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Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Where Notre Dame's 2025 Commits Stack Up in Recruiting Rankings

July 15, 2024
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College football recruiting ratings and rankings are trigger words for some and couldn’t mean less to others. 

One can argue rankings are the end game, while others can make solid points that landing the most five-star talent doesn’t guarantee national titles. 

Notre Dame has seen an uptick in recruiting under Marcus Freeman, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the emphasis put on it. Talent acquisition means a great deal to Freeman, so his staff is expected to work tirelessly to bring top talent to South Bend. 

Freeman’s Fighting Irish currently have 21 commitments and sit with the nation’s No. 5 recruiting class, with big-time talent still left on the board. 

The major recruiting services and ISD's Jamie Uyeyama have updated ratings after spring and summer camps, 7-on-7 and other events. 

NAME POSITION ISD 247 RIVALS ESPN ON3 247 COMPOSITE
Deuce Knight‍  QB 95 94 5.9 83 95 .9830
Will Black‍  OL 95 91 5.9 83 98 .9678
Dallas Golden‍  ATH 94 93 5.8 82 92 .9547
Mark Zackery IV‍  CB 93 94 5.8 81 92 .9421
Owen Strebig‍  OL 92 90 5.9 82 90 .9299
JaDon Blair‍  S 92 91 5.8 81 94 .9372
James Flanigan‍  TE 92 92 5.8 82 92 .9425
Joseph Reiff‍  DL 92 88 5.8 78 90 .8956
Anthony Sacca‍  LB 91 89 5.9 82 88 .9245
Ethan Long‍  S 91 88 5.8 77 88 .8850
Matty Augustine‍  OL 91 89 5.8 78 89 .8943
Chris Burgess‍  DL 90 91 6.0 81 91 .9480
Justin Thurman‍  RB 90 90 5.8 81 87 .8975
Gordy Sulfsted‍  DL 90 88 5.7 78 87 .8786
Dom Hulak‍  Vyper 90 88 5.8 77 89 .8769
Elijah Burress‍  WR 90 89 5.6 80 88 .8789
Ko'o Kia‍  LB 90 88 5.7 78 88 .8700
Cree Thomas‍  CB 89 89 5.8 78 88 .8892
Davion Dixon‍  DL 89 86 5.8 75 87 .8792
Daniel Anderson‍  RB 89 87 5.8 77 86 .8800
Jerome Bettis Jr.‍  WR 86 87 5.6 77 87 .8689

- When ranking top talent, it’s apples to oranges in many cases, especially at this level. That said, I continue to believe Knight has done enough to be a five-star. There were questions about his accuracy and he showed significant improvement on the 7-on-7 circuit this spring, including taking a team without too much firepower to the OT7 Finals in June. Knight then backed that up a week later in California by having a breakout performance at the Elite 11 where ON3 gave him MVP and the Elite 11 staff pegged him as one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Most services have Knight in the top 35, which I think is fair, but if one wanted to bump him into the top 15-20, I would believe that’s deserved. 

- If you’ve read my thoughts on Golden over the last two years, you’d know I think he’s one of the better football players in the country. The major recruiting services are slowly catching up as Golden sat as the nation’s No. 179 player (247 composite) in April of 2023 and has moved up to the No. 88 player in the country. I fully believe the Florida native is a Top 15 player in the country and I stated that well before he committed to Notre Dame. 

- Flanigan is another player who I believe is underrated to a point. I think the No. 135 247 composite ranking is fair, but I believe Notre Dame has a top 100 talent here. Flanigan and Golden didn’t do the camp circuit, so that’s part of it and then you add in the fact national analysts aren’t going to Green Bay to do live evals, which I don’t blame them. Yet, I think Notre Dame got one of the nation’s top tight ends and he’ll likely continue to climb. 

- Notre Dame likes its defensive line class more than the recruiting services. The group lacks a star like Keon Keeley or even Bryce Young, but overall, Notre Dame is getting quality football players who have yet to really hit their physical peak. The growth shown by Hulak over the last six months should have high schools in Illinois on notice, while Reiff is also another player I’d throw in the underrated category, given 247 and ESPN come in low. 

Regarding remaining targets on the board, there’s some star power there...

NAME POSITION ISD 247 RIVALS ESPN ON3 247 COMPOSITE
Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng‍  LB 94 93 6.0 83 90 .9613
Madden Faraimo‍  LB 93 92 5.9 83 92 .9651
Derek Meadows‍  WR 92 98 5.9 82 92 .9657
Dylan Robinson‍  WR 91 91 5.8 82 91 .9170
Brandon Logan‍  S 88 87 5.6 N/A 89 N/A

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