Notre Dame Overtakes USC as No.1 in 2026 Recruiting Rankings, Says Expert Outlet

Notre Dame and USC remain rivals more than just on the field - for now

Oct 14, 2023; South Bend, Indiana, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley and Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman chat before the game at Notre Dame Stadium. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Notre Dame and USC remain rivals on the football field for now, but we all know the future of that hardly looks promising.

Regardless of what happens with the two playing annually in the future, Notre Dame and USC will remain rivals in recruiting for as long as college football is played. Both certainly recruit nationally, but despite the distance Notre Dame has had plenty of major recruiting wins in USC's back yard over the years.

Both Marcus Freeman and Lincoln Riley have put mighty impressive recruiting classes together to start their 2026 cycles, but work remains to be done for both. Most outlets have USC leading the recruiting rankings with Notre Dame checking in either second or third currently, with Texas A&M's impressive class also being included.

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Helmets at the line of scrimmage as Notre Dame Fighting Irish long snapper Rino Monteforte (39) snaps the ball against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One outlet has however gone ahead and ranked Notre Dame's class the top nationally in 2026, however. On3's own team rankings for 2026 show Notre Dame ahead of USC by a nose, despite having nine fewer commitments.

Notre Dame checked in with 21 commitments that feature one five-star, 12 four-star, and eight three-star players to combine for an average player rating of 90.48. Meanwhile USC checked in with 30 commitments, zero five-star, 16 four-star, and 14 three-star talents for an average player rating of 89.77.

Notre Dame's total team score of 91.923 just edges out USC's 91.846 for the top spot while Texas A&M, Georgia, and Ohio State round out the top-five.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive lineman Pat Coogan (78), head coach Marcus Freeman, and offensive lineman Rocco Spindler (50) react after losing against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Both schools have outstanding foundations built in 2026 recruiting and are in position to make runs at top-five finishes. Where Notre Dame or USC ultimately ends up doesn't matter that much, as long as it continues to track somewhere in that top-five area.

We all saw how close Notre Dame was to winning a national championship just last season. Now imagine some of those reserves that were called on due to injury were just slightly better, and think how different the ending may have been.

That's at least partly the difference of recruiting to finish in the top ten regularly compared to taking aim at the top spot annually.