Looking at Notre Dame’s competition on National Signing Day

With another National Signing Day upon us, the Irish welcome welcome the newest batch of players to South Bend this week. So it goes, the rest of the country is doing the same. Let’s momentarily poke our heads up from all the news about the new Irish players to see what’s going on around the country.

How does Notre Dame’s 2019 class rank nationally?

247 Sports: #12

ESPN: #14

Rivals: #14

What does the top 25 look like?

247 Sports:

ESPN:

Rivals:

Looking At Notre Dame Opponents and Rivals

Georgia Bulldogs: The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs sweep the top two spots on each set of rankings. The Bulldogs even top the Rivals rankings as of Wednesday night. Georgia, who the Irish next face on September 21st of this year, are led by a handful of four-star recruits, per 247 Sports. This includes early signee defensive tackle Travon Walker, center Clay Webb, inside linebacker Nakobe Dean, and 247’s top overall recruit: defensive end Nolan Smith.

Michigan Wolverines: The Irish head to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines on October 26th this season. Michigan makes it up to #8 in the 247 rankings, #8 on ESPN, and #10 on Rivals. Jim Harbaugh’s latest class includes two early-signee five stars: safety Daxton Hill from Tulsa, OK, and defensive tackle Chris Hinton from Norcross, GA. Worth nothing: this year marks a pretty significant jump in rank for the Wolverines after their 2018 class was ranked in the low twenties.

USC Trojans: The Trojans’ 2019 class is #18 per 247 Sports, #20 per ESPN, and #18 per Rivals. While USC has no five stars in this class according to both Rivals and 247, there’s a number of solid players that are now Trojans as of Wednesday. Notably, wide receiver Kyle Ford, one of the top talents in California, will sign his NLI with USC after committing in January. Even so, one of the major stories of this recruiting cycle has been USC losing high-level commits. Womp womp.

Stanford Cardinal: The Cardinal had another productive recruiting season landing at #20 on 247’s list and #21 on ESPN, and #23 on Rivals. The majority of Stanford’s new additions came in on the early signing day, including eight 247 four-stars. One of those is the nation’s #4 center Branson Bragg, carrying on the Stanford tradition of top offensive line talent.

Navy Midshipmen: The Midshipmen are towards the bottom of the barrel with the #124 class in D1 according to 247 Sports. Among those who signed with Navy is the nation’s top fullback Sitiveni Kaufusi from Honolulu’s Punahou High School.

Other Takeaways

• Michigan and Georgia are the only 2019 opponents with a class ranked higher than Notre Dame
• Clemson, Oklahoma, and Alabama (the other three teams from this past season’s College Football Playoff) have classes ranked in the top ten by all three services
• Each service has a different #1 recruit. Smith at Georgia for 247, LSU defensive back Derek Stingley Jr. for Rivals, and Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux for ESPN.