Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame 2026 National Signing Day Preview

The Fighting Irish are bringing in a star-studded 2026 class to South Bend.
Mason Plummer|
Sep 20, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates a turnover by the defense against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images
Sep 20, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates a turnover by the defense against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

National Signing Day for the 2026 recruiting cycle is approaching quickly, with Notre Dame rounding out its class in style. The Fighting Irish staff is putting the finishing touches on what will be one of the best recruiting classes in program history, ahead of signing day on Wednesday, December 3.

As it stands, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Notre Dame boasts the No.4 class in the entire country, slotting in just behind USC, Georgia and Alabama. The 247Sports Composite is an industry wide ranking of the class, taking account for the rankings from 247, Rivals and ESPN.

The above graphic from BGI's Mike Singer shows On3/Rivals rankings have Notre Dame as the No.3 class in the country, having recently jumped Oregon. The part that stands out most in that graphic though is Notre Dame bringing in not one, not two, not three... but FOUR five-stars to South Bend in the 2026 cycle.

This is a recruiting haul unlike anything Notre Dame fans have ever seen.

EDGE Rodney Dunham, TE Ian Premer, CB Khary Adams and S Joey O'Brien represent the industry-wide five-stars for the Fighting Irish this class, despite there being others also with a case to finish in five-star territory.

Rivals rankings include OT Grayson McKeogh, Joey O'Brien's teammate at La Salle College in Glenside, PA, as well as EDGE Ebenezer Ewetade. 247 and ESPN's rankings of McKeogh and Ewetade tank their industry ranking a bit outside of five-star territory, but for Notre Dame to have six different five-star recruits on the three websites is downright ridiculous.

On top of the five-star frenzy, Notre Dame is bringing in likely the top running back duo in the nation, with Javian Osbourne and Jonaz Walton joining as highly-rated four-star backs. The 247Sports Composite has Osbourne and Walton as the No.10 and 11 running backs in the nation, and the No. 111 and 118 players in the country, respectively.

This class has top-end talent and ridiculous depth, with 16 of the 27 commits ranked in the top 247 players in the 247Sports Composite. In comparison, the 2025 cycle finished with only 11 recruits in the top 247 and the 2024 class finished with eight.

With just days to go until National Signing Day on Wednesday, December 3, there have been no rumors of Notre Dame recruits flipping to other schools, but there have been rumblings of the Fighting Irish staff putting in work to make some last-second flips.

Stay tuned to Notre Dame on SI for the latest news there as we get closer and closer to December 3.

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Mason Plummer
MASON PLUMMER

Covered Notre Dame football recruiting since 2017 for Irish Breakdown, Blue & Gold Illustrated and Notre Dame On SI. Covering Notre Dame professionally got me my start in journalism, which led me to getting my degrees in Journalism and Communications from Ball State University in 2021. Featured on Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, Rivals, On3 and more. Have missed multiple weddings and graduation parties for Notre Dame games.

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