Notre Dame vs Alabama: Recruiting Comparison
Notre Dame takes on Alabama in the College Football Playoff, and the Fighting Irish are severe underdogs. Part of that is due to on-field success, or Notre Dame's lack of success in big games like this. Another part is Alabama's dominance on the recruiting trail.
As part of our analysis of this big matchup, let's take a look at how the Notre Dame starting lineup and key rotation players match up against Alabama's starters and role players from a recruiting standpoint, using the 247Sports composite rankings.
NOTRE DAME OFFENSE vs ALABAMA DEFENSE
There are areas where the Notre Dame offense stacks up quite well against the Alabama defense, and as you'd expect the main area is in the trenches.
When you compare the Notre Dame offensive line and tight ends and compare it to the Alabama front seven the numbers are almost identical, and the average rating for the Irish is actually higher.
Notre Dame has two five-star players in its starting line up (offensive line, tight ends), and all six of those starters ranked in the Top 200. Alabama has two five-star players among its front seven starting lineup, and six of its seven players ranked as Top 200 players. Nose guard DJ Dale is the only player to rank outside of the Top 200, and he ranked No. 254.
Notre Dame's average ranking among its line and top tight end is 84.7.
Alabama's average ranking among its front seven players (defensive line, linebackers) is 84.0.
Notre Dame lists senior Brock Wright as its starting tight end, but I included Michael Mayer because Mayer played the most snaps and is on the field in the big moments. If you go with Wright the Irish OL/TE ranking only drops to 91.2.
Where you start to see some separation from the Notre Dame offense and the Alabama defense is at the perimeter skill positions and the backfield.
In this comparison I also include the tight end, since that position has to match up against linemen and linebackers in the run game, but also safeties and sometimes cornerbacks in the pass game.
Notre Dame and Alabama both have one five-star player, but the five-star for the Irish is a true freshman (Mayer), while Alabama’s (cornerback Patrick Surtain) is a junior.
Notre Dame has three three-star players at the skill positions in quarterback Ian Book, running back Kyren Williams and wideout Ben Skowronek. Irish receiver Javon McKinley stacks up well against the Tide secondary players from a rankings standpoint, and Avery Davis was also a four-star recruit as an athletic quarterback.
The difference, however, is that Alabama’s secondary starters and key rotation players are all four-star recruits, and only one player (backup safety Malachi Moore) ranked outside the Top 125. Alabama doesn’t have a single three-star player in its starting lineup.
NOTRE DAME DEFENSE vs ALABAMA OFFENSE
The biggest mismatch in the game, from a recruiting rankings standpoint, is the Notre Dame front seven against the Alabama offensive line. What’s interesting is that Notre Dame’s front seven, especially its front four, has carried the Irish defense all season.
Alabama has two five-star offensive linemen in the starting lineup, and both (Alex Leatherwood, Evan Neal) were Top 10 overall recruits. All five of Alabama’s expected starting blockers ranked in the Top 200 in the recruiting rankings.
Notre Dame’s front seven has five players that ranked as composite three-stars and just two (Daelin Hayes, Shayne Simon) ranked as four-star recruits.
Alabama’s line had an average ranking of 97.6 coming out of high school.
Notre Dame’s front seven had an average ranking of 471.3.
Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, the winner of the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team ESPN All-American, was a three-star recruit that ranked as the nation’s No. 456 overall player coming out of high school.
The Irish stack up well at the safety position, with Kyle Hamilton ranking No. 60 and Shaun Crawford ranking No. 112. Crawford, of course, has had two major knee surgeries and a significant Achilles injury since he ranked that high. Alabama’s highest ranked wideout is Devonta Smith, who ranked No. 62 coming out of high school, and its other skill players are John Metchie (No. 275) and a pair of three-stars in Slade Bolden and Miller Forristall.
OFFENSE vs OFFENSE
Normally when I do this kind of ranking I focus on the offense vs. defense matchups, because those matchups actually impact the outcome of the game.
What I found interesting is that the recruiting rankings don't necessarily match up to what we saw on the field.
When you look at the Alabama offense against the Notre Dame offense, the Tide are a high-octane, explosive unit that averaged 49.7 points and 543.9 yards per game, and 7.8 yards per play. The Irish offense averaged just 35.7 points and 455.2 yards per game, and 6.4 yards per play.
For those who obsess over rankings, you would think that Notre Dame would be much closer in offensive production to Alabama.
Both programs have a three-star quarterback, and both programs have three skill players in the starting lineup (quarterback, running back, wide receiver or tight end). Notre Dame and Alabama both have a pair of starting wideouts that were four-star recruits that ranked in the Top 300. Notre Dame’s averaging ranking of its top two receivers is 180.0, while Alabama’s is 168.5.
Alabama has a three-star wide receiver and a three-star tight end in the starting lineup with a five-star running back. Notre Dame has a three-star wide receiver and a three-star running back with a five-star tight end.
Alabama has more five-star offensive linemen (two to one), but Notre Dame has more Top 100 blockers (three to two), and Notre Dame’s average ranking of its offensive linemen is 95.2, while Alabama’s is 97.6.
Both teams bring a Top 100 freshman running back off the bench, both teams bring a Top 250 wide receiver off the bench, and both teams bring a four-star tight end off the bench.
DEFENSE vs DEFENSE
The exact opposite story is true when you look at the two defenses. Notre Dame gave up fewer points per game this season and fewer yards this season than did Alabama. Notre Dame had three games against Top 15 scoring offenses while Alabama played just two. Notre Dame also had a higher ranked defense in the Fremeau Efficiency Index (No. 15 vs. No. 23).
When you look at the recruiting rankings you’d think Alabama would blow Notre Dame away in defensive numbers and effectiveness. The Irish start seven three-star players on defense and don’t have a single five-star recruit in the starting lineup. Only four of Notre Dame’s starters ranked in the Top 300.
Alabama starts four five-star recruits and all 11 starters ranked No. 254 or better. The Crimson Tide do not start a single three-star recruit on defense.
Notre Dame gave up 34 points and 541 yards against Clemson in the ACC title game. Alabama gave up 46 points and 462 yards against Florida in the SEC title game. Alabama had four games where it gave up more than 400 yards, the same at Notre Dame.
Looking at the recruiting rankings in this way should create a great deal of conversation. Alabama’s defensive recruiting is the best in the nation, and it’s not all that close. The Crimson Tide recruit extremely well on offense as well, but as the rankings show it’s not much better, if better at all, than Notre Dame. Yet the Tide blow Notre Dame away when it comes to recruiting on defense.
Yet Notre Dame’s offense isn’t in the same universe as Alabama’s, and Notre Dame has ranked ahead of Alabama on the FEI in each of the last two seasons.
To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! 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 podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook