycle. Progress!

Still, no top 40 this year, no top 60 last year, and no top 30 in 2022 (Sneed at no. 34 overall was the only top 100 commit) is bothersome. I’m not sure if we can lay this all at the feet of NIL or what the future holds there but it’s a glass ceiling I’d be interested in shattering. For what its worth, the 2025 class is trending in a similar way to 2024 in this light.

Prop Bets

Because there’s nothing we can’t connect to gambling, we’ll leave you with the staff’s prop bets on a few key questions about this class.

Who will see the field the soonest?

  • Brendan: KVA
  • Eric: Micah Gilbert
  • Tyler: KVA

Who has the highest upside?

  • Brendan: Cam Williams
  • Eric: CJ Carr
  • Tyler: Cam Williams

Who’s your favorite offensive player?

  • Brendan: CJ Carr
  • Eric: Micah Gilbert
  • Tyler: Cam Williams

Who’s your favorite defensive player?

  • Brendan: KVA
  • Eric: Bryce Young
  • Tyler: Bryce Young

Offensive class sleeper?

  • Brendan: Jack Larsen
  • Eric: Styles Prescod
  • Tyler: Logan Saldate

Defensive class sleeper?

  • Brendan: Cole Mullins
  • Eric: Karson Hobbs
  • Tyler: Cole Mullins

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll publish our individual evaluations for each 2023 recruit so be sure to check that out and offer your opinions on the players in the comment section.