With One Week Left, What’s Next For Notre Dame Football Recruiting?

It’s one week until National Signing Day (Part II) and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are recruiting like there’s no such thing as a scholarship limit. Considering the rough history Notre Dame has had on a lot of February signing days, casting a wide net is probably a great idea.

Until it’s not and you find yourself in a roster bind. We’ll get to more on that later, but according to our scholarship chart, there is still ONE spot available. This is a misleading number as we will probably see 1 or 2 medicals and 1 or 2 transfers between now and June. That’s more than just an opinion, it’s a reasonable expectation based on past results.

Let’s quickly rundown what’s left.

THE FINAL SEVEN

Notre Dame is actively recruiting more than seven players for what’s left for the 2018 class, but these are the seven that Notre Dame actually stands a chance with come Wednesday.

• 5 Star OT Nicholas Petit-Frere. Notre Dame is in it - but who would know if they weren’t? A crazy quiet recruitment of what could be the prize of the class. The Florida Gators are probably the biggest competition.
• 4 Star OT Jarrett Patterson. This was labeled as a battle between the Irish and the Michigan Wolverines last week - and now Michigan is out and the UCLA Bruins are the team getting all the 247 Crystal Balls.
• 4 Star WR Lawrence Keys III. I think Notre Dame is still expecting a commitment here, but the Texas Longhorns have given Keys something to chew on.
• 4 Star LB Solomon Tuliaupupu. I wrote off Solo last week after saying for weeks the Irish were real contenders here. Now, it appears that Notre Dame is surging once again. He may very well commit to the USC Trojans, but it’s close.
• 3 Star RB C’Bo Flemister. C’Bo remains “committed” to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but the feeling around the Gug is that he could pop for the Irish at any time.
• 3 Star CB D.J. Brown. Brown just decommitted from the Virginia Cavaliers after a visit to Notre Dame this past weekend. 247 Crystal Balls are rolling on for Brown to ND.
• 3 Star DE Derrick Eason. Eason remains committed to the N.C. State Wolfpack, but the Irish are working a flip here, and a lot of insiders believe it’s going to happen.

HOW MANY WILL THEY GET / TAKE?

The 25 man rule does not apply here. Notre Dame has enough early enrollees to take more than 30 if they wanted. It’s that darned 85 scholarship limit that is the real key.

As I said earlier, there is one spot left, but I really feel that 3-4 more players will be out (in one form or another). That means we are looking at 4-5 more commits and a 26-27 man class.

WHO IS COMING TO SOUTH BEND?

Of the recruits listed, I believe Petit-Frere and Tuliaupupu are the most coveted by the staff. Outside of Patterson (who is considered a strong UCLA lean as of now) the aforementioned two are also the least likely to commit to Notre Dame.

So, according to our earlier math (and best guesses at roster attrition) here are the 5 most likely to be in this class in order of confidence:

1. D.J. Brown
2. Lawrence Keys III
3. C’Bo Flemister
4. Nicholas Petit-Frere
5. Solomon Tuliaupupu

Here’s the updated scholarship chart. Follow along with us during the final week of the 2018 cycle.