Where Notre Dame’s 2024 class stands in team standings after final recruit ranking updates
There are still some uncommitted players on the board and potential flips that could happen with unsigned prospects in the 2024 class ahead of the traditional National Signing Day Feb. 7.
But each of the four major recruiting rankings websites (On3, 247 Sports, Rivals and ESPN) have updated their final individual prospect rankings for the 2024 cycle. So, after that, where does Notre Dame stand in the team rankings?
Notre Dame had the No. 10 class per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings leading into all of the post all-star prospect ranking updates, and that’s where the Irish remain.
The On3 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Ranking utilizes all four major recruiting media companies and the the algorithm is weighted as follows: On3 (35%), 247Sports (35%), Rivals.com (20%) and ESPN (10%).
If one actually removes 247 Sports, Rivals and ESPN from the equation and looks only at On3’s team recruiting ranking, Notre Dame actually has the No. 7 class in the country. For all the social media outrage about On3’s outlier ranking of Saline (Mich.) High quarterback CJ Carr, it’s actually the other websites that are bringing down Notre Dame’s spot in On3’s Industry Ranking.
In looking at the other individual website team rankings, Notre Dame sits at No. 9 at Rivals, No. 10 at 247 Sports and No. 12 at ESPN.
Marcus Freeman‘s impressive feat in his first three classes
The Irish signed the No. 6 class in the 2022 cycle and finished at No. 10 for the 2023 class. That marked the first time the Irish signed back-to-back top-10 classes in quite some time; this is never a feat that Brian Kelly had during his tenure in South Bend.
Freeman led Notre Dame’s defensive recruiting efforts as coordinator for the 2022 cycle and was pivotal in keeping the class together after Kelly left for LSU. This writer will give head coach credit to Freeman for the 2022 class. So, with that in mind, Freeman signed three top-10 classes in his first three cycles as Irish head coach.
Notre Dame has only signed back-to-back-to-back top-10 classes — again, per the Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings — once before. And that was from 2006-08, when the Irish landed the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 4 classes, respectively.
Below is a look at the top 10 schools according to the 2024 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings, as of Wednesday morning (one week before the February National Signing Day).
Understanding On3’s team rankings system
The On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking utilizes all four major recruiting media companies: On3, 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN.
Instead of a total points system like at Rivals, the On3 Industry Team Ranking 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 used in the rankings score is 18. This means that of Notre Dame’s 23 commitments, only the 17 highest-ranked players are used for the rankings score.
To further explain that point: Notre Dame’s 23 commits have an average recruit rating of 91.08, but that is not the score used in the team ranking. Notre Dame’s top 18 commits are only being used in the Industry Team Ranking, and the Irish’s score with that group is 91.951 — this is 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.
