Notre Dame Beats Michigan For Top Running Back Recruit

The Irish stay hot on the recruiting trail landing star running back prospect Javian Osborne.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman greets his players during a Notre Dame football spring practice at Irish Athletic Center on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame lands running back recruit Javian Osborne

After an understandably slow start to the 2026 recruiting class, given the changes in the Irish recruiting operation after the longest season in Notre Dame history, Notre Dame is picking up mega steam on the trail.

After picking up a verbal commitment from Ohio LB Jaobe Clapper on May 2nd, the Irish added 4-star RB Javian Osborne to the fold on May 3rd.

247Sports has Osborne slated as the 130th-best high school prospect and the 10th-best running back in the country. With these recent commitments, the Irish now have the second-best class in the country, trailing arch-rival USC, whose recruiting operation is currently run by former Notre Dame GM Chad Bowden.

Can the Irish maintain the momentum they've built on the trail? The odds of this are good, as Notre Dame currently sits in a prime position to land more top prospects soon.

Notre Dame beat out Michigan for Osborne's services

Irish fans always love to see Notre Dame land top 200-rated players, but beating Michigan out as the other finalist is the cherry on top when it comes to the Osborne commitment.

It'll be interesting to see in the coming days if the Michigan contingent will accept this recruiting defeat for what it is, or will create another web of deflection with made-up excuses that have become commonplace in Ann Arbor in reaction to bad recruiting news.

While the recruiting win over Michigan adds an immature and petty kind of joy to this story from the Irish side - of which I admit I fully embrace personally - the bigger story is that Notre Dame continues to fill out its roster with high-end athletes under Marcus Freeman.

That doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.

The future in South Bend is bright, folks.

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