Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates with players at the end of the game against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Notre Dame Recruiting: Why the Irish Have a Higher Floor & Ceiling

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By John Kennedy | Last updated Jul 5, 2025 11:41 AM ET

The talent floor in the Notre Dame program is being raised

The talent in the Notre Dame football program is at a higher level now than it has ever been in the modern era of college football. Simply put, the caliber of player one must be to get a scholarship offer to play for Notre Dame is much higher than it has ever been.

Proof of this can easily be found in Notre Dame's rising blue-chip ratio that fluctuates between the 80s and 90s, depending on where you look. Add that the average athlete scores from the recruiting databases have increased dramatically.

This shift is a big deal for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame faithful. It means that Notre Dame now has more players who can test the two-deep early in their careers and provide key depth pieces without a major drop-off from the starting players. This is the tide that raises the Irish ship.

New Notre Dame five-star TE commit Ian Premer is simply a freakish athlete.

No one who’s 6’6” 230 pounds should be able to move like this.

Unbelievable.

pic.twitter.com/xzX9zYclVR
— Notre Dame Recruiting (@NDrecruiting01) June 26, 2025

Notre Dame is landing more instant playmakers

Aside from the raising of the talent floor, the talent ceiling in the program is also trending upward. This means that more players in the program can not only contribute from day one on campus, but they can also change the outcome of games from day one.

Players like Joey O'Brien or Will Black, for example, can play as freshmen and belong. There doesn't need to be a two-to-three-year ramp-up period to learn the game or to get physically strong enough to play. This dynamic with much of the '25 recruiting class gives Notre Dame more of what they have been lacking, true and pure star power from multiple players on both sides of the ball across all classes.

Notre Dame knows it's close to reaching its next title, and you can feel the championship push and urgency in the way the team is recruiting, attacking the portal, and dishing out NIL to top targets. This is the Notre Dame operation fans have been waiting for.

All! In!

This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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