Notre Dame's Recruiting Process Turned 27 Commits Into 27 Signees
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This is a different era of college football, like it or not, it's more of a transactional era in a sport that has been built on strong relationships. What Notre Dame did this past National Signing Day is rare, and might not get the recognition is deserves. After all, a lot of attention is focused on rankings by various outlets and the amount of 'Blue Chip' recruits are in your class. For the Irish, the accolades are impressive including being ranked No. 3 on 247Sports rankings and No. 2 on Rivals Industry rankings.
The Irish loaded up with four five-star recruits, 15 four-star recruits and eight three-star recruits bringing the grand total to 27 total signees. What makes this class so impressive isn't just their blue-chip ratio or their national rank. Notre Dame didn't have a single decommitment from their 27 commits to National Signing Day. In this day and age of college football, that's unprecedented. Yesterday, head coach Marcus Freeman acknowledged the makeup of this class and their commitment to the university.
"We had some early commits," Freeman explained. "We had to continue to monitor if those guys improving. Were they playing well as seniors in high school? And if they're not, then we have to make decisions that ultimately are best for us, but for them as well. We evaluated the right guys. We continued to make sure they understood the reasons they were committing to Notre Dame. It's easy in the moment to make that phone call and say, 'I'm committing to Notre Dame.' The challenge is when that feeling wears off, are you still going to stay committed and true to your word."
"I'm proud of those guys," Freeman continued. "It speaks to the closeness of the group. They've got a strong bond with each other and there's a closeness amongst the class. I hear often about their group chat and some of the things they do together online. That's that brotherhood. It's already starting and they haven't even stepped on campus permanently. It just speaks to why a lot of those guys, even when people are pulling at them, they say they're committing to this place and they're staying committed."
General manager Mike Martin also found this to be extremely special about this class and something he was elated to answer in yesterday's press conference.
“Man, I'm so glad you brought that up because there's a lot of stats that'll get thrown around about this class," Martin replied when asked about having zero de-commitments. "The one I'm most excited about, most proud of is the zero de-commitments. We're excellent here in terms of building relationships from Coach Freeman, the coaching staff, the recruiting staff and the support staff. We're able to connect with these young men on a personal level and build genuine relationships. That doesn't happen without genuine, real relationships. I think that was key in being able to hold this class together.”
“We try to focus on the right young men," Martin continued. "I feel like this place isn't for everyone, but for for the young men that this place is for, they get it. Once they figure out that this is where they want to be, I think they're committed to that. I think this was the perfect example and we've got a close-knit unit of coming in this 2026 class. It's unbelievable how they've gelled in such a short amount of time. I'm glad that they all honored their commitment and signed today. I'll tell you, they signed in about 20 minutes. So they were ready, and we're ready for them."
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