The first edition of the Rivals 250 prospect list is out and while it's very early in the recruiting game, the Irish are in good position for a bunch of players.
Last year's class on this list included:
Ishaq Williams #16
Stephon Tuitt #22
Aaron Lynch #28
Matt Hegarty #70
Ben Koyack #82
Ben Councell #91
George Atkinson III #126
Davaris Daniels #178
Eilar Hardy #217
Troy Niklas #221
That was a nice collection of players in Brian Kelly's first full recruiting class.
For this new 2012 list, current Notre Dame verbal Tee Sheppard leads the way at #51.
The other Irish stud, Ronald Darby, is sitting at #64.
Across the country, Texas leads all programs with an absurd 12 verbals from this list.
Florida and Florida State each come in second with 7 players a piece.
Southern California, LSU and Texas A&M each have 5 players.
Ohio State, Penn State, and TCU come in with 4 players.
Alabama, Michigan, and Miami each have 3 players.
Joining Notre Dame with two players are Stanford, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
California, Oklahoma State, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas Tech, North Carolina, Maryland, and Arkansas bring up the rear with 1 player a piece.
MO WR Dorial Green-Beckham is the nation's number one prospect and will likely stay there until National Signing Day next year. Like many other schools, he is Notre Dame's top target at wideout but DGB is keeping things close to the vest and there are no favorites at this point.
On some other major Irish targets:
PA DE Noah Spence comes in at #13.
AZ OT Andrus Peat is at #15.
IN QB Gunner Kiel comes in at #19 and is the top rated signal caller in the nation right now. The next quarterback doesn't come until Zach Kline (Cal verbal) at #40.
IL DT Tommy Schutt is at #29.
FL LB Noor Davis, who is apparently announcing his decision this Friday and is down to Florida and Notre Dame, comes in at #30.
WA OT Zach Banner comes in at #31.
NJ DB Yuri Wright makes the top 50 coming in at #41, while fellow DB and Georgia native Geno Smith does the same as the #47 ranked prospect.
Most Notre Dame fans' favorite running back target, North Carolina's Keith Marshall, comes in at what has to be a poorly rated #55. He's an easy top 25 prospect as far as I'm concerned.
Current soft Penn State verbal, NY DT Jarron Jones, has trimmed his list down to five (including Notre Dame) and is rated at #67.
CA TE Taylor McNamara is high on Notre Dame and is at #84.
CA RB Byron Marshall comes in at #90.
NJ DB Elijah Shumate is being recruited by Bob Diaco and is at #112.
CA WR Deontay Greenberry is at #115.
CA WR Bryce Treggs comes in at #133.
There are quite a few more prospects with interest in Notre Dame as well. What is clear is that the Irish are targeting a ton of the best players in the country and are in a solid position with quite a few.
Who do you want to see Notre Dame sign?