Notre Dame Football: Irish are building elite recruiting class in 2022

After the addition of four-star linebacker Joshua Burnham this week, Notre Dame football now has the No. 2 recruiting class in 2022. 

The Notre Dame football program has been on a really great run on the football field, making the College Football Playoff twice in the past three years.

And while the Fighting Irish have always recruited well, it’s really starting to make a difference and the Irish are becoming a force on the recruiting trail again.

Back in the class of 2021, Brian Kelly and company signed a top-10 group that included a top-100 quarterback and a top-100 recruit out of the state of Michigan in Rocco Spindler.

Landing Spindler was a huge get and in 2022, the Irish went back into the state of Michigan to land the No. 2 prospect in outside linebacker Joshua Burnham.

Breaking down Burnham’s commitment

Burnham is ranked in the top 100 of 247 sports own rankings for 2022, but he’s still 115th overall in the composite rankings for his class. He’s ninth among outside linebackers and the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder is the highest-rated recruit in Notre Dame’s 2022 class right now.

His addition makes it 11 commitments for Notre Dame football in 2022, with seven of them being four-star recruits. Among the three-star recruits committed is Steve Angeli, the No. 375 prospect in the 2022 class overall, and Notre Dame’s quarterback commit.

At some point, when some of the higher-ranking prospects commit, the Irish will slide down the rankings some, but that doesn’t change the fact that his class is really solid.

The Irish have four top-200 prospects committed and all of them play up front. Two are edge rushers/outside linebackers, while the others are offensive lineman.

Burnham is also the second big get this cycle in the state of Michigan as Nolan Ziegler, the No. 9 player in the state of Michigan in 2022, also committed to the Irish.

Notre Dame football is also trending with another four-star recruit in the class of 2022 as Holden States has been getting crystal ball projections for the Irish as well.

States would be the eighth commitment ranked in the top 300 of the 247 sports composite rankings for Notre Dame in 2022 and getting the 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end out of Georgia would be another nice recruiting win for the Irish.

Notre Dame football had a brief lull under Kelly but over the last few years, he’s turned the Irish back into an elite program and if they keep recruiting at a high level, they will remain a College Football Playoff contender.