Notre Dame Recruiting Two-Year Grades

One of the best ways to evaluate a team's recruiting efforts is to look at how it stacked classes on top of each other. It gives far more context to how a team is building its roster, and the Notre Dame offense has used the two-year haul of the 2022 and 2023 classes to give the roster a major boost.

Position grades for the class are based on the player grades coming out of high school, not based on what the previous class has done, or not done, in college. Grades are based on how well Notre Dame met its needs, the talent of the group and fit.

Here are the two-year grades for the Notre Dame offense:

QUARTERBACK

Grade: B+
Signees (2): Steve Angeli (2022), Kenny Minchey (2023)

Landing Minchey played a big role in Notre Dame improving the future of its quarterback position. If you look at things from a three-year view, the 2020-22 classes were Drew Pyne, Tyler Buchner and Steve Angeli. That's one impact quarterback and two solid game manager types. When looking at the three year view of Buchner, Angeli and Minchey you see two impact players and a game manager. That's how you properly build a quarterback depth chart.

Minchey is one of the best quarterbacks in the 2023 class and he's a great fit for the Tommy Rees offense. He's smart, he has a great feel for the game, he is accurate and he throws a good deep ball. Minchey also has the ability to make plays outside the framework of the offense, especially as a passer. He has the frame, football intelligence and arm talent to player early in his career if the need arises.

Angeli is a solid all-around prospect. He has a quick release, possesses impressive leadership traits and he shows good game manager skills.

RUNNING BACK

Grade: A
Signees (3): Gi'Bran Payne (2022), Jadarian Price (2022), Jeremiyah Love (2023)

Notre Dame has done a great job restocking the running back depth chart in recent seasons, and landing Love in the 2023 class made it four straight seasons the Irish loaded up with big time prep prospects. Price and Love both graded out as Top 100 recruits on the IB board.

Price and Love are both home run hitters that also bring every down back tools to the game. Price is a bit more of a vertical runner while Love possesses impressive make-you-miss skills. Both are impact players in the pass game, and there is no doubt that Notre Dame can use them together as part of a rotation or on the field at the same time in its 21 personnel packages.

Payne graded out as a four-star recruit as well despite missing much of his final two seasons with injuries. If he is able to get back to full health this backfield will be as deep as its been in decades. There aren't many teams in college football that have recruited the running back position as well as Notre Dame has the last two seasons.

WIDE RECEIVER

Grade: B+
Signees (5): Tobias Merriweather (2022), Rico Flores Jr. (2023), Jaden Greathouse (2023), Braylon James (2023), Kaleb Smith (2023)

This grade gets dragged down because of numbers. Notre Dame hit their numbers mark in 2023 but the 2022 class was two players short. That means over a two-year span the Irish didn't land a full two-deep.

That's the negative, the positive is that the talent Notre Dame did land is outstanding. Merriweather was my top-ranked offensive recruit and a Top 50 overall national player on the IB Board with the 2022 class. He's long and fast, possessing the tools to be a dominant pass catcher at the next level.

Notre Dame's 2023 class added a deep group of talented wideouts, and a group that brings a variety of skills. That diverse set of skills was incredibly needed. James brings home run speed, Greathouse brings an advanced game with the tools to be a volume pass catcher, Smith is fast and has impressive after-the-catch skills, and Flores is one of the most advanced route runners in the class.

If this group comes close to its full potential the Irish will have one of the better group of pass catchers in all of college football.

TIGHT END

Grade: A-
Signees (3): Eli Raridon (2022), Holden Staes (2022), Cooper Flanagan (2023)

As expected, Notre Dame has recruited tight end as well as any program in the country over the last two years. Raridon graded out as a Top 100 recruit on the IB board and both Staes and Flanagan are Top 200 caliber prospects, but both have high ceilings and the potential to be outstanding college tight ends.

Raridon's injury history is problematic but he possesses all the tools to be an elite college tight end. He's long, fast, has great ball skills and as a senior he showed much-improved blocking ability. Staes is a great complement to Raridon in that he can do a lot of the detached aspects of the game. His game is quite raw but his combination of athleticism, ball skills and length make him a potential impact player in the pass game.

Flanagan has a lot of throwback in him. He can do damage in the pass game, but right now his strength is as a dominant run blocker. That makes him a great complement to the 2022 tight ends, who are first pass catchers, although Raridon also shows strong blocking potential.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Grade: A-
Signees (9): Ty Chan (2022), Ashton Craig (2022), Billy Schrauth (2022), Aamil Wagner (2022), Sullivan Absher (2023), Charles Jagusah (2023), Joe Otting (2023), Sam Pendleton (2023), Christopher Terek (2023)

There is a lot to like about the two offensive line hauls in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 group added a lot of athleticism to the roster, while the 2023 group added a lot of size and physicality. Notre Dame met its numbers needs in these two hauls, there is good top of the board talent, and there is a lot of impressive upside. The one question mark about this group, the thing that keeps it from being an A, is my question about whether or not it has the necessary tackle depth.

Wagner and Jagusah both have the tools to be left tackles in college, with Wagner possessing elite length and athleticism and Jagusah possessing massive size and elite power. The question mark with Wagner is can he add enough mass to his frame to handle the rigors of college football while maintaining his athleticism. Jagusah's left tackle question comes more from whether or not another position might be better for him. If this left tackle question gets answered favorably this group will be outstanding.

Jagusah and Schrauth are both top talents and both graded out as Top 100 recruits. There isn't a ton of star power in this group, but Wagner has elite upside, and if he hits his mark it will give the Irish the star power it needs to be a dominant line, should that line be made up of the players from these two classes. What makes it such a great haul isn't the star power, however, it's the depth of really good football players. There's only one lineman in this 9-man haul to earn below a 4.5-star upside grade, which is really impressive. It has a combination of size, power, athleticism and upside. It just needs to answer the tackle question.

2022 signee Joey Tanona is not listed in this group due to his career already being ended due to a tragic accident.

OVERALL

Grade: A-

Notre Dame needed a strong two-year haul on offense and it got that. The Irish landed at least one potential impact player at every position, and at every position but quarterback it added multiple players at each position with impact upside. Notre Dame's staff was able to largely overcome numbers issues with the 2023 class, and the skill talent that is heading to South Bend out of these two classes is as good as we've seen in back-to-back classes in a very, very long time.

There is no question that Notre Dame is closing the gap with these two offensive classes.

GRADE KEY

A — Elite / College Football Playoff caliber
B — Outstanding / Top 15 caliber
C — Solid / Borderline Top 25 caliber
D — Subpar / Not good enough
F — Disaster

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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

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