How Notre Dame's 2026 class is making a five-star statement

In the 2013 recruiting class, Notre Dame signed two players who ranked as Rivals Industry Ranking five-star recruits: linebacker Jaylon Smith and safety Max Redfield.

The Rivals Industry Ranking is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all major recruiting media services. The Rivals Industry Ranking is the most advanced, complete and unbiased rating and ranking measurement in the industry. 

Notre Dame has obviously signed many elite players since 2013. Quenton Nelson, Kyle Hamilton, Michael Mayer and Blake Fisher are names that come to mind in the Brian Kelly era, and some of them may have ranked as a five-star per one outlet, but none were five-stars per the Rivals Industry Ranking, which Blue & Gold cites for recruiting rankings most often.

There were recruits like Jaylen Sneed, Charles Jagusah, Bryce Young, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Guerby Lambert who ranked as a five-star prospect at least per one website, but again, none were Industry Ranking five-stars.

It might be hard to believe, but Notre Dame went 11 recruiting classes straight without their next one.

In the 2025 class, Notre Dame signed offensive tackle Will Black, who finished the cycle as the No. 17 overall player and No. 4 offensive tackle nationally per the Industry Ranking, ending the drought.

Notre Dame is now opening up the five-star floodgates.

Rivals and 247 Sports updated their 2026 class recruit rankings, and Notre Dame upped its number of five-star commits.

The Irish now have four.

Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park’s Rodney Dunham, the No. 17 player and No. 5 EDGE nationally per the Rivals Industry Ranking, has been a five-star recruit for a while, and it’s holding steady. But Rivals and 247 Sports individually rank him as a five-star as well.

There is not an individual site that ranks Towson (Md.) Loyola Blakefield’s Khary Adams as a five-star prospect yet, but as a consensus top-50 overall prospect, his Industry recruit ranking has him in the five-star range at No. 26 overall. The top 32-players in the ranking are five-star prospects.

Great Bend (Kan.) High’s Ian Premer was the No. 3 tight end nationally per Rivals and 247 Sports over the summer, and both outlets now view him as the top player at his position after the rankings update this week. He’s the No. 28 prospect in the land and a five-star recruit.

Wyndmoor (Pa.) La Salle College’s Joey O’Brien as a five-star per 247 Sports, but Rivals ranks him higher nationally and in the safety rankings. However, Rivals doesn’t have 32 five-stars yet; O’Brien is Rivals’ No. 25 recruit and No. 1 safety. But regardless, he’s a five-star per the Industry Ranking at No. 31 overall.

Rivals lists Wyndmoor (Pa.) La Salle College’s Grayson McKeogh as a five-star prospect and the No. 9 recruit and No. 3 offensive tackle, but he’s far from being a five-star by the Industry Ranking. ESPN still — somehow — views him as a three-star player.

Rivals is also much higher on Garner (N.C.) South Garner’s Ebenezer Ewetade than the rest of the industry. He very well may end up a Rivals five-star; he’s currently the No. 28 player and No. 7 EDGE nationally. The other two ranking websites don’t have him as a top-100 player, though.

Notre Dame’s 2026 class ranks No. 4 nationally per the Rivals Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings, which would be the Irish’s highest-ranked class since 2013 with Smith and Redfield. That class also ranked No. 4.