2021 Thoughts

Notre Dame is currently sitting at 17 solid commits (not counting David Abiara) and there are probably only three spots left. The Fighting Irish staff is undoubtedly looking to close out the class strong. An ideal yet still realistic situation would probably look something like this:

  • Dont’e Thornton — WR — 6’4″/185 — .9747
  • Jayden Thomas — WR — 6’1″/200 — .9149
  • Titus Mokiao-Atimalala — S — 6’1″/170 — .9000

The only guy out of these three I don’t feel good about would be Dont’e Thornton. Oregon is definitely his leader right now, but the Irish are probably comfortably in the number two spot. Barring a change of plans, he won’t be deciding until January, so that gives the Notre Dame staff plenty of time to work with.

It looked like it might be a Notre Dame/Michigan battle for Jayden Thomas, but the Wolverines probably took themselves out of contention by adding a fourth wide receiver to their class a couple of weeks ago. He should be Notre Dame’s to lose at this point.

TMA is still holding out hope that visits will be allowed to occur this cycle, but that probably isn’t happening. He’s close with the Notre Dame staff and has both family and friends currently on the Notre Dame roster, so the Irish probably have a leg up on everybody else if/when he is forced to decide without taking visits.

It’s still not out of the realm of possibility that Notre Dame targets a specialist this cycle, either, although the staff usually likes to get specialists on campus before offering. Doerer is entering his final year of eligibility, but the Irish do also have 2019 walk-on Harrison Leonard on the roster as well so they might ultimately decide they can do without.

2022 Thoughts

The first quarterback offers are finally out for the class of 2022! The Irish offered two quarterbacks Monday night in Gavin Wimsatt and Steve Angeli.

It’s already looking like Notre Dame will be the team to beat for Angeli, so it’s possible the Irish won’t need to look any further for their 2022 quarterback.

Offensive line recruiting got off to a good start with Joey Tanona committing a few weeks ago, and Jeff Quinn could be poised to land another good group. It’s still early, and the 2021 class taught me not to get too worked up just yet, but the Irish are in pretty good early position with a number of highly-regarded prospects. Here are a few names you could be hearing more of in the future:

  • Zach Rice
  • Jacob Allen
  • Billy Schrauth
  • Carson Hinzman
  • Grant Bingham
  • George Fitzpatrick

Notre Dame went pretty light recruiting linebackers in 2020 and 2021, landing just one — four star Prince Kollie. I do not expect that to be the case in 2022. I think the target number of the commits for the Irish will be three. That’s a good thing considering the number of targets the staff has placed themselves in good early position with. My realistic dream haul for this class would include any combination of three of the following five prospects:

  • Devon Jackson
  • Sebastian Cheeks
  • Tevarua Tafiti
  • Nolan Ziegler
  • Robby Snelling

Early signs point towards the Irish being on track to sign a good class in 2022, but it’s way too early to be making specific projections. A lot of people focus on having Top 5 finishes in the recruiting rankings, but Notre Dame very rarely signs enough guys for that to be a remotely realistic target. Top 10 should be the goal unless we’re planning to sign 25+ guys, which I doubt.