Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 JANUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T he individual and collective star power of Notre Dame football's latest recruiting class, in head coach Marcus Freeman's fourth complete cycle, is potent enough to prompt a deep forage into Irish history to find something comparable. The true beauty of it, though, is the consensus perception that the nation's No. 2 class — per Rivals Industry rank- ings — isn't an outlier, but rather a sus- tainable leveling-up that should eventu- ally lead to making history on the field. With no corresponding fade in sight. "I just think there's a swagger at Notre Dame right now that they can be the best team in America, and it starts with Coach Freeman," said Steve Wiltfong, On3/Rivals vice president and national college football recruiting and trans- fer portal analyst. "And the core of that is embracing the uniqueness of Notre Dame and elevating the things that oth- ers may deem as reasons not to come. Instead, they're reasons why you should." How that translated tangibly, as Na- tional Signing Day unfolded Dec. 3, was 27 recruits total signed in the highest- ranked industry standard class in more than two decades. It includes four Rivals Industry five-star prospects in defensive end Rodney Dunham, cornerback Khary Adams, tight end Ian Premer and safety Joey O'Brien, with more on a trajectory to possibly join them before the cycle closes out with the traditional-but-sel- dom-used February late signing date. "It's not just the best individuals in the class that make this class special — though you win with impact players," said long- time recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of the Prep Football Report. "It's how com- plete this class is, with the best defensive backs in the country leading the way. "Brian Kelly [Freeman's predecessor] never had a class this complete. Not even the 2013 class, led by [linebacker] Jaylon Smith, that some recruiting ser- vices put in the same breath as this one. To me, this class would fit in well with the Lou Holtz years [1986-96], which is the standard over the last 50 years." In particular, a four-year run of classes stands out above the rest — 1987, '88, '89 and crescendoing with the 1990 class as the best of Notre Dame's modern era, per Lemming, who started the recruiting star system in 1992 and helped turn football recruiting into a cottage industry as one of its pioneers in 1978. Five eventual NFL Draft first-round- ers led that class, two of whom have sons on the current Irish team — run- ning back Jerome Bettis (son and wide receiver Jerome Bettis Jr.) and defensive tackle Bryant Young (son and defensive end Bryce Young). The others were of- fensive tackle Aaron Taylor and defen- sive backs Jeff Burris and Tom Carter. If you want a class that's comparable to the 1990 group, per Lemming and his re- search, you'd have to go all the way back to a 1963 group brought in by interim coach Hugh Devore and who ended up being seniors on Ara Parseghian's first national championship team in 1966. Offensive linemen Tom Regner and Paul Seiler; defensive lineman Pe- ter Duranko, Kevin Hardy and Alan Page; linebacker Jim Lynch, running back Nick Eddy and offensive lineman George Goeddeke were some of the stars that blossomed from that class. There were two classes between the four Holtz standout classes and Freeman's 2026-cycle haul that Lemming says be- long in the conversation as comps for the latter. There were the quarterback Dayne Crist/wide receiver Michael Floyd/tight end Kyle Rudolph class in 2008 under coach Charlie Weis, and the 2003 class led by quarterback Brady Quinn, safety Tom Zbikowski and defensive lineman Trevor Laws in 2003 in coach Tyrone Willing- ham's one-off recruiting spurt. Neither recruiting surge was built to last. So, what's going right, now? First-year Irish general manager Mike Martin, Lemming and Wiltfong agree, has proven to be an astute hire. Martin moves seamlessly in the NIL/rev share/ roster-building world. Notre Dame's run to the national title game last season, ahead of Martin's hir- ing, changed perceptions. "People got to not only see them play- ing in big, big games, but they saw them win those games in the playoffs last year," Lemming explained. "And then you couple that with the whole group, the whole organization working on these kids. That's really an important thing. "No matter how good you are — I used to pull my hair out when a Notre Dame coach would tell me, 'Oh, the school sells itself.' Then they go play golf. Marcus' staff doesn't do that. They're building relationships and it shows." And they're building them in a con- text many Irish coaches used to run away from. The weather. The high aca- demic bar. The unforgiving spotlight. All of which Freeman sells as prepara- tion for life. "I think Marcus Freeman has taken things that may have been limitations under past coaching regimes and em- braced them as positives," Wiltfong said. "And that has resonated with the recruits on the trail. What it means to go to Notre Dame. Why it's a special place. Why it's a unique place. "I think Notre Dame is well-equipped from an NIL standpoint to be competi- tive. I think they've shown that with the prowess in the portal. Notre Dame has the resources and support to win its first national title since 1988. They were so close last year. And what's happening today is getting them even closer." ✦ Under head coach Marcus Freeman, according to On3/Rivals vice president Steve Wiltfong, there is "a swagger at Notre Dame right now that they can be the best team in America." PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER A Recruiting Surge For The Ages Eric Hansen covers Notre Dame athletics for On3, with a focus on Irish football. He can be reached on X @ EHansenND THE DEEP READ ERIC HANSEN