Notre Dame football finishes 2026 cycle with No. 2-ranked recruiting class

The Fighting Irish had the No. 2 class in the country at the end of the December signing period, and after rankings updates over the past couple of months and programs adding new players to their 2026 haul, Notre Dame’s ranking has held steady.

USC has the No. 1 class in the country, according to the 2026 Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. Behind Notre Dame in the top 10 are Oregon, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Miami, Tennessee and Texas, in that order.

Notre Dame hasn’t signed a top-five class, per the Industry Ranking since 2013, when the Irish brought in the likes of Jaylon Smith, Isaac Rochell, Mike McGlinchey and Torii Hunter Jr. That class ranked No. 4 nationally, a mark Notre Dame has never surpassed — until the 2026 class.

This is, again, per the Industry Ranking, which dates back to 2004. Other outlets may have different rankings. The Rivals Industry Ranking is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all three major recruiting media services.

On Wednesday morning, the Irish officially added two new prospects to their class: Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb quarterback Teddy Jarrard and Hinsdale (Ill.) Central kicker Micah Drescher. Jarrard reclassified from the 2027 to 2026 class, while Drescher was released from his Michigan signing after Sherrone Moore was fired and then flipped to the Irish.

Notre Dame signed 30 high school prospects in the 2026 class, 17 of whom play on offense, 11 on defense and two are special teamers.

Per the Rivals Industry Ranking, Notre Dame has three five-star recruits, 18 four-star players and nine three-star commits in its 2026 class. The blue-chip ratio (percentage of four- and five-star commits) for the class sits at a strong 70 percent.

This cycle marks Marcus Freeman’s fourth full recruiting class as Notre Dame’s head coach. In 2023, the Irish signed the No. 10 class, and they followed with the No. 11 group in 2024. For the 2025 class, the slight downward trend continued as Notre Dame signed the No. 12 group.

For what it’s worth, Freeman was the defensive coordinator for the 2022 cycle before taking over as head coach in the final weeks before signing day. The Irish signed the No. 6 class that year.

Below is a look at the top 10 schools according to the 2026 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings, as of Wednesday morning.

Understanding Rivals’ team rankings system

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

It uses a score 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 Five schools.

The current average number of commits in the 2026 class used in the rankings score is 20. This means that of Notre Dame’s 30 commitments, only the 20 highest-ranked players are used for the rankings score.

To further explain: Notre Dame’s 30 commits have an average recruit rating of 91.07, but that is not the score used in the team ranking. From the group of 20, the Irish’s score is 93.130 — the number used for the class ranking, as seen in the image above.

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.

Notre Dame Rivals Industry Team Ranking History

Year: Ranking
2004: 24
2005: 26
2006: 4
2007: 5
2008: 4
2009: 17
2010: 10
2011: 11
2012: 12
2013: 4
2014: 11
2015: 12
2016: 14
2017: 15
2018: 11
2019: 14
2020: 18
2021: 12
2022: 6
2023: 10
2024: 11
2025: 12
2026: 2