The Notre Dame football team is seeing an incredible amount of hype leading to the 2026 season. Last week, On3 released the top 100 players in the entire sport. There were plenty of names that everyone expected to see. And then there were a few surprises, especially when it came to the Fighting Irish. The first big surprise was putting CJ Carr near the bottom of that list. The second big surprise was putting Anthonie Knapp in the Top 25.
Knapp, an offensive lineman expected to help ND's offense rank among the most potent in the sport, has largely flown under the radar nationally. It appears that Clark Brooks is one person who understands just how good the big-bodied player can be.
"Despite being thrown into the fire as an underclassman, Anthonie Knapp held down the blindside for the Fighting Irish last fall," Brooks wrote. "He’s just one of three returning college football players to allow fewer than 12 pressures and post a PFF run block grade of at least 72." Brooks also pointed out that while Knapp might not be a household name, he was a very highly rated prospect when he committed to Notre Dame.
"And since the former On3 outlier four-star is one of the most malleable maulers on a very talented unit, Knapp will kick inside to start as Notre Dame seeks to start its five best blockers. But no matter where he lines up, his skills in the trenches are among the best in the nation."
Anthonie Knapp’s ranking shows Notre Dame football’s 2026 hype goes deeper than QB
Brooks put Knapp at No. 23 in his top 100. A rather impressive number considering there weren't a ton of offensive linemen on the list at all. Only offensive tackles Cayden Green (Missouri), Trevor Lauck (Iowa), Trevor Goosby (Texas), and Carter Smith (Indiana) are ranked ahead of Knapp.
It's also worth noting that the Notre Dame player is one of just five interior offensive linemen on the entire list. The other four - Nebraska's Justin Evans, Texas Tech's Sheridan Wilson, Georgia's Drew Bobo, and Indiana's Drew Evans- are all ranked far lower (73, 79, 80, and 83, respectively).
Of course, Irish fans will likely want to take Brooks' assessment of any players with a grain of salt, considering he ranked Carr as the No. 85 player in the sport. That's lower than basically any analyst has him, considering he's currently the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. On the other hand, he's been plenty complimentary of another Golden Domer in Leonard Moore.
Brooks has the Notre Dame defensive back ranked No. 3 in the country.
"Leonard Moore is a pure lockdown corner archetype. As an underclassman, the 6-foot-2 Golden Domer already was arguably college football’s top coverageman. And ahead of 2026, he’s unquestionably our most impactful member of anyone’s secondary and CB1."
"Across the last two seasons, Moore has been both an impressive ball hawk (21 defended passes) as well as a miserly downfield denier (4.8 yards/target). Fittingly for the elite cornerback, his 92.5 PFF coverage grade was best in the country last season."
With three players on On3's top 100 list, the overall sentiment is that, once again, the Notre Dame football team will be among the best in 2026.
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