Notre Dame Beats Out Tennessee for Five-Star Recruit...Well, Sort of

Notre Dame landed it's first commitment in the 2028 recruiting class on Wednesday when Owen Davies announced he would be play football in South Bend.

"Who?" you may be asking.

A five-star talent, none other than the Owen Davies himself!

And Notre Dame beat out his home-state school of Tennessee to do it, too. That's great news, especially following Notre Dame missing out on prized tight end Malik Howard to Tennessee, just days ago.

Who is Notre Dame Commitment, Owen Davies?

Davies is a 6-0, 190-pound kicker from Brentwood (Academy), Tennessee and is rated as a five-star kicker according to Kohl's Kicking.

I honestly didn't know if that was some kind of sports clothing store before clicking, but now you know what it is as well.

Committed!!!!!!! #goirish #wilhoitway

I would like to thank my parents for giving me every opportunity to play at the next level and always believing in me. And a huge thank you to my coach James Wilhoit for everything you have done to make me a better player and a better… pic.twitter.com/18HWhtlOsC
— Owen Davies (@OwenDavies4_) June 11, 2026

Davies is rated as the nation's second overall kicker in the 2028 recruiting cycle, trailing only Ryan Jung, who is also from Tennessee.

I don't know what's in the water in the Volunteer State but it evidently helps create outstanding high school kickers these days.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway

I don't want to poo-poo this, but I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm excited in any way, shape, or form, either.

Hooray, Notre Dame landed one of the very best kicking recruits in the country (for next recruiting cycle)!

Honestly, how many times have we heard such a thing?

I'm old enough to remember when Notre Dame landed top-10 kicker Josh Bryan a handful of years ago. The Fighting Irish were able to flip him from Colorado, as he was one of the nation's top kicking recruits that cycle.

And who doesn't remember what Bryan did at Notre Dame?

That one career extra point in a 55-0 drubbing of Georgia Tech in 2021 was truly unforgettable.

I'm not trying to knock Bryan or Davies in this case. I swear to you, I'm not.

It's what feels like if it wasn't the first half of June that this story wouldn't even register with Notre Dame fans, but considering no other commitments are happening right now (at least yet...hopefully that changes very soon), that Davies gets a lot of words written about him.

Essentially this checks a box for recruiting in the 2028 cycle, but who knows at this point what Davies is going to be once he gets here.

For college football fans of a certain age, the name Scott Bentley rings a bell as the former Florida State kicker once graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993 - as he was brought in to save all of the Seminoles' kicking woes.

He was on a team that was awarded a national championship that year, but missed a long field goal in Florida State's only loss that season - which came at Notre Dame.

Happy 52nd, Scott Bentley! pic.twitter.com/S4EAkEHYgQ
— EFESHEW (@EFESHEW) April 10, 2026

He wound up making 68.9% of his field goal attempts in four years at Florida State. Sure, it was a different time, but the next time I get excited about a kicker making his college commitment will be the first.

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