Notre Dame Football Lands Key Recruiting Commitment from Florida

Notre Dame football's great defensive back recruiting concern with the 2027 class has come to an end!

Well, yes, if you actually believe such a thing was happening, anyway.

Notre Dame landed a public commitment from safety Jon Gay III of Hollywood (Chaminade-Madonna Prep), Florida, on Wednesday. This comes roughly 48 hours after longtime Notre Dame commitment Khalil Terry withdrew his name from the class.

John Gay III Recruiting Overview

If you're only interested in recruiting rankings from the major sites then this commitment isn't going to do a whole lot for you.

Gay, a 6-1, 185-pound safety, ranks as the 812th overall player nationally according to the 247Sports composite rankings of the 2027 recruiting class. He also checks in as the 79th overall safety and 83rd best player from Florida this cycle.

BREAKING: Class of 2027 Safety John Gay has Committed to Notre Dame, he tells me for @Rivals

The 6’1 185 S from Miami, FL chose the Fighting Irish over Ole Miss and Florida

“FLORIDA DAME, I’M HOME☘️!”https://t.co/tTI9SKCuYt pic.twitter.com/XkGza0hM5g
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 22, 2026

Gay doesn't come with the elite speed like many of Notre Dame's great defensive backs of late, but he does offer experience at Nickel, which would scream that he'll be in strong consideration to play the same spot once he gets to South Bend.

Perhaps more important than Gay's player ranking is his list of scholarship offers. It's not filled with college football bluebloods but solid programs like Ole Miss, Auburn, Iowa, Louisville, Missouri, Texas A&M, SMU, Florida, and Virginia Tech all offered him.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway

This isn't a recruiting commitment that's going to shake the ground by any means, but it seems to give a bit more clarity of how things went down.

I don't doubt that Khalil Terry was having doubts about possibly being so far from home, as he was a California kid who appears to be headed to play closer to home. However, there is a strong chance a couple of things are true here.

Despite his high rating nationally, perhaps Notre Dame wasn't as sold on Terry as they had once been. It's also noteworthy that Notre Dame having a change at position coaches this off-season could play into the interest from both the program and the player.

This all came together very quickly as Gay didn't make his first trip to Notre Dame until this past weekend, and by Monday night he made his commitment to defensive backs coach Aaron Henry.

I understand why fans look at this commitment just by ranking and aren't thrilled, but this is clearly a player the Notre Dame staff sees as rising in a big way. It's also worth noting that he could be the first Florida-based domino to fall for Notre Dame in the coming weeks.

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