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Notre Dame football: Recruiting could be changing for the Fighting Irish

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly enters Notre Dame Stadium for an interview on a live broadcast of ESPN College Gameday from Notre Dame Stadium before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Clemson Tigers on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly enters Notre Dame Stadium for an interview on a live broadcast of ESPN College Gameday from Notre Dame Stadium before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Clemson Tigers on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame Football
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 01: Quarterback Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish drops back to pass over the defense of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the third quarter of the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame football: Recruiting could be changing for the Fighting Irish

Looking Back

This can be seen in the difference in recruiting rankings. According to 247 Sports’ recruiting rankings, Notre Dame’s last five classes, that’s 2017-21, have finished 10th, 10th, 15th, 18th, and 9th respectively. By contrast, over that same stretch, Alabama finished 1st, 5th, 1st, 2nd, and 1st respectively.

It’s only a few schools of difference, but it makes all the difference in the world when they meet on the field. It also puts Notre Dame closer to schools like Miami or Penn State than Clemson or Ohio State.

The 2022 Class, which has started to take shape in June as the 15-month moratorium on in-person recruiting ended, is already breaking this trend. Currently, Notre Dame is second in the 2022 recruiting rankings, according to 247 Sports.

The only team ahead of them is Ohio State. Though it’s early, and there is still time for this to change, as Alabama isn’t going to finish 16th, and you can bet Boston College doesn’t finish 9th, this is a great sign for Notre Dame’s long-term progress in their recruiting rankings.

In particular, you can see this progress not just in the number of players landing in South Bend, but just in how high the quality of players that are announcing their intentions are. Most recently, Brenan Vernon, a five-star defensive end who is already 6ft 5in and 245lbs joined the Irish for their 2023 recruiting class.

He landed at Notre Dame ahead of Ohio State, which was the presumed landing spot for the Ohio native.

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