It was a really good week on the college football recruiting trail for Notre Dame football, Michigan State, and Clemson.
Earlier this week, we talked about college football teams that had momentum on the recruiting trail, and in the last few days, that momentum has just continued to grow for Notre Dame football, Michigan State, and Clemson.
All three programs have landed multiple commitments this week in the 2023 recruiting class and that wasn’t even the biggest news of the week for the Irish.
Clemson football changed up its summer recruiting strategy and it’s paid off in a big way and Mel Tucker has landed more 4-star commitments.
So without further ado, we are breaking down the three biggest winners in college football recruiting from the past week (in no particular order) and we start with Notre Dame football.
Notre Dame lands three commitments and CJ Carr
Currently, Notre Dame is ranked in the top two in both the 2023 and 2024 college football recruiting classes and Marcus Freeman is showing no signs of slowing down.
On Thursday, he landed five-star QB CJ Carr out of the state of Michigan. Carr is also the grandson of Lloyd Carr, the legendary Michigan coach, so it’s been a fun week for Irish fans, especially since Carr put on a Notre Dame hat and T-shirt even to support his grandson.
Ranked 20th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings, Carr is a massive recruiting win for the Irish and even though he’s part of the 2024 class, there are rumors he could re-classify, which would, of course, take the Irish out of it for Dante Moore (it seems they are out of it already).
Additionally, Notre Dame football got the commitment of three-star OT Elijah Paige who is ranked 381 overall in the 2023 class, as well as Joe Otting, a three-star interior offensive lineman from the 2023 class that ranks 546 overall.
The Irish continue to build their lead in the race for the No. 1 recruiting class in 2023 too.
Michigan State football
We said that Michigan State football has momentum on the recruiting trail but that the Spartans needed to capitalize on it and land a top-200 prospect.
A few days later and Mel Tucker has done exactly that as four-star linebacker Jordan Hall, who is ranked 194th overall in the 2023 class according to the 247 sports composite rankings, committed to Michigan State football on Saturday during his official visit.
Hall was supposed to visit Michigan during the week but canceled his visit and pledged to the Spartans. He’s now their second-highest 2023 commitment and he’s the second four-star pledge this week as Demitrius Bell, who has been rising lately and is up to 330th overall in the 247 sports composite, committed after his visit last weekend.
In all, Michigan State football has nine commitments in 2023 and is ranked 14th in the 247 team rankings. What’s more impressive though is the Spartans signed six four-star prospects all last cycle and this time around, five of the first nine commitments are of the four-star variety.
The blue-chip ratio is getting stronger and Mel Tucker continues to deliver results on the recruiting trail for the Spartans.
Clemson football
I’ve been telling people not to count out the Clemson football and Dabo Swinney and that pertains to the recruiting trail too.
Before the month of June, Clemson football had four commitments and while one of them was a five-star QB ranked 33rd overall in Christopher Vizzina, the Tigers have surged this month following a monster official visit weekend with more than 30 recruits on campus.
That’s the first time Dabo has ever done anything like that with official visits, but it’s probably going to be a regular part of Clemson football recruiting going forward after seeing the results.
Just in the last five days, Clemson has picked up five verbal commitments and all of them are ranked in the top 504 of the 247 sports composite rankings. The Tigers are also trending with expert projections for a number of blue-chip recruits.
Still, just this week, Clemson has landed four-star OL Ian Reed, four-star CB Avieon Terrell, four-star WR Noble Johnson (he’s one of my favorites in the 2023 class), four-star TE Olsen Patt Henry, and three-star athlete Kylen Webb.
The Tigers are ranked ninth overall in the 2023 college football recruiting team rankings and their momentum doesn’t seem like it will be halted anytime soon.