Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football staff just keeps on doing work when it comes to the 2026 recruiting class. Not only are they impressing the best prospects in the country, but after a first three months of 2025 that seemed rather bleak, they have made a charge up the recruiting rankings for the 2026 class.
With the latest commit, against running back Javian Osborne, the Irish have jetted up the rankings again. And that’s impressive considering they were already in rarified air.
Notre Dame football continues monster 2026 recruiting run
With Osborne’s pledge the Notre Dame football team has now surged into the No. 2 spot in the 2026 class among two of the three top recruiting sites. That they aren’t in the second spot in the rankings is more than a little weird and shows that they haven’t quite convinced On3 they’re as good as most think they are.
With the addition of four-star RB Javian Osborne on Saturday to #NotreDame football's 2026 recruiting class, the Irish leapfrog Clemson and LSU and into the No. 2 spot in the Rivals team recruiting rankings. pic.twitter.com/YUk0AOcl2e
— Eric Hansen (@EHansenND) May 3, 2025
The latest commitment saw Notre Dame jump another two spots in the Rivals’ team rankings, which is definitely the biggest jump of the week. Before Osborne’s commitment, Rivals had Freeman’s team sitting at No. 4, which most programs would be plenty happy with. They’ve now slid into the No. 2 spot, just behind the USC Trojans.
Over on 247Sports, the Irish were already sitting in the second spot and Osborne’s commitment simply strengthened their standing there. The Irish sit ahead of Ohio State, LSU and Clemson on both Rivals and 247Sports with the only disagreement on who is the No. 5 team.
So what’s up with On3? Why is Notre Dame sitting in the fourth spot? It would seem at least part of the issue is that USC, LSU and Ohio State all have two 5-star commits in the site’s ratings and the Irish only have one.
Considering where the Notre Dame football team was sitting earlier this spring, and the fretting and worrying that caused, Marcus Freeman will almost certainly take where they are now. And they could keep adding to a powerhouse class in the next few weeks.