The Irish’s 2021 class has been labeled “as expected” but what does that actually mean?
While it might be a one-off year that Notre Dame is associated with ACC football, they have been included when examining the recruiting classes with the conference. Rivals took a look at the ACC recruiting as a whole and gave out some superlatives to the group.
The Irish scored big when instate offensive tackle Blake Fisher decided to stay home and play for Blue and Gold. Rivals saw this as a huge win for Brian Kelly, as they named it the second biggest recruiting get in the conference. “This (Fisher’s commitment) continues the excellent recruiting tradition along the OL for the Irish,” is what recruiting director Mike Farrell said.
It’s not just instate where the Irish have had recruiting success, they went into Ohio and got a commit from Lorenzo Styles Jr. Farrell see this as the second biggest out-of-state recruiting win in the conference. “Styles doesn’t play far from Indiana as an Ohio native, but his skill set was coveted by everyone,” noted Farrell. Indeed it is, and just yesterday we looked at the potential for Styles to end up on the other side of the ball.
Kelly also found himself being highlighted “As Expected” by Farrell. We all know the lead man “wanted to bring top-five classes to South Bend, but with academic restrictions that’s not going to happen very often. Notre Dame is No. 10 and that’s around where you’d expect them to be.”
It’s safe to say this group will be making their mark for Notre Dame soon, with elite talent at numerous positions. The Irish aren’t done yet either, as they still have multiple 2021 targets who are highly considering committing to the program. The 2022 class, although just 3 members, is already a Top 5 class. Recruiting is the lifeblood of every program and the blood is flowing in South Bend.