Recent Michigan Wolverine commitment told us two things about the Notre Dame 2026 recruiting class to keep a close eye on moving forward

It was a loss for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish, but it doesn’t change the fact that the program is putting together a tremendous defensive line class for 2026. If anything, the Blade commitment told us a couple of things about the class overall. We can use it as a learning opportunity. 

Here’s what we now know for the 2026 recruiting class. 

Defensive line confidence 

It may end up being slightly misguided, but Notre Dame did begin to fade with Blade, and opted to focus more on other defensive line targets for the 2026 class. With already holding commitments from Rodney Dunham, Ebenezer Ewetade, and Tiki Hola, you have a chance to put the finishing touches on a tremendous group. 

It starts on Tuesday night when Liberty Hill (Texas) High School defensive tackle Alister Vallejo makes his college decision. He will be deciding between the Fighting Irish, Michigan Wolverines, and Kansas Jayhawks. The 6-3, 310-pound defensive lineman is expected to pick between Notre Dame and Michigan, but nobody has a great pulse on what Vallejo will decide. 

Whether cooling on a couple of other targets was wise will be proved right or wrong tonight, although it appears it is trending toward the Wolverines late. 

The Irish are also continuing to pursue Sarasota (Fla.) Cardinal Mooney star Elijah Golden and Buford (Ga.) High School pass rusher Dre Quinn. The Irish are near the top of the list for both. If they managed to get one of the three main targets remaining, it’s a great class. If you get two out of three, it has an argument as the top defensive line class in the country. 

There is clearly some confidence that Notre Dame can close out strong up front. 

Keeping talent at home? 

We always here about how much of a priority it is for Notre Dame to keep top talent at home, which refers to putting a fence around Chicago and the state of Indiana, for the players you want. Early on in the 2026 recruiting class, it looked like the defensive line group could especially profit off of the local talent. It didn’t work out that way. 

Outside of Blade, Notre Dame also had some early momentum with players like Braeden Jones and Gabriel Hill, but quickly cooled on them. They are currently committed to USc and Illinois respectively. The Irish also had close contact with Indiana pass rusher JJ Finch, but that relationship didn’t last long either. 

If Notre Dame pushed, I believe they would have earned a commitment from top-200 tight end JC Anderson, but that never happened. Illinois offensive tackle Claude Mpouma was also recruited for a while, but things didn’t go too far there. Notre Dame also never recruited USC quarterback commit Jonas Williams. It appears that the program is not going to sign a single player from Indiana or Illinois. 

It’s a fascinating philosophical discussion, but clearly Notre Dame didn’t care a ton about keeping top talent at home. They, instead, valued recruiting from a national perspective. They are bringing in a diverse recruiting class in 2026, and not as much Midwest flavor as it typically does outside of the offensive line.