Since the beginning of April, Marcus Freeman has been on a generational run when it comes to landing some of the top commits in the country for the Notre Dame football program.
This kind of recruiting hot streak is simply not one that Fighting Irish fans are used to seeing. It’s also one that opposing fans are used to seeing the Blue and Gold pull off and it’s likely to make opposing schools even more nervous about what Freeman is building in South Bend.
Notre Dame football adds another elite defender in linebacker Jakobe Clapper
The latest Notre Dame football recruiting win comes in the form of 4-star linebacker Jakobe Clapper who announced early on Friday morning that he’s committed to the Irish. In doing so, Clapper picked Freeman’s squad over Oregon, Penn State, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Duke and several others.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder gives the Irish 13 current verbal commitments in the Class of 2026. He joins Thomas Davis Jr. to give Notre Dame a pair of linebackers in the class. He also became the fifth Golden Domers commitment since the beginning of April.
The wave of commitments comes after some analysts voiced genuine concern about the direction of the Notre Dame football program’s plans for the 2026 class.
Clapper had been considered a Notre Dame lean for months and had made multiple trips to South Bend, but had yet to make his decision official before Friday. Interestingly there also hadn’t been many indications that today would be the day he decided to pull the trigger. It appears he simply couldn’t wait any longer to make it official.
With two linebackers in the fold now, look for the Irish to turn their attention to linebacker targets like Talanoa Ili and Tank King to round out the group. It also appears that with April now in the books, the Notre Dame football team isn’t slowing down in May and there are plenty of more chances to keep growing the 2026 class with Jakobe Clapper now in the boat.