Road To An Elite Recruiting Class Is In Clear View

Notre Dame currently has the No. 2 ranked recruiting class in the country, and there are plenty of top players left on the board. The Fighting Irish staff has a pathway in front of it that could lead to a Top 5 recruiting class.

Landing a Top 5 class right now is doable, both from a recruiting rankings standpoint and more importantly from a practical standpoint. I care less about the rankings from the services and more about a more practical elite class. So more of an Alabama/Ohio State type of elite class and less of a Florida State/USC/Texas elite class.

KEYS TO AN ELITE RECRUITING CLASS

1) Land elite players - From a recruiting rankings standpoint this is a Top 50 recruit. From a practical standpoint that certainly includes landing highly ranked players but also includes players that have that kind of talent that is either upside based or exists in a player currently being overlooked by the recruiting services.

Part of landing elite players is landing those types of players at a variety of positions, so for Notre Dame that means not just landing elite offensive linemen and tight ends, but also at the skill positions.

2) Balance - True elite classes need balance, which means not loading up with highly ranked players at 2-3 positions and instead means landing talented players all over the place.

3) Meet Your Needs - Programs like Texas, Florida State, USC and to an extent Georgia consistently land top ranked classes, but far too often those classes are ranked high because programs overload with top players at a smaller number of pictures (that's a lack of balance) but also they repeat those classes year after year. If you are loading up on highly ranked and talented wide receivers, defensive backs and running backs but coming up short at quarterback, offensive line and defensive tackle you'll have a highly ranked class but your football team won't be as good.

That's how a program like Florida State can have four straight Top 25 classes but not once finish in the actual Top 25, and how USC can have back-to-back No. 4 ranked classes and still be average, and how Texas can rank No. 3, No. 3 and No. 8 in recruiting from 2019-21 but still finished ranked No. 20 and No. 25 on the field.

HOW NOTRE DAME STACKS UP RIGHT NOW

With 15 commitments in the class Notre Dame certainly has plenty of balance and depth in the 2022 class. Notre Dame has eight defensive commitments and seven on offense. They have six linemen on both sides of the ball, a quarterback, three linebackers, two tight ends and three skill players.

Notre Dame also has depth of talent, with eight of the 15 commits ranking among the top 240 players in the country on the composite ranking. If you are a star rankings person, 11 of Notre Dame's 15 commits are four-stars on the composite list.

The Irish rank No. 2 in the class rankings according to both Rivals and 247Sports, but part of that is based on the volume. No program has more commitments than Notre Dame's 15. That means Notre Dame has fewer players it can add to the class while a program like Clemson (7 commits) and Alabama (7 commits) have plenty of room to pile on the points as they finish strong, as they always do.

FINISH STRONG

For Notre Dame the key to keeping their place as a top ranked class is to finish off the 2022 class with high level prospects.

There are some must-get players that fit that bill. Notre Dame needs to finish the class off with prospects like Jaylen Sneed, Anthony Lucas, Xavier Nwankpa, Tobias Merriweather, Nicholas Singleton, CJ Williams, Billy Schrauth and Carson Hinzman.

Landing prospects like Devin Moore and Benjamin Morrison is key as well, considering the fact that while they aren't ranked prospects right now you can expect both to shoot up the rankings between now and signing day.

More importantly, Notre Dame needs to make sure it's landing high-level talents beyond the recruiting rankings. That means prioritizing prospects like Xayvion Bradshaw, Jake Pope and the aforementioned defensive backs (Moore, Morrison), prospects who won't blow you away with their prep rankings, but they are skill players who have the high level talent to be difference makers when they get to college.

Will Notre Dame actually finish with an elite class? I don't know because there's still a lot of work to be done. What I can say is that I'm more confident in Notre Dame's ability to close, and where they stand with all those top prospects, than I have been for a very, very long time.

That's why I said that the end game of an elite class is very much in view, and its there for the taking.

Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame Summer Roster
Notre Dame Football: 2021 Overview

Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Offense
Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Defense

2022 Big Board: Running Back
2022 Big Board: Slot Receivers

Notre Dame 2022 Scholarship Offers

Notre Dame 2022 Class Big Board

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