Notre Dame Appears Close to Landing its Next 'QB of the Future'

Notre Dame has had an untraditional recruitment of quarterbacks in the 2027 class, but that appears to soon be coming to an end.

Sep 20, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and quarterback CJ Carr (13) sing the alma mater after beating the Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

For the longest time, Notre Dame "was a quarterback away" from seriously competing for national championships in football.

No offense to Ian Book or Jack Coan, but those guys weren't at a level you saw national championship quarterbacks playing at during their respective Notre Dame runs.

Now, Notre Dame sits with perhaps the top returning quarterback in the country, CJ Carr, and has recruited the position exceptionally well in recent years.

Freshman Noah Grubbs joined the team this spring while Teddy Jarrard, who reclassified to be a part of Notre Dame's 2026 recruiting class, will join the team in the fall.

Now, it appears Notre Dame's next "quarterback of the future" is getting set to join the fold.

Notre Dame and Wonderful Monds IV

Vero Beach, Florida quarterback Wonderful Monds IV is becoming a hot name in Notre Dame recruiting circles.

The high school junior-to-be will be entering his junior season of high school football this fall, but it will also be his last as he re-classified to the 2027 recruiting class late last year.

Monds was rated early as the top quarterback in the 2028 recruiting class before changing his years. He now sits as the 20th quarterback overall in the 2027 class according to the 247Sports composite rankings - which is mighty impressive considering he's a year younger than everyone he's being compared to.

Highly regarded recruiting insider Steve Wiltfong of Rivals/On3 went as far as to say a commitment appears imminent.

"A commitment is expected soon and the Irish are trending heavily."@SWiltfong_ says Notre Dame is out in front for 4-star QB Champ Monds ☘️

MORE: https://t.co/UafM5r78On pic.twitter.com/vM39HF2KCx

— Josh Newberg (@josh_newberg) April 21, 2026

"A commitment expected soon and the Irish are trending heavily" is how Wiltfong described where Notre Dame stands.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Is Notre Dame finding a new market inefficency?

This would be the second season in a row that Notre Dame lands a commitment from a sky-high quarterback who is choosing to reclassify.

Teddy Jarrard didn't seem to intend on doing that when he originally committed to Notre Dame, but after giving his verbal pledge he decided he'd get to campus as soon as possible in order to compete with Noah Grubbs on the depth chart.

Fall behind now and risk being stuck behind forever seemed to be the thinking.

It sure feels like it's a matter of "when" not "if" Monds commits to Notre Dame.

Now, we've seen this before with Notre Dame and quarterbacks, as Dante Moore was thought to be a sure-thing at one point as well.

Monds clearly wouldn't compete for a starting job in 2027, as he'll be in what should be his senior year of high school, just like Jarrard won't this fall.

However, can Monds compete for playing time by the time he's entering his second year on campus in 2028?

In a world where potential First Round quarterbacks rarely stick around for senior seasons (save Dante Moore), it's a way for Notre Dame to improve its chances of getting a big-time quarterback on campus for at least four years, even if it's crystal clear that first year, when they're essentially in their senior year of high school, won't result in any playing time.

"Four for Forty" might be Notre Dame's recruiting pitch to the masses, but "Early for Four (or Five)" might just be starting to be it's new reality for quarterbacks.