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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have the HOT hand in the football recruiting game right now. The sudden commitments of defensive backs Derrik Allen and Kalon Gervin, as well as the anticipation of wide receiver Micah Jones possibly committing on Friday, has the 2018 class looking very strong.
Looking ahead to the 2018 class, I started doing a bit of house cleaning with the scholarship chart. Keep in mind that this chart does not make any projections or predictions as far as who may be here and who may leave early. It simply lays out who is on scholarship right now, and how that translates into 2018.
| Freshman | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | Fifth Year Senior | |
| Quarterback |
Phil Jurkovec
|
Avery Davis
|
Ian Book*
|
Brandon Wimbush*
|
|
| Running Back |
Markese Stepp
|
CJ Holmes
|
Tony Jones |
Josh Adams Dexter Williams |
|
| Wide Receiver |
|
Jafar Armstrong Michael Young |
Chase Claypool Javon McKinley Deon McIntosh* Kevin Stepherson |
Miles Boykin* Equanimeous St. Brown Freddy Canteen* CJ Sanders Chris Finke* |
|
| Tight End |
|
Cole Kmet Brock Wright |
Alize' Jones
|
Nic Weishar
|
|
| Center | Tristen Hoge* | Sam Mustipher | |||
| Guard |
Dillan Gibbons Robert Hainsey |
Parker Boudreaux*
|
Trevor Ruhland* |
Jimmy Byrne Quenton Nelson |
|
| Tackle |
Josh Lugg Aaron Banks |
Liam Eichenberg* Tommy Kraemer* |
Alex Bars | ||
| Defensive Tackle | Jayson Ademilola |
Darnell Ewell Kurt Hinish Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa |
Jerry Tillery Micah Dew-Treadway* Brandon Tiassum* Elijah Taylor* |
Pete Mokwah Daniel Cage |
|
| Defensive End |
Justin Ademilola
|
Jonathon MacCollister Kofi Wardlow |
Ade Ogundeji Julian Okwara Daelin Hayes Khalid Kareem |
Jonathan Bonner Jay Hayes |
|
| Linebacker |
Ovie Oghoufo Matthew Bauer |
David Adams Drew White |
Jamir Jones Jonathan Jones* |
Te'von Coney Asmar Bilal* Josh Barajas* |
|
| Cornerback |
Derrik Allen Kalon Gervin |
|
Julian Love Donte Vaughn Troy Pride |
Shaun Crawford*
|
Nick Watkins
|
| Safety / Rover |
Isaiah Robertson Jordan Genmark Heath Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
|
Spencer Perry* Devin Studstill Jalen Elliot DJ Morgan* |
Nicco Fertitta Ashton White* Nick Coleman |
Drue Tranquill
|
|
| Specialists | Jonathon Doerer | John Shannon | Justin Yoon | Tyler Newsome | |
| Totals | 8/85 | 29/85 | 52/85 | 75/85 | 87/85 |
*Player eligible for a fifth year
So, as of right now, it looks like the Irish have 2 more scholarships than they are allowed to give. Huge problem, right? Not really. This is for 2018 after all, and there is still plenty of time for medical hardships, transfers, entering the NFL Draft, and other negative roster moves.
It’s the nature of the beast.
Still, it’s been said that Notre Dame would like to take 18 in 2018. With 8 already committed, that would mean 10 more commits. That number would put the Irish 12 scholarships over the limit. Now that’s approaching Alabama style. Go look at that chart and try to pick off 12 guys that aren’t going to be freshman. It’s a pretty tall order. I got aggressive when subtracting some players in my head, and I only came up with 9. With that, Notre Dame could only take 15, and it would look somewhat like Clemson’s 2017 class (as far as numbers go).
Personally, I have no problem taking a smaller number of players in the years where the numbers are tight. It will give the program a lower team recruiting ranking for the class as most services take the best 20- but why in the hell should we worry about that when the numbers are good, and the guys they do bring in are studs?
So, in short, I think Notre Dame would like to take 10 more (especially with the hot fore that they are spitting right now) but the end total may only be 7 or 8 more. We will look at this again after this spring, and see if anything opens up. I hope not, but #NotreDameOffseason is still a thing.