5 ND Commits Who Can Rise Up the Rankings as Seniors
It wasn’t that long ago that a recruit’s junior year was seen as the most important one when it came to a college football program’s evaluation process. Things have sped up, though. Notre Dame has already sent out more than 100 offers to prospects who have yet to start their junior season in high school.
That’s just the way things are in today’s world of college football recruiting. That doesn’t mean evaluations stop right then. Plenty of players arrive on the radar as juniors and countless others prove that they should have earned more offers and been ranked higher after playing their senior seasons.
It’s all about projection. Projecting where players will be by the time they get to the campus as freshmen in college and also projecting what the players can be by the time they leave college, hopefully with a chance to play in the NFL.
Current Notre Dame freshman defensive end Bryce Young is the perfect example of projection. It might have been easier to predict he’d grow into a monster based on his genes. He’s the son of former Irish great Bryant Young, but he didn’t have big time offers and hadn’t even played defensive end when he was offered by the coaching staff after working out a camp.
He grew a couple of inches, flashed big time athleticism on the field and on the track, and kept steadily climbing up the recruiting rankings. He went from lower ranked to 318th in the composite rankings (0.9022) just prior to his senior season.
He finished as the 73rd ranked prospect in the composite (0.9646) and was included in the final ISD Fab 50 of the 2024 class. Young made a big jump after people saw his senior season.
My grade on him was at 92 at this time last year. It got bumped up to a 96 at the end of the process. There have been others in recent classes who made noticeable jumps based on their senior seasons. Blake Fisher (95 to 98), Mitchell Evans (88 to 92), Joe Alt, (88 to 91), and Benjamin Morrison (90 to 92) were in a group who I also bumped up after their senior seasons.
There’s a current group of 2025 commits who I feel could make similar jumps with both my grades on ISD and with their composite rankings as well.
TE James Flanigan
This one isn’t because of his father, former Irish defensive tackle Jim Flanigan. That certainly doesn’t hurt, though. This is more about what I saw from him from his sophomore to his junior season and I think the arrow is still pointing way up for him.
He’s currently 134th in the composite (.9426) and I have him as a grade of 92. It’s not like he is flying under the radar with those, but he may prove to be underrated. He’s a great athlete with elite throws in the shot and discus in track and field in addition to an elite high jump and elite 100m time for someone his size.
Most importantly, that athleticism shows up in pads with him already displaying great ability after the catch. I don’t think it’s crazy to suggest he could jump up all the way to a borderline top-50 prospect for me if he has the kind of senior season I expect him to have.
DL Joseph Reiff
I’ve not been shy in saying that I’m a big fan of Reiff as a prospect. He has great reactionary athleticism and the frame to grow into a beast at Notre Dame.
He’s currently 359 in the composite (.8956). I’m higher on him with a grade of 92. That could still go up even more and I agree with those coaches who ISD’s Matt Freeman has heard from who view Reiff as a steal.
OT Matty Augustine
If Augustine didn’t play in New England, there is no way he wouldn't be in the top-300 as a prospect for everyone. As it stands today, he is 376th in the composite (.8943). I think the nimble big man should be ranked higher and I gave him a grade of 91.
ISD’s Christian McCollum spoke to some coaches at a showcase back in May who raved about his potential. I’m right there with them. Notre Dame has two extremely athletic tackle prospects in this class in Augustine and Will Black.
I could see Augustine putting himself into the conversation closer to Black as a prospect after this fall.
Edge Dom Hulak
Hulak was recently included in this Matt Zenitz piece as an unheralded prospect to keep an eye on based on some feedback from personnel staffers around college football. That’s the way I see it as well.
His ceiling is much higher than someone who is ranked 629th in the composite (.8769). I have him as a grade of 90 and that’s more about what I think he can develop into than what he’s shown on film.
He’s played multiple positions for his high school program and not much of the one he projects to play in college. That versatility will ultimately help him and we should see him rush the passer more often this fall. He showed plenty of twitch doing so at Irish Invasion back in June.
He also elite testing numbers at Invasion for his size. At 240 he ran 4.26 short shuttle and had a 9-7 broad jump. That short shuttle is better than former UCLA pass rusher Laiatu Latu (4.28), former Oregon pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (4.30), and former Georgia pass rusher Azeez Ojulari (4.32), all players whose elite short area quickness helped them eventually become high NFL Draft picks.
Hulak has big time tools and he could really take off during his senior season.
LB Ko'o Kia
Kia didn’t hit the camp circuit and not many recruiting analysts will be watching him play live because of him playing in Hawaii, but the film don’t lie. This kid can ball.
I have him a 4-star prospect, but he’s 838th in the composite (.8700). I love his versatility, his instincts, and his physicality. Too many prospects from Hawaii get overlooked and he’s one of them right now. I’m hopeful that can change a few months from now.
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