Notre Dame scored more 2026 Blue Chip signees than several major conferences

The college football offseason is well under way and with national signing day having come and past a few days ago, Notre Dame football came away with the fifth ranked recruiting class in the country.

One of the key talking points for Notre Dame for years now has been their inability to land the elite recruits, the kind of guys that Georgia, Ohio State, Bama, and others would get that Notre Dame simply couldn't.

All sorts of excuses were thrown around during former head coach Brian Kelly's tenure with the team. No kid wants to come to the middle of nowhere in Indiana. No kid wants the religious affiliation. No kid wants the academic stress and pressure.

Notre Dame lands more Blue Chip recruits than ACC & Big12 combined

As the nation is starting to see and Marcus Freeman continues to prove, none of that was the problem, the real problem was the coaches and recruiters. With Marcus Freeman and his staff, the Irish continue to get better and better recruiting classes each year and are luring in those elite prospects they were once thought to not be able to get anymore.

The days of Notre Dame missing out on elite prospects may finally be over, if the Irish can keep Marcus Freeman around, as they come away with five 5-star recruits in the 2026 recruiting class. This gives them more than the Big12 (2) and the ACC (1).

The players they landed were:

• OT, Grayson McKeogh (7th ranked player)
• EDGE, Rodney Dunham (8th ranked player)
• CB, Khary Adams (23rd ranked player)
• S, Joey O'Brien (25th ranked player)
• TE, Ian Premer (27th ranked player)

Tackle, edge, and corner are all premium positions in the modern game of football. While not a premium position, safeties are definitely important and Notre Dame has produced a few great safeties in recent years, most notable Kyle Hamilton (currently on the Baltimore Ravens). Last but no least, there's Ian Premer a tight end. Tight ends are not viewed in the same premium capacity as elite WRs, but the Irish have a reputation for featuring great tight ends in their passing game.

The ACC's lone 5 star recruit comes from Miami's recruiting class. Notre Dame being able to walk away from a yearly recruiting cycle having out recruited every team in the country except four and having outdone multiple entire conferences on big ticket prospects shows how much of a difference maker Marcus Freeman has been for the program.