Breaking down College Football’s top 10 recruiting classes in 2022
6. Notre Dame — 21 signees; Blue-chip ratio: 80%
The skinny: Early on in the 2022 recruiting class, Notre Dame was ranked really high as in the top two. That was never going to last, but in a year when the Irish lost their head coach, Brian Kelly, to LSU, signing the sixth-best college football recruiting class is a huge win.
Notre Dame doesn’t have any five-star signees (according to consensus rankings) but the Irish have some really talented football players and many of the studs are in the trenches at linebacker, defensive line, offensive line, and tight end.
The Irish have built a big team over the years but that’s probably because they know size and speed are required to compete with the big boys for a national championship.
Gems: LB Jaylen Sneed (4-star, No. 33); LB Joshua Burnham (4-star, No. 109 overall)
This is subjective of course, but these are my two favorites in Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class. Sneed is a five-star prospect according to On3’s own college football recruiting rankings and you can see why. He’s going to be outstanding and could easily be a first-round pick down the road. Joshua Burnham is ranked outside the top 100 but he’s another versatile linebacker. He was a high school QB and can play multiple positions on defense.
Sleepers: QB Steve Angeli (3-star, No. 603); DB Jayden Bellamy (3-star, No. 445)
A sleeper can really be defined as anyone that is going to outplay their recruiting ranking and two very good candidates to do that are Angeli and Jayden Bellamy.
Angeli is following Tyler Buchner, who is expected to be the next big thing at quarterback for Notre Dame, so there won’t be pressure on him to play right away. However, he’s better than his ranking and when he does see the field, he could surprise some people.
Bellamy is a versatile defensive back and part of a solid secondary haul, even if it doesn’t include any top-200 recruits. He’s ranked outside the top-400 but his versatility, and the fact that he enrolled early, gives him a chance to play early. Plus, he looks like a four-star recruit and I expect him to play like one.