Notre Dame Football: Irish trending for elite 2022 running back

Notre Dame football is building an elite recruiting class in 2022 and it could get even better with the addition of Nicholas Singleton. 

Right now, Notre Dame football has as much momentum as any program in the country on the recruiting trail and following another commitment over the weekend, the Fighting Irish could be closing in on another.

Niuafe Tuihalamaka, the No. 108 overall prospect in the 2022 class, and the No. 11 linebacker committed to Notre Dame football over the weekend, which pushed the Irish into the No. 2 spot in the 2022 team rankings by 247 sports.

And Notre Dame is continuing to build on that momentum. After hosting four-star running Nicholas Singleton, a top player from the state of Pennsylvania, the Irish are starting to trend with crystal ball predictions to land him too.

Prior to this weekend, Penn State seemed like the favorite for Singleton, the second-ranked player in Pennsylvania in 2022 and the sixth-ranked running back overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings.

Singleton is supposed to take a visit to Alabama this weekend, so you never know what will happen, but Steve Wiltfong of 247 sports and also Tom Loy, the Notre Dame insider, placed crystal ball predictions, giving the Irish the lead. Penn State still has one pick from Brian Dohn.

Tuihalamaka was committed to USC football at one time, but de-committed, and Notre Dame quickly became the favorite. He pledged this weekend, choosing ND over Texas and many other contenders.

Singleton would help fill a need at skill positions

Notre Dame has put together an impressive class but they have just two offensive skill position players committed that are ranked as four-star recruits, so there is work to be done.

Singleton would help and he would be the second four-star running back to commit to the class, but another top-100 recruit, wide receiver Tobias Merriweather, also started trending with crystal ball predictions recently.

If Notre Dame gets Singleton and Merriweather, it would start to check all the boxes of an elite recruiting class. The Irish have 15 commitments right now and 11 of them are four-star prospects. 14 of the 15 players committed are ranked in the top 500 and that includes eight of the top 236.

Brian Kelly is doing one heck of a job, both on the field and now, on the recruiting trail, which will help the Irish keep and maintain their position as a yearly contender for the College Football Playoff.