It’s no secret that Notre Dame is having an incredible recruiting run over the last two classes. The Irish have had more success in 2024 and 2025 than Brian Kelly could ever have dreamed of. However, it’s one thing to hold Marcus Freeman’s recruiting job up against previous iterations of the school’s classes. It’s another to compare them to a team known as one of the kings of recruiting for well over a decade.
Perhaps the biggest indicator that the Fighting Irish are on a historic run is that they are on the verge of posting a better class than Alabama's since 2008, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Even the fact that the Crimson Tide are having one of the worst recruiting classes in two decades doesn’t undercut just how good the Irish are doing this year, especially.
It’s looking more and more likely that Notre Dame will finish with the No. 2 class in the country according to that same 247Sports Composite. At the moment, Kalen DeBoer’s squad is sitting at No. 40 on the same list.
Sitting solidly outside the Top 25 is especially surprising for Alabama, considering they had the No. 2 class in the nation for the 2026 class. The Tide was No. 3 for the 2025 class and No. 2 against in the 2024 cycle.
Notre Dame football could finish ahead of Alabama recruiting for first time since 2008
The last time the Tide didn’t finish with a consensus Top 5 recruiting class was 19 years ago. That’s the kind of power Nick Saban wielded during his best seasons. It was so long ago since ‘Bama didn’t finish in the Top 5, there are several Notre Dame commits in the 2027 class that weren’t born yet.
There’s no easy answer as to why DeBoer’s class this year is struggling as much as it is. Especially when thinking about being No. 2 just last year.
One takeaway is that the recruiting shift could also indicate how the sport as a whole is changing. There were plenty of jokes at Saban’s expense last year about how the Tide are now on more even footing with teams like Notre Dame. The punchline is that Alabama can’t pay teams under the table because every team is paying people.
While that’s mostly just a funny idea that’s not provable, revenue sharing and NIL money definitely gives a school like the Fighting Irish a better fight. Add in Marcus Freeman's charisma and the respect he commands, and it’s certainly not hard to understand why his program is having so much success.
No matter why the Tide are struggling in recruiting this year, it’s only good news for Notre Dame, and it needs to take advantage for as long as it can.
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