Notre Dame added a huge piece to the 2026 secondary Friday when blue chip corner Khary Adams announced his commitment to the Irish. Things are going so well for Irish recruiting now that I pre-wrote the “wrong” post Thursday, thinking Joey O’Brien would commit before the 6’2”, 175 pound Marylander. This is what we call a first world problem…
Adams, O’Brien, and Grayson McKeogh make three high-profile wins over Penn State in as many days. Add in the Orange Bowl and it’s four. We‘ll never know how things would’ve unfolded if James Franklin hadn’t mocked Marcus Freeman in the Orange Bowl press conference, but man has this matchup trended down for him since then.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9637 rating), #75 overall, #9 CB, #4 in MD
On3 Consensus — 4 star (94.01 rating), #67 overall, #8 CB, #4 in MD
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 4 star (94 rating), #36 overall, #3 CB, #4 in MD
On3 — 4 star (94 rating), #30 overall, #3 CB, #3 in MD
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #246 overall (not a typo), #19 CB, #5 in MD
ESPN — 4 star (83 rating), #68 overall, #8 CB, #4 in MD
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (94 rating)
Note: Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama 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 Penn State, Adams holds offers from Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, and many others.
Highlights
Wow can this kid fly. Right from the jump it’s clear that Adams has excellent long speed. As the tape continues you can also see that he has excellent closing speed as well – when he plays off coverage his read-and-react time is really good. He plays a lot of off coverage here but there are a few reps of tight coverage too; the most impressive is at the 2:25 mark, when he covers a receiver who also looks like he can run and Adams completely blankets the double move. Lots of ball production too – interceptions and breakups abound. That is the kind of thing that takes a corner from very good to elite. Obviously his time at receiver helps with that too.
Impact
Much like with O’Brien, Adams has the talent to play early but also will have a lot of talent in front of him so it’s hard to say how soon he’ll make an impact. In past years I would’ve said he might play as a freshman, but with Christian Gray (possibly), Leonard Moore, Karson Hobbs, Mark Zackery, Dallas Golden, and Cree Thomas ahead of him it’s a cloudier picture than it used to be. At the very least I think Adams will push everyone in front of him very quickly, and I could see him having a career arc like Gray. He’s a future starter and a good one.
Welcome to the Irish family, Khary!
