Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2026 81 2026 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE School Football National All-America Team. Adams and Golden earned first- team honors, while O'Brien was a sec- ond-team selection. Teams seldom targeted the 6-foot- 1, 178-pound Adams, yet he still re- corded 2 interceptions to go along with 34 tackles and 2 tackles for loss in nine games. He also contributed on offense, catching 13 passes for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns. O'Brien was among the country's most productive two-way players. He was most dominant on offense with 86 receptions for 1,247 yards and 18 touch- downs. On defense, he showed why he is Rivals' top-rated safety in the class, in- tercepting 4 passes — including three in the state championship game — break- ing up 11 passes, forcing 2 fumbles, re- covering another and finishing with 39 tackles. Golden's season totals further vali- dated his All-America selection. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive lineman logged 76 total stops, 39 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and 38 quarterback hurries in 15 games. — Kyle Kelly BY TYLER JAMES AND KYLE KELLY To put Notre Dame's 2026 class in historical context, Blue & Gold Illustrated compared this class to all the other classes evaluated by Rivals since 2002. (All rankings are from Rivals unless otherwise noted.) 1st Time ever that Notre Dame signed three defensive backs that were ranked among the top 34 overall prospects in the country: cornerback Khary Adams (No. 23 overall), safety Joey O'Brien (No. 25) and corner- back Ayden Pouncey (No. 34). The Fighting Irish are also the lone school with two defensive backs ranked inside the top 32 overall players in the 2026 class. 2 Edge defenders signed by the Fighting Irish were ranked among the top 38 nationally: defensive end Rodney Dunham (No. 8) and de- fensive end Ebenezer Ewetade (No. 38). Dunham and Ewetade rank as the Nos. 3 and 9 edge rush- ers nationally, giving Notre Dame the strongest pairing at the position in the cycle. Tennessee and Texas are the only other schools with two edge rushers in the Rivals300. This was the best edge class for Notre Dame since it signed three that were among the top 28 in 2011: Ishaq Williams (No. 16) and Stephon Tuitt (No. 22) and Aaron Lynch (No. 28). 5 Rivals five-star recruits signed by Notre Dame: Adams, O'Brien, Dunham, offensive tackle Grayson McKeogh and tight end Ian Pre- mer. Ohio State was the only other school to sign five five-stars in the 2026 class. That broke the previous Irish record of four set by the 2013 class: linebacker Jaylon Smith, running back Greg Bryant, defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes and safety Max Redfield. Vander- does, however, never enrolled at Notre Dame after signing with the Irish and instead started his college career at UCLA. 7 Fighting Irish signees were among Rivals' top 50 overall players in the nation: McKe- ogh (No. 7), Dunham (No. 8), Adams (No. 23), O'Brien (No. 25), Premer (No. 27), Pouncey (No. 34) and Ewetade (No. 38). No other school signed more top-50 players in the 2026 class. 7 Top-100 recruits signed by the Fighting Irish: McKeogh, Dunham, Adams, O'Brien, Premer, Pouncey and Ewetade. Only Southern Cal, Alabama and Ohio State signed more on the 2026 class, with eight apiece. It marked the first time Notre Dame signed seven top-100 recruits since 2008. The seven top-100 signees in the Irish's 2008 class were tight end Kyle Rudolph (No. 20), quarterback Dayne Crist (No. 25), wide receiver Michael Floyd (No. 27), defensive end Ethan Johnson (No. 32), offensive guard Trevor Robinson (No. 37), running back Jonas Gray (No. 72) and outside linebacker Darius Fleming (No. 89). 17 Top-250 recruits inked by Notre Dame. The previous record of 16 was set in the 2008 class. 19 Recruits signed by the Irish received four-star or five-star ratings. That matched the 19 in the 2008 class. By The Numbers: Historical Context For Notre Dame's Special 2026 Class Cornerback Khary Adams (above) at No. 23 nationally was one of three Notre Dame defensive back signees among the top 34 prospects nation- ally along with safety Joey O'Brien (No. 25) and cornerback Ayden Pouncey (No. 34). PHOTO COURTESY LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD H.S. 1. Southern Cal 2. Notre Dame 3. Ohio State 4. Oregon 5. Georgia 6. Alabama 7. Texas A&M 8. Miami 9. Tennessee 10. Texas 11. Michigan 12. LSU 13. Washington 14. Florida 15. Florida State 16. Oklahoma 17. North Carolina 18. South Carolina 19. Texas Tech 20. West Virginia 21. Clemson 22. Illinois 23. Iowa 24. SMU 25. BYU 1. Southern Cal 2. Alabama 3. Oregon 4. Ohio State 5. Notre Dame 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Tennessee 9. Miami 10. Texas A&M 11. LSU 12. Michigan 13. Washington 14. Oklahoma 15. Florida State 16. South Carolina 17. Florida 18. Texas Tech 19. North Carolina 20. Clemson 21. BYU 22. Ole Miss 23. Mississippi State 24. Illinois 25. West Virginia 1. Southern Cal 2. Oregon 3. Texas 4. Notre Dame 5. Alabama 6. Georgia 7. Texas A&M 8. Tennessee 9. Ohio State 10. Miami 11. Michigan 12. LSU 13. Texas Tech 14. North Carolina 15. Florida State 16. Florida 17. Oklahoma 18. Washington 19. Clemson 20. BYU 21. Virginia Tech 22. SMU 23. West Virginia 24. Illinois 25. South Carolina 2026 Team Recruiting Rankings As of Feb. 17 RIVALS INDUSTRY 247SPORTS ESPN