Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2023 37 2023 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE is an extremely deep class. The blue- chip ratio is a simple percentage that tells one how many of a school's recruits are ranked either a four- or five-star prospect. For the Fighting Irish's 24 high school signees in the 2023 class, they have a blue-chip ratio of 79 per- cent. Only three schools ranked inside the top 10 of the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings have a higher per- centage: Alabama (93 percent), Georgia (85 percent) and Ohio State (95 percent). "Notre Dame's class also hit on a lot of needs. Of course, the Irish always need to sign big-time players across the board, but quarterback, wide receiver and cornerback are three spots Notre Dame needed to improve at, and the staff checked those boxes in the 2023 cycle." Prep Football Report recruiting analyst Tom Lemming: "It's a top- 10 class. Even though they lost four or five guys from the class, it's still out- standing. It's a very athletic group. They helped themselves everywhere on the roster. They did really well from the transfer portal, too. "The question mark from the class is the defensive line, but otherwise, it's outstanding." BGI: Which Notre Dame signee could you see having an instant impact? Power: "I'm a big fan of Jaden Great- house. He has long been considered one of the more ready-to-play pass catch- ers in the 2023 cycle. He's a physical, productive and polished receiver who starred at one of the nation's top high school programs in Austin (Texas) Westlake. "Of the four wide receivers to sign with Notre Dame, we feel the best about his readiness to play as a freshman. Greathouse steps into a wide receiver room in South Bend that could use an infusion of playmaking ability. The Notre Dame offense should look a bit different next year in terms of new faces with Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman taking over at quarterback. It would not be surprising at all to see Greathouse emerge as one of Hartman's top targets next fall." Singer: "It's also Jaden Greathouse for me. We're talking about an early enrollee who comes in as the No. 15 in all-time receiving yards in Texas high school football history. Greathouse won 58 of 60 high school games and had 232 catches for 4,035 yards with 53 touch- downs. Folks may question just how high his ceiling is as a wide receiver, but the 'floor' for him is incredibly high. "Greathouse's combination of foot- ball smarts, physicality, route running ability and experience will make him a Day 1 contributor." Lemming: "Since they're weak at wide receiver, I'd go with Braylon James. The whole receiver class is really good. James can run well and is a big-bodied player." BGI: What are your thoughts on how quarterback recruiting ended up for Notre Dame? Power: "It was a journey over the course of the cycle, being involved with so many blue-chip quarterbacks. You have to be pretty pleased with how it ended up for Notre Dame, especially considering where they were. "Ending up with a guy like Minchey — he's in that tier of blue-chip quar- terbacks. He's right in there with those guys. Landing him is a big win for Notre Dame. He has the potential to be a multi-year starter and difference- maker at the position. From a talent and skill perspective, he matches up with the best of them." Singer: "A book could be written about Notre Dame's 2023 quarterback recruiting with all the twists and turns that occurred. In short, the Irish seemed to turn some other very talented sig- nal-callers away because the staff be- lieved it had Detroit Martin Luther King five-star Dante Moore locked in. Moore would end up picking Oregon before flipping to UCLA late in the process. For some of the other quarterbacks the staff turned away, they would have loved to later land. They even tried for a few but were unsuccessful. "Some sources close to the Irish foot- ball program called Notre Dame's 2023 quarterback recruiting a 'disaster' go- ing into the fall. However, the Irish did a good job keeping in regular contact with Hendersonville (Tenn.) Pope John Paul II's Kenny Minchey. After some thought and discussion with his fam- ily, he decided to flip his commitment from Pittsburgh to Notre Dame. To be clear, we don't have the sense that Notre Dame did an amazing recruiting pitch to get Minchey to flip. There was some good fortune for the Irish here; Notre Dame recruited itself in a way. "They have the foundation with the offensive line and back that up with skill players, which takes it to a different level. The class defensively is pretty good, too." ON3 DIRECTOR OF SCOUTING AND RANKINGS CHARLES POWER Notre Dame had eight players selected to partici- pate in the All-American Bowl: from left to right, offensive tackle Charles Jagusah, linebacker Drayk Bowen, wide receiver Rico Flores Jr., offen- sive tackle Sullivan Absher, safety Adon Shuler, cornerback Micah Bell and defensive lineman Brenan Vernon, plus quarterback Kenny Minchey (not pictured). PHOTO BY DON SHULER