Early Notre Dame recruiting intel you need to know following the Fighting Irish dominant victory over the Navy Midshipmen

Notre Dame football just put together a stellar recruiting weekend for the Navy game.

Ryan Roberts — National College Football Writer
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Atherton High School's Garyon Hobbs (4) put a stiff arm on North Oldham High School's Andrew Davis (0) while running for yardage as the Ravens rolled past North Oldham 42-13 KHSAA football on Friday night in Goshen, Kentucky. Hobbs had kick return touchdown in the second half. Oct. 31, 2025

Notre Dame football has put together a couple of really impressive recruiting weekends so far during the 2025 college football season, including for their games against the Texas A&M Aggies and USC Trojans. While this past weekend against Navy wasn’t quite to that level, head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish staff once again created a lot of recruiting momentum with the past weekend’s visitors. 

It was a smaller group of recruits, but there were some very important targets in South Bend, particularly in the 2027 recruiting class. There were also some key 2028 recruits to know on campus as well, and one 2026 target who could potentially cap off an elite class. It was a very successful weekend overall. 

Here is everything you need to know from the recruiting weekend against the Navy Midshipmen.

Notre Dame recruiting notes to know 

  • The lone 2026 target that was on campus was McDonald (Pa.) Fort Cherry four-star safety Matt Sieg. The 5-11, 190-pound defensive back is currently committed to Penn State, but he began looking at other options after James Franklin was fired. Along with Indiana and Pittsburgh, Notre Dame has become a serious player. With how the Fighting Irish have made waves in Pennsylvania in the 2026 class already, that momentum made their push interesting before it even got serious. The plan appears to be to take things a bit slower, but National Signing Day is getting here quickly. I like Notre Dame’s chances right now following a really good visit. While Sieg isn’t a major “need” in the class, he is just too good to say no to.
  • I continue to feel great about where things stand with elite 2027 Raleigh (N.C.) Cardinal Gibbons cornerback Xavier Hasan. At this point, I choose not to bet against Mike Mickens as an evaluator or recruiter. It also doesn’t hurt that Notre Dame has been killing it in North Carolina recently. Every time Hasan gets back to South Bend, the vibes get better and better for the Irish chances. Notre Dame has become the easy leader for the 6-0, 180-pound cover man. If Notre Dame is able to close this one out, there is going to be yet another option in the debate about who is the most talented cornerback that Coach Mickens has landed with the program.
  • Things are moving quickly with 2027 Middleton (Del.) Appoquinimink five-star offensive tackle Layton von Brandt. Like Sieg, von Brandt was also previously committed to the Nittany Lions. Even before this visit, there was a growing sentiment in the industry that Notre Dame was positioning itself in a great spot with the 6-6, 270-pound blindside protector, but I wanted to see what the vibes were coming out of the visit. Folks that I have spoken to about the Delaware native believe they knocked it out of the park. I wouldn’t be shocked if this process speeds up quickly. If it does wrap up somewhat in the near future, the Irish are the team to beat.
  • There hasn’t been a ton of conversation about 227 Louisville (Ky.) Atherton linebacker Garyon Hobbs, who is a really versatile athlete at 6-0 and 215 pounds. Some project him as a safety, while Notre Dame views him in a similar mold as current linebacker Jaiden Ausberry. Behind the scenes, things have been in a good spot for a while now. Coming out of a really good visit, there is going to be a lot of noise around Notre Dame and Hobbs, and there should be. They have made a strong case as his leader, and while his three-star rating by most platforms won’t excite the entirety of the fanbase, the Irish staff has a much higher opinion about Hobbs.
  • One player I wasn’t sure about where things stood with was 2027 Tustin (Calif.) High School safety Khalil Terry. The four-star has shown a lot of interest in the Fighting Irish, but how serious things were was still a question. It appears that they are quite serious, and Notre Dame is riding a lot of momentum coming out of the weekend. Terry is also teammates with Irish 2027 EDGE target Taven Epps. The 6-4, 220-pound defender just decommitted from Texas and was in South Bend a couple of weeks ago for their game against USC. While there is a long way to go in that particular recruitment, Freeman and his staff are certainly trying to make a huge impact in Tustin High School for the 2027 class.
  • Notre Dame has put itself in a great position for several talented 2027 tight ends, including Choctaw (Okla.) High School star Titus Hawk. The 6-7, 210-pound pass catcher camped in South Bend this past offseason, and based on everything I was told, things went very well during his return this past weekend. At some point, we are going to have to have a very detailed conversation about what the Irish are going to do with this tight end group. With them being in such a good spot with several of them, some members of that board might need to make decisions quickly to keep their spots open.
  • There isn’t any intel on how the visit went, but Notre Dame did offer 2028 Bloomfield (Mich.) Brother Rice defensive end Jayden Bell during the trip. The 6-4, 210-pound defender is a really impressive pass rusher. It is early, but the Irish staff is extremely high on the Michigan standout.

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