Check-in on Notre Dame football recruiting: DBs are impressive, but how is the D-line faring?
IN SOUTH BEND, IN Even though the Irish aren’t expected to stay there, Notre Dame’s class of 22 pledges ranks first nationwide on several recruiting services as we head out of the spring evaluation period and into summer camp.
However, the tale of Notre Dame’s recruitment surge in 2025 is less about the Irish’s final December standings and more about how they got here.
Although Marcus Freeman’s hiring may not have been the revolutionary shift that many had hoped for when he took over as head coach from Brian Kelly, there is plenty of proof that it has improved overall. And if Notre Dame finishes strong this cycle, they can end any lingering disagreements on that front.
Here’s what we now know about the Irish roster that is being assembled, as well as the players we will be keeping an eye on as the summer recruiting season approaches.
historical recruiting level for DBs
Security Three of the top four recruits in Notre Dame’s class are cornerbacks Mark Zackery IV (No. 59), Dallas Golden (No. 92), and Ivan Taylor (No. 41 overall), with quarterback Deuce Knight rounding out the group. Although they aren’t quite as high on the three defensive backs, On3 and Rivals aren’t all that bad either, with Zackery’s ranking (No. 247 overall) on Rivals being the exception.
To put three defensive backs ranked in the top 100 in one class in context, Notre Dame added Troy Pride Jr. and Kyle Hamilton, two defensive backs ranked in the top 100 overall on 247Sports over the past ten years. When the Irish signed two cornerbacks ranked in the top 100 in the same class the last time, 247Sports didn’t even exist. That occurred in 2006 with Charlie Weis’s first complete recruiting class, involving Darrin Walls and Raeshon McNeil.
Mike Mickens, the defensive backs coach, has played a key role in this recruiting success story, helping to bring Christian Gray in and develop Benjamin Morrison. In contemporary recruiting, Notre Dame has found it difficult to fill the position of defensive back, which is more of a developmental role than an immediate impact one. However, Mickens has started altering that under Freeman, beginning with that Ohio State game where Morrison and Jaden Mickey were freshmen players.
Top prospects have begun to notice a recruiting signal in Mickens’ development. With four-star safety JaDon Blair planned for an official visit in June and Notre Dame in a good position to fulfill his scheduled pledge on July 5, the Irish may not be finished either. The toughest opponents are Penn State, Michigan, and Florida State.
Three-star safety Ethan Long has committed to the Irish as well.
The Irish should be alright upon arrival.
A year ago, Notre Dame wasn’t entirely pleased with what it saw when it examined its receivers board.
Cam Williams and Mah Gilbert had already been acquired by the Irish, while Logan Saldate was a late addition from Oregon State. During Kelly’s last years, Notre Dame needed to make a big splash at a position that was sadly under-recruited, so the Irish recruiting department cleared the decks. Still, given the talent at hand and its suitability for Notre Dame, the prospect for 2025 didn’t give me much hope. The Irish passing game then let me down. The record recruiter for the prior class, Chansi Stuckey, was later fired by Notre Dame.
In the end, Notre Dame’s recruitment prognosis could prove to be correct or incorrect.
The receiver class the Irish will sign is not the same as it was last cycle. If the Irish can add one more receiver to their roster in addition to their commits Elijah Burress, Shaun Terry, and Jerome Bettis Jr., who have the potential to play defense, they may also be able to check off all the necessary boxes.
Four receivers are scheduled to make official visits to Notre Dame in June; if the Irish are able to sign any of the four, they will each represent the class’s top wide receiver.
The main attraction and perhaps the greatest pick is five-star Derek Meadows, as the Irish had him covered long before Georgia and Alabama took any serious chances. He will likely select one of those three teams, with Michigan and LSU also being considered. Meadows is a standout player at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Last summer, at Irish Invasion, he made an impression under Stuckey’s coaching. Since then, they’ve continued to pace with Mike Brown.
Tanook Hines (Houston), Talyn Taylor (Geneva, Ill.), and Dylan Robinson (La Verne, Calif.) are three additional four-star talents that are scheduled to visit. Taylor and Hines have previously seen Notre Dame. Robinson has not yet made his official visit, which is slated for midweek (June 11–13). On 247Sports, all three prospects are ranked among the top 300 nationally.
Has Notre Dame’s defensive line undergone too much development?
After this season, Notre Dame’s defensive line will be without its four starting players. On paper, if depth charts were the first goal, that might have made room for an immediate impact lineman to join. That’s not exactly how things have turned out.
The standout of Notre Dame’s defensive line is Chicago’s Chris Burgess, a four-star defensive end who may break through early on the depth chart. On Rivals, he is a fringe five-star recruit, while on other sites, he is ranked in the top 200. However, Dominik Hulak, Joseph Reiff, Gordy Sulfsted, and Davion Dixon—the other four Notre Dame pledges—might require additional work. Reiff has a four-star rating on On3 and Rivals, while each has a three-star rating on 247Sports.
Three-stars Sean Sevillano Jr. and Cole Mullins, four-star Logan Thomas, and five-star Bryce Young were all signed by Notre Dame last year. That group may also provide an example of how defensive line coach Al Washington assesses candidates who don’t rank first on every national ranking.
To see why Young was a take, one only has to take a quick glance at the 6-foot-7, 246-pound athlete. No analysis is necessary. However, the other three need more investigation. Thomas is of receiver build and weighed less than 200 pounds when he started, but he will need time in the weight room to bulk up. Although Sevillano remains a project when it comes to losing weight, he showed promise during spring ball. Receiving practice reps with the second team for Mullins was unexpected as well. It’s a terrific start if that’s how Notre Dame’s freshman class begins.
Can the five-man haul from Notre Dame do the same? It won’t succeed on national signing day, but there’s a need for future investigation into this five-man group given how Washington assessed talent and nurtured it early in the spring.
The Irish managed to maintain their top-10 ranking.
Given that Notre Dame has the best recruiting class according to 247 and Rivals, as it has for the past two cycles at this point in the calendar, this may seem like shifting the goal posts.
It’s not.
Like last season, when the Irish had just one decommitment after June 1 (wide receiver Isiah Canion, who signed with Georgia Tech) and just three total for the cycle, Notre Dame’s approach has been finishing work early and keeping onto its class late.
The bottom line is that, with 22 verbal commitments, Notre Dame is almost twice as likely to fall out of the top 10 on 247Sports as the other nine teams combined. The average commitment for those nine institutions is 12, with No. 3 Oklahoma having the highest at 15. Teams that arrive late for work will make up for lost time. Math is that. This implies that Notre Dame will need to put in an effort to remain in the top 10.
This is the way. According to the 247Sports Team Rankings, if Notre Dame gets its three best official visits in June—Meadows, Blair, and linebacker Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng of IMG Academy—that would amount to 281.28 recruiting points. That sum would have placed seventh, eighth, sixth, eighth, and seventh in the preceding five cycles. Additionally, it would rank higher than the five classes the Irish actually signed between 2020 and 2024, including the group that featured CJ Carr, Kyngston Viliamu-Asa, and Bryce Young from the previous year.
Regardless of the recruiting operation, NIL, facilities race, etc., a class containing Meadows, Owusu-Boateng, and Blair would also serve as a reminder of how challenging it is for Notre Dame to rise further under Freeman. The fictitious haul would still lag behind the five classes that Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia inked between 2020 and 24. During that time, it would lag behind three Texas classes and four LSU classes.The Irish have the advantage since Miami, Oregon, and Texas A&M would have all defeated this possible Notre Dame class twice.
Four top-10 finishes in a five-year span would also be achieved by Notre Dame with back-to-back top-10 classes. It is precisely this kind of recruiting that should ensure the Irish’s continued participation in the revamped College Football Playoff, particularly in the event that it expands to 14 teams.
