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Notre Dame, Penn State, and Rutgers land huge commitments

By Chris Peterson

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Head coach Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Head coach Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
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It was a good day on the recruiting trail for Notre Dame football, Penn State and Rutgers as each program landed massive commitments.

Outside of the elite programs that always seem to kill it on the recruiting trail, three programs have really stood out so far in the 2022 recruiting cycle: Notre Dame football, Penn State, and Rutgers.

Notre Dame football and Penn State have been jockeying back and forth in the No. 2 spot for the 2022 recruiting class according to the 247 sports team rankings, which was bolstered by another top-100 addition for the Irish earlier this week in Jaylen Sneed.

After Penn State football beat out Notre Dame for the commitment of elite running back Nicholas Singleton, the Nittany Lions surged to the No. 2 with that addition and more to its 2022 class.

On Thursday, Penn State football didn’t help itself in the 2022 race, however, since the Nittany Lions were able to land a five-star offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier, I don’t think they will mind.

Birchmeier is a 6-foot-5, 275-pound interior offensive lineman out of Ashburn, Virginia. He’s also the best interior O-lineman in the 2023 class. It’s also a sign that James Franklin and company will keep this momentum from 2022 and carry it into the next class, which is a good thing for Penn State football fans.

Notre Dame football adds another 4-star

The Irish continued to dominate on the recruiting trail in 2022 with the commitment of four-star cornerback Benjamin Morrison. Morrison is ranked 316th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings and is the 19th commitment overall for Notre Dame football.

Even more impressively, he’s the 12th-recruit ranked as a four-star prospect which gives the Irish an impressive blue-chip ratio of 63 percent. It also helped solidify Notre Dame’s hold on the second-ranked class in the rankings for now at least.

Greg Schiano, Rutgers football strike again

We have documented how well Rutgers is recruiting right now under second-year head coach Greg Schiano and on Thursday, the Scarlet Knights landed Moses Walker, who is the third top-150 commitment in the class.

Walker is the No. 1 player in the state of New York out of Brooklyn and Schiano, as he did in his previous stint as Rutgers football coach, has done an outstanding job of keeping talented players close to home. Jacob Allen, the top player in New Jersey in 2022 also committed this summer.

Next. Early top 25 projections for 2021. dark

Rutgers isn’t used to recruiting top-25 classes but with Schiano and the program now in the Big Ten, it’s looking like that could become a regular occurrence especially if the Scarlet Knights, who return a ton of starters, get back to a bowl game in 2021.

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