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An impressive stat about Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer09/01/22MikeTSinger
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Marcus Freeman took over as Notre Dame head coach in December 2021 (Chad Weaver/Blue & Gold).

On3 took a look at the top 300 prospects in the 2023 On3 Consensus — a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies — and where those prospects are committed. 254 of the 300 have already made verbal pledges.

119 of the top 300 prospects are committed to SEC programs, which includes Texas and Oklahoma — colleges who will be moving to that conference in the future. The Big Ten’s count of 47 commits of the top 300 includes USC and UCLA as well.

The ACC has 41 commitments in this category. The Pac-12 conference is at 17. The Big 12 — which includes future members Cincinnati and UCF — is at just 13.

And Notre Dame? Marcus Freeman‘s 2023 class has a total of 17 commitments who rank inside the top 300 of the On3 Consensus. That’s more than the Big 12 and as many as the Pac-12. It’s nearly half of the entire ACC’s total.

This goes to show just how impressive Notre Dame’s 2023 class is.

It’s a class with 23 commitments and one that ranks No. 4 according to the 2023 Consensus Football Team Recruiting Rankings. Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State hold the three spots ahead of Notre Dame respectively.

Alabama has 19 high school commitments, 15 of whom rank inside the top 300. 14 of Georgia’s 19 verbals and nine of Ohio State’s 20 commitments are included in this metric.

Notre Dame’s 2023 class is deep. It has a blue-chip ratio (prospects ranked four- or five-stars) of 91 percent despite having an average distance from campus to the recruits’ school location of 784.8 miles.

The Irish are off to a hot start in the 2024 cycle with six commitments and the No. 2 class nationally. It should be another highly-ranked class nationally.

Today is the first day that college coaches were allowed to start directly contacting class of 2024 players, and Freeman was busy.

“I think it’s mostly just the relationship, being able to really start to build this relationship with the next class of recruits,” Freeman said of his message to high school juniors. “We understand it’s so important, the talent acquisition, the ability to bring in the best players in the country that fit this place is what’s going to help us continue to enhance.

It’s never too early to start building that relationship, and that was what last night was about with that next class – starting that relationship.”