What does Notre Dame having the No. 1 class for 2025 mean now? Recruiting reset (2024)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman sat at center court about 10 rows up, accompanied by Gino Guidugli, Mike Denbrock and Deland McCullough on Tuesday night. Another recruiting stop in a month of them, this one at a George County High School basketball game to see quarterback commitment Deuce Knight.

Three days earlier, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound quarterback was in South Bend at Junior Day, which drew 11 of Notre Dame’s 14 commitments in the 2025 class and a handful of top targets who figure to strengthen the early No. 1 class in the country. On the surface, the trip to Lucedale, Miss., might feel like babysitting a player who chose the Irish in September.

Freeman’s business attire suggested otherwise: a custom blue blazer and open-collared white shirt. With Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin in the gym — seated in the opposite bleachers — and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer stopping by a day earlier to offer Knight, the intentional focus of Freeman’s work made more sense. And it’s not like Notre Dame has enhanced its recruiting operation by leaving things like a quarterback’s commitment to chance.

Knight posed for photos with Freeman and the Notre Dame staff after the game, which is about all the Irish could accomplish during the winter contact period. Keep working the recruiting trail in every way possible, from Junior Day in South Bend to scattering the country to fortifying commitments and working toward landing a few more of them.

Here’s what else we’ve learned during Notre Dame’s recruiting blitz of January:

The 2025 haul won’t finish No. 1, but that’s not the point.

Notre Dame owns the No. 1 class in 2025 according to 247Sports and Rivals. Or at least it’s renting.

The Irish had the No. 1 class at some point in the previous two cycles, only to tumble into the back half of the top 10 by national signing day. Freeman talks regularly about the competition of recruiting and how there’s a winner and a loser. And that’s true. But Notre Dame’s recruiting operation is winning with these fast starts, even if perception might feel different when the Irish don’t add much talent late.

The Irish added just one commitment last cycle after Aug. 1. But they didn’t lose any either, which traces back to why the quick starts matter. Notre Dame has been able to notch enough wins early that it could focus its recruiting operation on a smaller board that cycle while getting ahead on the next one. In other words, instead of scouring the country for high school prospects during the football season, Notre Dame can move on to the next cycle before everybody else. And that’s how the Irish can get ahead in building relationships.

That’s why getting 11 of the 14 commitments in Notre Dame’s class back to campus for Junior Day last weekend mattered as much as progress made on top targets like Dallas Golden, Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng and Jack Lange. Notre Dame has proven to be a sticky commitment in recent cycles, even going back to Brian Kelly. When the Irish staff can get early commitments and compound that pledge with unofficial visit after unofficial visit — think Cam Williams last cycle — the idea of a decommitment becomes harder to process.

Sometimes programs can play defense in recruiting by going on offense earlier with commitments and visits. That’s what Notre Dame has done under Freeman.

The 2024 class got more interesting since it signed.

Since Notre Dame signed its 23-man class five weeks ago, the recruiting networks have updated their final rankings, keeping the Irish class status quo at the back of the top 10. Notre Dame finished No. 9 on Rivals. It ended up No. 10 on 247Sports and On3. But that’s not what makes the haul better today than when it signed. And yes, it’s not like any of the 23 players in the class are appreciably different today than in late December. It’s just that analysts’ perceptions of them have changed.

Defensive end Bryce Young rocketed up 52 spots to No. 24 overall and a five-star prospect on 247 Sports. That makes the son of NFL Hall of Famer Bryant Young the highest-rated Irish signee on that network since Kyle Hamilton. That means the only prospects to sign with Notre Dame rated higher than Young since 2010 were Hamilton, Jaylon Smith, Aaron Lynch, Tommy Kraemer and Michael Mayer. Listed at 6-7 and 241 pounds on Notre Dame’s spring roster, Young arrives with NFL expectations.

On Rivals, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa was bumped to a five-star prospect and No. 19 nationally after hovering just outside five-star status much of the last year. In the past 10 recruiting cycles, Rivals has ranked just four Notre Dame signees as five-star prospects: Blake Fisher, Jordan Johnson, Daelin Hayes and Quenton Nelson. The only five-star linebackers to pick the Irish on the network were Smith and Manti Te’o. None of this predicts Viliamu-Asa will be the next All-American at Notre Dame, but his five-star status amps intrigue from the outside.

And at On3, Notre Dame’s top-ranked prospect is tackle Guerby Lambert, who’s No. 22 overall but not a five-star. Young is third at On3, behind receiver Williams (No. 25) and Viliamu-Asa is seventh. It’s the first time since 2020 — before On3 began publishing — that each major network picked a different Irish commitment as the No. 1 player in Notre Dame’s class. ESPN tabbed CJ Carr this cycle.

Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is set for a banner haul.

Want to understand how well Notre Dame is recruiting offensive linemen?

The Irish have offered 10 linemen for four open slots in the next cycle. Notre Dame has offered nine quarterbacks for one spot. If there’s a tell for how Rudolph expects this cycle to end, that’s it. Notre Dame isn’t casting a wide net at the position. It’s barely casting a net at all.

Tackle Will Black committed to Notre Dame last month and was supposed to be at Junior Day last weekend before travel issues canceled the trip. If he’d made it, the Irish would have photographed Black with visiting prospects Lange, Owen Strebig and Matty Augustine. Those three are also considered tackles, with Notre Dame in the lead spot for each. All four are listed as at least 6-7.

The year after signing four offensive linemen — Lambert is an elite prospect, but the other three commitments are more developmental — taking four more linemen with a focus on tackles would get Notre Dame’s line healthy for the long haul after signing five linemen in the 2022 and 2023 cycles, with just one transferring out to date (Joey Tanona to Purdue).

Despite having three offensive line coaches in the past three seasons, the position appears set up for Rudolph.

Notre Dame might struggle to match the 2024 cycle’s top-end talent.

The Irish signed three top-50 prospects in the final 247Sports rankings last cycle.

Notre Dame signed eight top-50 prospects in the previous 10 recruiting cycles combined.

For how much it feels like Freeman has elevated Notre Dame’s recruiting operation, the outlook for top-50 talent may regress to the mean this cycle. Four-star safety Ivan Taylor (No. 34 overall) is the marquee commitment, but the Irish aren’t seriously involved with another top-50 prospect. There aren’t many top-100 prospects in play beyond linebacker Owusu-Boateng, cornerback Golden, cornerback Mark Zackery and linebacker Christian Jones. Golden and Zackery appear to be solid bets for Notre Dame leaving January, while Owusu-Boateng and Jones are tougher (but realistic) pulls.

Taylor, Golden, Owusu-Boateng and Zackery all attended Junior Day last weekend.

It’s worth noting that Bryce Young opened well outside the top 100 and finished as a five-star prospect last cycle.

Regardless, it’s also worth noting how difficult it will be to finish with a top-10 class without the kind of top-100 talent Notre Dame landed a year ago. If the Irish can’t hunt more top-100 or top-50 talent, they will have to bank on their evaluation skills that were so key a year ago with prospects like Young.

(Top photo of Marcus Freeman: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)

Pete Sampson is a staff writer for The Athletic on the Notre Dame football beat, a program he’s covered for the past 21 seasons. The former editor and co-founder of Irish Illustrated, Pete has covered six different regimes in South Bend, reporting on the Fighting Irish from the end of the Bob Davie years through the start of the Marcus Freeman era.