Notre Dame's 2023 Class Is Blowing Up Stereotypes About Top Athletes
Notre Dame currently has the nation's No. 1 ranked recruiting class, and the group of 2023 players certainly has Fighting Irish fans excited about the future of the program.
There is something much deeper going on with the 2023 group of Notre Dame commits, it goes beyond the football field, and it's even bigger than Notre Dame.
This group of players is blowing up the long held and misguided narrative that has long existed about not just Notre Dame recruits, but elite football players in general.
You've heard it plenty of times, including from the last head football coach. Every time a national analyst talks about Notre Dame's inability to compete with programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia the narrative usually revolves around the inability to land top players.
The reason? Well, Notre Dame's admission standards make it too hard to recruit the best athletes, and elite recruits don't want to deal with the rigorous academic demands that are placed on football players at Notre Dame.
The last head football coach used to talk about Notre Dame needing to "shop down a different aisle." It was nothing more than an excuse to not have to do battle for the nation's best players.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, director of recruiting Chad Bowden and the rest of the current coaching staff is showing that the way things used to be at Notre Dame was never about having to shop down a different aisle, it was about not doing it the right way.
They were the problem, not the student-athletes, and Freeman, Bowden and company are putting that on full display. Freeman and his ace recruiter Bowden have combined with the new coaches to show that the previous folks in charge of the recruiting operation as a whole simply weren't good enough, it wasn't about the student-athletes.
Finding football players that are smart, academically oriented and also elite on the football field was always possible, but it required a lot harder work as an entire organization and required much better planning than the previous head coach and those he placed in charge of recruiting were willing to do.
That's not an issue for Freeman, Bowden and this staff.
The proof is in the pudding.
ELITE RECRUITING - ELITE TALENT
Notre Dame currently has 23 commits in the 2023 class, and every single one is graded as a four-star recruit by at least one service. All but one of those commits is ranked as a Top 250 recruit by at least one service. That means 22 commits in the 2023 class are ranked as the No. 247 player or higher.
Twelve of Notre Dame's 23 commits are ranked in the Top 100 by at least one service, which is just tremendous, and eight more are ranked in the Top 60, including six in the Top 50. Note Dame has four players ranked in the Top 25 nationally.
Brian Kelly had 13 recruiting classes at Notre Dame, and not one of them have come close to being as good as this class in many ways, including the 2013 class that ranked as the No. 5 class. That class had 284.77 points according to 247Sports, but the current No. 1 ranked class has 292.03 points, and the Irish aren't done yet.
This is important to establish, because the narrative was never about being able to find high academic students, it was always about finding high academic students who were actually also big-time football players.
EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS
This is where the 2023 class blows up the narrative. This isn't a group of players that Notre Dame had to make exceptions for, or convince the ND admissions department to please, please, please let this marginal student into school.
I've heard the whispers, "Notre Dame lowered their standards, that's why Freeman is having success."
Nonsense. Yet another excuse.
This group of young men are letting the college football world know that there are plenty of elite players that care just as much about excellence in the classroom as they do their excellence on the field. Not just in high school, but it's a big reason they chose Notre Dame.
Irish Breakdown gathered the grade point averages of all but one of Notre Dame's 2023 commits and its top uncommitted player on the board. The lowest GPA of those 23 players is a 3.25.
You read that correctly, the lowest cumulative GPA of those 24 recruits, recruits that are among the best players in the country, is a 3.25.
Of Notre Dame's 13 commits that are ranked in the Top 100, ten are at 3.4 or better. One of the three players is defensive end Boubacar Traore, whose GPA we weren't able to obtain. Traore, however, attends an outstanding private school in Massachusetts.
Notre Dame's best recruit in the 2023 class is Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep star defensive end Keon Keeley, who is a five-star recruit and the No. 3 player in the country according to On3. The Berkeley star racked up an astounding 34 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks as a junior.
Keeley carries a 3.45 GPA. He's truly an elite student-athlete.
The same is true for Rock Island (Ill.) Alleman Catholic offensive tackle Charles Jagusah, another five-star recruit that ranks as the No. 6 player in the country according to On3. Jagusah is actually a 4.18 on a 4.0-scale because he has taken several honors classes, and he plans to major in business at Notre Dame.
Denton (Texas) Guyer safety Peyton Bowen is yet another five-star recruit, and he ranks as the nation's No. 18 overall player according to On3. Bowen is a brilliant football player, picking off seven passes as a junior, but he's also a 3.45 student that plans to major in business with a desire to be an entrepreneur when his playing career comes to a close.
That's three five-star recruits and the lowest GPA is a 3.45. They could have chosen an easier path and committed to a Southern public school that will focus more on football, but they chose the harder path. They want to be challenged on and off the field, they chose a path that we have always been told wasn't something elite athletes were interested in.
Notre Dame went into the Buckeye State to land Mentor (Ohio) High School defensive end Brenan Vernon, who chose the Irish over Ohio State. Vernon ranks as the nation's No. 23 overall player according to Rivals. He has also earned 3.25 GPA in the classroom.
Keeley and Vernon are two parts of the nation's best group of defensive linemen, as is Traore.
The fourth member of that class is Hagerstown (Md.) St. James School star Devan Houstan, a 6-5, 275-pound standout that ranks as the nation's No. 185 overall player, and he carries a 3.87 GPA and wants to major in business or marketing at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame also has arguably the best haul of linebackers in the country, and the story is the same.
Drayk Bowen is the nation's No. 37 overall player and is a preseason All-American according to MaxPreps (as is Keeley, Bowen and Greathouse). The Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean two-sport star - who plays baseball in the spring - is a 4.2 GPA due to success in honors classes.
Notre Dame's most recent defensive commitment is Baton Rouge (La.) University Lab standout Jaiden Ausberry. He ranks as the No. 38 overall player in the land according to ESPN. Ausberry is dominant on the field and in the classroom, earning a 3.7 GPA and expressing a desire to major in business or finance at Notre Dame.
The third linebacker in the class is Lawrence (Mass.) Central Catholic standout Preston Zinter, the nation's No. 223 overall player according to Rivals. He is a 3.84 student.
Oh I know what some people are thinking, "Yeah, but those aren't skill players, those are lineman and linebackers, the skill players, the speed guys, they don't care about going to class."
Yes, yes they do.
I've already mentioned Peyton Bowen, who is a five-star recruit on the field and a 3.45 student off it.
Houston (Texas) Kinkaid cornerback Micah Bell is an elite player and a track star. He ranks as the No. 67 player in the land according to 247Sports, and he spurned Texas for Notre Dame. Bell also ran a blazing 10.41 in the 100-meter dash this spring, ran a 20.89 in the 200-meter dash (fifth best in the country) and leaped over 24.5 feet in the long jump during the spring.
Oh, he's also a 3.6 student who wants to major in business or political science at Notre Dame. He also had an offer from Harvard.
St. Louis (Mo.) DeSmet Jesuit cornerback Christian Gray is also one of the nation's best players, ranking No. 51 overall according to Rivals, and he picked the Irish over LSU and Ohio State. Gray is a 3.3 student who wants to major in sports journalism.
A brief funny story about the conversation where we learned of Gray's academic success. While he was informing Irish Breakdown of his grade point average, his mother could be heard in the background saying, "not high enough."
And that is a big reason for his success, and that story could be told about the majority of Notre Dame's commits.
Irvington (N.J.) High School safety Adon Shuler is another consensus four-star recruit that ranks as the No. 170 overall player in the land, and he's an outstanding student. Shuler has earned a 3.3 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.
The only recruit who isn't ranked as a Top 250 recruit is Cincinnati (Ohio) Lakota West safety Ben Minich, who is ranked as a four-star recruit by 247Sports. He's also a public school student, and he has a 4.0 GPA and also earned an offer from Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
It's just as impressive story at wide receiver. Two of Notre Dame's three wide receiver commits are Top 100 players and the third - Rico Flores - is ranked No. 106 overall by Rivals.
They are all outstanding students.
Round Rock (Texas) Stony Point pass catcher Braylon James is the No. 54 overall player in the land according to ESPN. He's also a track standout, but he does his best work in the classroom. James is a 3.9 GPA, ranks 32nd in a class of 692 students and plans to major in either business or engineering at Notre Dame.
Another Texas wideout in the Notre Dame class is Austin (Texas) Westlake star Jaden Greathouse, who was a dominant pass catcher as a junior. Greathouse racked up 66 catches for 1,274 yards (19.3 YPC) and 20 touchdowns last fall while leading Westlake to a 15-0 record.
Greathouse is ranked as the nation's No. 69 player according to Rivals. He's also earned a 3.65 GPA and wants to major in Psychology.
Folsom (Calif.) High School wideout Rico Flores Jr. picked Notre Dame over Ohio State and Georgia. He ranks as the No. 106 overall player in the country according to Rivals, and Flores is just as good in the classroom, earning a 3.8 GPA and expressing a desire to major in business. Flores also had an offer from Yale.
Notre Dame recently landed Derby (Kan.) High School star Dylan Edwards, who rushed for 2,603 yards and 38 touchdowns as a junior. He also recently rank a sub-4.4 at the Future50 event and ranks as the nation's No. 234 overall player, and he sports an impressive 3.3 GPA.
Lake Stevens (Wash.) High School running back Jayden Limar rushed for 1,549 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, and he's the No. 247 overall player in the country according to 247Sports. He is also a 3.4 student that wants to major in business and possibly minor in real estate at Notre Dame.
Tight end Cooper Flanagan plays for one of the country's best high school teams at Concord (Calif.) De La Salle, and he's one of the nation's best tight ends, ranking as the No. 123 overall player in the country. Oh, and he's a 3.5 student that also wants to major in business.
The Irish have an impressive group of offensive linemen. I've already mentioned Jagusah's elite academic success, but he's not alone.
Notre Dame's highest GPA in the class belongs to Belmont (N.C.) South Point offensive tackle Sullivan Absher, who not only ranks as the No. 77 overall player in the land according to On3, but he also has a 4.43 GPA on a 4.0 scale thanks to a hefty dose of honors classes.
Pfafftown (N.C.) Ronald Reagan blocker Sam Pendleton is one of five Notre Dame commits with a 4.0 or better grade point average. The nation's No. 225 player according to Rivals also wants to major in mechanical engineering for the Irish.
Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle offensive tackle Elijah Paige is a four-star recruit that ranks as the No. 237 player in the country. He's earned a 3.6 GPA and wants to major in economics at Notre Dame.
Wichita (Kan.) Hayden offensive tackle Joe Otting ranks as the No. 224 player in the nation according to 247Sports. Otting has a 3.5 GPA and also wants to major in business.
Arguably the most important uncommitted player on the board is running back Jeremiyah Love, an explosive player from St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers. He's the nation's No. 49 overall player in the country according to Rivals.
Oh, and Love is a 4.0 student who will decide between pre-med, biology and chemical engineering for his college major. He's also a member of the National Honor Society.
I don't want to hear about how Notre Dame can't compete for a championship because it has to shop down a different aisle, or it has to do things differently because of their academic requirements.
The players in Notre Dame's 2023 class are proof that elite athletes do in fact care about getting a great education on top of competing for championships and pushing to be first round picks. There are some top targets who can't make it at Notre Dame, or don't want to challenge themselves academically because there are no absolutes when talking about human nature, but this group is showing there are plenty of truly elite student-athletes.
Notre Dame's 2023 recruiting class is destroying the narrative about young student-athletes and their unwillingness to take their education seriously, and that they aren't capable of being elite in the classroom and on the field.
This class, along with Freeman, Bowden and the Irish staff, are showing that the way Notre Dame has done it for so long in the past always said more about some of their own deficiencies and not the deficiencies of young people.
There has always been enough big-time players that are also big-time students to fill Notre Dame's roster to the point where it could and should have competed for championships.
The difference now is Freeman, Bowden and the staff are doing what it takes to land them, and this group of young men have decided they want to blaze a new path, one that shows the rest of the sports world that they will seek excellence on and off the field, that they are willing to be challenged as students, as young men and as elite football players.
Narrative be damned.
Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge
Irish Breakdown Content
Notre Dame 2022 Roster
Notre Dame 2022 Schedule
Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Offense
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Defense
Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Gettr: @IrishBreakdown
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook