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A Notre Dame football fan's guide to National Signing Day

Kyle Kellyby: Kyle Kelly7 hours agoByKyleKelly

Recruiting is a year-round sport. But not everyone participates until National Signing Day begins. Do you need to get caught up on Notre Dame’s 2026 recruiting class before prospects begin signing on Wednesday? Here is our beginner’s guide to National Signing Day, which includes the nuts and bolts you need to know beforehand.

What is National Signing Day?

National Signing Day is the first day football recruits sign their financial aid agreement. Football recruits used to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI), a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution. However, the NCAA eliminated the National Letter of Intent, effective immediately, in October 2024 in favor of a financial aid agreement, which basically serves the same purpose.

There are two National Signing Days for FBS and FCS schools. The first one, which kicks off on Dec. 3, is the most utilized by Power Five football recruits. 

The first National Signing Day — known as the early period — begins Wednesday at 7 a.m. in the recruit’s time zone and lasts until 11:59 p.m. on Friday. The second National Signing Day — the regular period — is from Feb. 4.

Notre Dame expects to sign all 27 verbal commitments during the early signing period. 

Who are the football recruits expected to sign with Notre Dame?

Since March 2024, the Notre Dame football program has secured verbal commitments from 27 high school prospects in the 2026 recruiting class. The 2026 class is made up of recruits who are high school seniors. 

For a complete list of the recruits signing with the Fighting Irish, you can visit Notre Dame’s 2026 class commits landing page. 

The page includes the recruit’s height and weight, hometown, high school, star rating and player ranking among other 2026 class recruits. It also features team statistics such as the number of in-state recruits committed to Notre Dame, the average distance from their hometown and blue chip ratio (the number of five- and four-star prospects in the class). 

Where does Notre Dame’s 2026 class currently rank? 

Notre Dame’s 2026 recruiting class currently ranks No. 2 in the 2026 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings. 

The Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings utilizes all three major recruiting media companies: Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN.

Instead of a total points system, the Rivals Industry Team Ranking uses a scoring average of the player rankings, which solves the problem of varying class sizes during the recruiting cycle. It compiles the highest-rated commits for each team up to a total based on a rolling average of current total commitments among Power Four schools.

The current average number of commits used in the rankings score is 18. This means that of Notre Dame’s 27 commitments, only the 18 highest-ranked players are used for the rankings score.

With this model, there are no bonus points for having more commitments than other teams, and only small deductions occur when a team has fewer commitments than the rolling average. Unlike distribution (bell) curves, this model doesn’t disproportionately weight a team’s top three or four highest-rated commits and is a more accurate representation of an entire class.

What is the difference between the Rivals and Rivals Industry Ranking on a recruit’s profile?

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

It weights the primary recruiting media services based on past performance data and overall scouting and recruiting coverage investment. The algorithm is weighted as follows: 247Sports (33%), Rivals.com (33%), and ESPN (33%).

Rivals’ scouting department, spearheaded by director of rankings and scouting Charles Power, develops Rivals’ rankings. Initially, Power began rating recruits during the 2021 recruiting cycle for On3. However, when On3 acquired Rivals last July, On3 rebranded its recruiting coverage to Rivals. This is the first class to have the rebranded Rivals rankings. Previously, Power rated the last five classes for On3.

As noted, the Rivals Industry Ranking weights Rivals rankings at 33%. The recruit’s rankings from other primary recruiting media services (247Sports, Rivals and ESPN) are also visible on their profile for Blue & Gold subscribers.

Which Notre Dame football commits will enroll early?

According to Blue & Gold recruiting insider Mike Singer, pending their signature, the following recruits will enroll during the Spring 2026 semester:

The remainder of the class will enroll in June:

The University began allowing football recruits to enroll in January 2006. In the 2024 class, 15 recruits were mid-year enrollees, setting a new school record.