Rivals300 four-star CB Ace Alston commits to Notre Dame football

After more than 50 recruiting visits, Ace Alston is ready to call his college football recruitment quits. On Tuesday, the four-star cornerback from Cincinnati Anderson announced his verbal commitment to Notre Dame. Alston is the eighth member of the Irish’s 2027 recruiting class.

“I just had a talk with God, and I had a long conversation with him at night a couple weeks back,” Alston told Blue & Gold ahead of Tuesday’s announcement ceremony. “And he put it on my heart that Notre Dame is the right decision for me.”

The Irish can be glad that his faith worked out in their favor.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder was one of their top targets and was coveted by many other schools as well. According to the Rivals Industry Ranking, Alston is the No. 128 overall player, No. 12 cornerback nationally and No. 2 prospect in Ohio in the 2027 class. In addition to ND, upward of 30 Power Four programs offered him a scholarship.

On Nov. 10, Alston released a top 10 of Notre Dame, Oregon, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, LSU and USC. Still, in the weeks prior, it had become clear the Irish were in the driver’s seat for his pledge.

Since Alston added his scholarship offer from the Irish during the program’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed Pot of Gold Day recruiting event March 17, no school has welcomed him to campus more than Notre Dame. After four trips to South Bend in seven months, Alston felt most at home at Notre Dame.

“They really just showed me what family becomes and what an actual family is,” he said. “What a brotherhood is, and then what stuff they can do for you after football. Like, after football is so important for me. And I feel like Notre Dame is a great school to go to and graduate from to get any job you want basically.”

And for Alston, his first job out of college might be in the NFL, especially considering Notre Dame’s defensive back development under Mike Mickens. With names like Sauce Garner, Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart on his résumé, it was an easy sell for the Irish sixth-year defensive backs coach.

“Just watching all of them and things like that, that all came into my decision,” Alston said. “Just watching the DBs they have now, the DBs they have on the board and stuff like that. It’s just all around competitive, and I want to put myself in that atmosphere to be able to compete.”

Alston adds another exceptional recruit to Notre Dame football’s defensive back room

There should be plenty of competition in the Irish defensive backfield when Alston arrives on campus in 2027.

Notre Dame signed the top secondary in the 2026 cycle, which includes the Rivals Industry Ranking’s No. 1 cornerback Khary Adams and Rivals’ No. 1 safety Joey O’Brien. Both recruits are five-star prospects. Then there is top-100 cornerback Ayden Pouncey, another borderline one in Chaston Smith and “Swiss-Army Knife” three-star safety Nick Reddish.

In the 2027 class, the Irish have already secured a commitment from Tustin (Calif.) High four-star Khalil Terry, the Rivals Industry Ranking’s No. 16 safety and No. 168 overall player nationally. Later this month, they could add another elite 2027 recruit in four-star cornerback Xavier Hasan, the No. 46 overall player and No. 7 cornerback in the class. Hasan hopes to lock in his decision later this month.

Alston said he paid attention to Notre Dame’s recruiting efforts and is eager to be part of a program that emphasizes adding premier talent.

“I took all that into account when I made my decision,” he said. “I’ve seen all the other players they had, and that gives me even more motivation to go in there and outwork everybody.”

And it helps that they all encouraged Alston to be part of their journey.

“All the commits were just hitting me up,” he said. “And I just felt the most family-oriented there.”

The Ace Alston file

Alston is just five days removed from helping his high school team reach the Ohio Division II state championship game. And it would have been a much tougher path without having a shutdown cornerback in its secondary like Alston.

According to Alston’s X (formerly Twitter) page, quarterbacks completed only 29% of passes when targeting him this season. He also allowed just 1.5 yards per coverage snap and 5 yards per completion while breaking up 16 passes and intercepting 2 others. He had 53 tackles, 1.5 stops for loss, an assisted sack and 1 fumble recovery in those 14 games.

Though Ohio still has not announced its all-state selections for Division II, the Eastern Cincinnati Conference named him to its first team. Alston made second-team All-Ohio last season after totaling 10 pass breakups, 3 interceptions, 46 tackles, 2 stops for loss, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in 15 games. He was also first-team all-conference as a sophomore.

Alston has been on the radar of college football programs since 2023. He announced his first scholarship offer from West Virginia after his freshman season, in which he had 3 pass breakups, 1 interception, 27 tackles, 1 stop for loss and 1 fumble recovery in 14 games.