Recruiting Comparison: Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech
There are many ways to evaluate matchups, and one of those ways is to look at things from a recruiting standpoint. Virginia Tech has arguably the best matchup against Notre Dame from a recruiting standpoint.
Here are the 247Sports composite rankings for the starters and top rotation players for the Notre Dame offense and the Virginia Tech defense.
Notre Dame's abysmal start to the season is even more surprising when you consider the recruiting success on that side of the ball. Notre Dame starts a five-star recruit and four players that ranked as four-star recruits. That number jumps up to nine should Drew Pyne (4-star, No. 225 overall) step into the starting lineup.
Notre Dame has three Top 100 national recruits in its starting lineup, a number that jumps to four should Tosh Baker (4-star, No. 100) jump back into the starting rotation. Notre Dame also has two former Top 100 recruits in the rotation (Tyler Buchner, Chris Tyree) and two more borderline Top 100 recruits (Lorenzo Styles, Deion Colzie) are getting more and more reps.
Virginia Tech starts six former four-star recruits, although none were ranked as Top 100 recruits. Safety Devon Hunter (4-star, No. 42) was listed as a co-starter and he was, in fact, a Top 100 recruit.
Now let's look at the Notre Dame defense and the Hokie offense.
Notre Dame has five former four-star recruits in its starting defense, which is the unit that is carrying the team thus far in the season. If Isaiah Pryor starts (4-star, No. 63) it adds another four-star, Top 100 recruit into the lineup. Notre Dame brings several four-star players off the bench.
Notre Dame has a pair of Top 100 recruits in its secondary, and both start at safety. There are two other recruits that rank in the Top 250 and another (Jordan Botelho - 4-star, No. 120) comes off the bench.
Cincinnati starts just three four-star recruits, but they are at important positions (quarterback, wide receiver). They also have a four-star recruit (Keshawn King) at running back.
CLASS RANKINGS
Here are the class rankings of the two programs from the last five seasons. (247Sports composite)
NOTRE DAME
2021 - 9
2020 - 18
2019 - 15
2018 - 10
2017 - 10
VIRGINIA TECH
2021 - 44
2020 - 76
2019 - 26
2018 - 24
2017 - 26
Advantage: Notre Dame
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Irish Breakdown Content
Notre Dame 2021 Roster
Notre Dame 2021 Schedule
Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Offense
Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Defense
Notre Dame 2022 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2022 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
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