Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2026 41 2026 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE cause of the 4-2-5 defensive system Notre Dame has deployed more rou- tinely than a traditional 4-3 scheme. So gone are the days of bringing in four or five linebackers in any given recruiting class. If you get two really good ones, you should be set in this Notre Dame defensive system. In Davis you have another NFL legacy recruit. He's the son of three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Thomas Davis of the Carolina Panthers. And in Clapper, you have a state of Ohio prospect who was highly sought after by Ohio State. There is obviously something worth tapping into there. If you're only going to get two line- backer signees, these are two good ones. They just need to know playing time is not on the immediate horizon. Notre Dame has all four of its top linebackers returning for the 2026 season. The 2027 season might be a wide-open competi- tion for top-tier reps. But in 2026, the top to bottom layout is set in stone. On paper grade: B CORNERBACK Signees: Five-star Khary Adams of Towson (Md.) Loyola Blakefield, four- star Ayden Pouncey of Winter Park (Fla.) High, four-star Chaz Smith of Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic Synopsis: Adams is the No. 3 cor- nerback recruit in the country. Pouncey is someone Freeman spoke glowingly of on signing day in December. Smith is another one of those steals from SEC country who is very much worth get- ting up to South Bend. Put simply, Mike Mickens did it again with this trip of corner recruits. This is what Notre Dame will miss going forward with Mickens taking a job with the Baltimore Ravens this offsea- son. In every cycle, it was a given Notre Dame would come away with program- changing defensive backs because Mickens had an unbelievable knack for recruiting and signing them. Mickens' departure doesn't mean Notre Dame can't clean up with cor- ners and other defensive backs in the future. Freeman has a lot to do with the construction of the Irish second- ary, too, but this is the last class to be thankful for what Mickens was capable of in recruiting and it isn't anything that should be taken for granted. On paper grade: A+ SAFETY Signees: Five-star Joey O'Brien of Glenside (Pa.) La Salle College Prep, three-star Nick Reddish of Charlotte (N.C.) Independence Synopsis: Five-star safety has a nice ring to it. A school that's been hitting on safeties left and right can't have a class where it goes without bringing in someone who just might be the next Kyle Hamilton or Xavier Watts. Or, Adon Shuler or Tae Johnson. O'Brien has that type of upside. He's very Johnson-ish on the surface in the sense that he might not play a whole lot as a true freshman because there are established and experienced players at his position already on the roster, but it's one of those cases in which he would be playing quite a bit if those players were not there. And if one of them gets injured, O'Brien, even as a first-year player, could be next in line to ascend to the top of the depth chart. He's complemented by Reddish, a player certainly capable of writing his own stellar South Bend story. Mickens did it again, Part II. On paper grade: A+ SPECIAL TEAMS Signees: Three-star kicker Mi- cah Drescher of Hinsdale (Ill.) Central, three-star punter Jasper Scaife of Pro- Kick Australia Synopsis: Got to love late additions to any signing class. Especially when they come as a Christmas gift. Quite literally. The news of Scaife's inclusion in the class came on Christmas Day. Notre Dame no longer has the services of James Rendell because of an exhaustion of eli- gibility, so the Irish went and replaced him with another Aussie. Scaife should have a chance to be Notre Dame's pri- mary punter from Day 1. Drescher, meanwhile, came along in the cycle even later than Scaife. He backed out of his commitment to Michi- gan amidst the coaching change there, and he jumped on board with the Irish in late January. Notre Dame seems to be investing No. 1 kicker duties in Purdue transfer Spencer Porath, but it doesn't hurt to have an extra leg on the roster in someone who was widely recruited like Drescher. The Irish get graded on the theatrics of late arrivals and the importance of bolstering special teams depth with the following mark. On paper grade: A Rivals ranks Joey O'Brien as the No. 1 safety and No. 25 overall player in the country. PHOTO BY KYLE KELLY