Notre Dame football takes a crucial early step for an elite quarterback recruit that every top program wants
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Notre Dame football took a crucial early step with an elite quarterback recruiting target. They are set to battle amongst an elite group.
Notre Dame has been recruiting the quarterback position at an extremely high level over the last several years. Under head coach Marcus Freeman, the Fighting Irish have landed the likes of Kenny Minchey, CJ Carr, Blake Hebert, Teddy Jarrard, Noah Grubbs, and Champ Monds. There’s no reason to believe that quarterback momentum is going to stop anytime soon.
In an out-of-character move several weeks ago, Freeman and the Irish staff extended an offer to 2029 Carrollton (Ga.) High School quarterback CJ Cypher. Notre Dame is not a program that typically extends offers that early to high school freshmen, and they have been extremely picky with quarterback offers in recent years. Despite that, Cypher is a rare talent that every program wants, including the Fighting Irish.
It is extremely early, but Freeman and Co. took a crucial step, earning a place on Cyphers’s top-ten schools list. Notre Dame was joined by Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida, Miami, Auburn, Florida State, Indiana, and Kentucky. That is a diverse set of options for Cypher, and you can bet that this will be a massive battle for the talented passer.
Nobody knows if Notre Dame will have a legitimate chance to land Cypher in the end, but this is certainly a good early step. Programs are quickly learning that Freeman and the Irish staff are difficult to bear on the recruiting trail, and that only strengthens as the talent pool for Notre Dame continues to strengthen. If they can eventually land a player like Cypher, it would be a major recruiting statement. Only time will tell where they ultimately stand.
CJ Cypher’s recruiting background
There are no early rankings for the 2029 class, but Cypher already boasts an elite offer list, and that ranking should follow soon. Some of his top offers so far include the Fighting Irish, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida, Miami, South Carolina, Nebraska, Florida State, Auburn, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Colorado, Pitt, Virginia Tech, SMU, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Boston College, Wake Forest, and West Virginia, among several others.
Despite splitting time as a freshman in 2025, Cypher put together a tremendous season for Carrollton. The 6-1, 195-pound passer threw for 2,178 yards and 26 touchdowns in 14 games, while completing nearly 72 percent of his passes and throwing just three interceptions. Cypher also added two more scores on the ground. The talent is extremely easy to see when you pop on his film from last season.
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