Notre Dame football has added another quarterback to its growing pipeline. Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic signal caller Trey Tagliaferri committed to the Fighting Irish as the third member of the 2028 recruiting class. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound passer holds an impressive offer list and gives Notre Dame its quarterback of the future in a class that is just getting started. Head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff continue to recruit the position at an elite level, and Tagliaferri represents the latest chapter in that effort.

Tagliaferri’s recruiting background

Tagliaferri’s recruiting rankings vary depending on the platform. On the 247Sports Composite, he is currently a 4-star prospect ranked as the No. 204 overall player, the No. 14 quarterback, and the No. 9 player from the state of New Jersey in the 2028 class. Rivals rates him even higher as the No. 110 overall player in the country for the 2028 group.

While the rankings aren’t overly flashy, the offer list tells a different story. Tagliaferri held offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Texas A&M, Indiana, Auburn, Iowa, Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Virginia, Boston College, Stanford, Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Rutgers, among others.

That kind of offer sheet speaks volumes about how the college football world views his potential.

What Tagliaferri did on the field

As a sophomore in 2025, Tagliaferri put together a tremendous season for Bergen Catholic. He threw for 2,215 yards and 29 touchdown passes in 11 games while adding another score on the ground. He threw only three interceptions, showing the type of decision-making and ball security that programs covet in a young quarterback.

Notre Dame’s New Jersey pipeline

This commitment continues Notre Dame’s huge push in the state of New Jersey, a trend that has been building for some time. The Fighting Irish landed multiple Garden State prospects in the 2027 class, including Aidan O’Neil, Olu Olubobola, and Jackson Vaughn. Tagliaferri adds to that presence and reinforces the staff’s ability to recruit the area at a high level.

Quarterback recruiting under Marcus Freeman

Notre Dame has recruited the quarterback position at an undeniably high level over the last several recruiting cycles. That includes additions like Kenny Minchey, CJ Carr, Blake Hebert, Teddy Jarrard, Noah Grubbs, and Champ Monds in the 2027 recruiting class. The staff had been doing some early work on the 2028 quarterback board, but Tagliaferri quickly became the player that Notre Dame wanted to push for.

There are some question marks with his game. Size and athleticism are areas to monitor going forward. At 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Tagliaferri will need to continue adding to his frame. The good news is that he still has two years of high school football remaining to develop physically, and there is a hope that his game takes another jump during that stretch. The baseline traits are there to be excited about, and getting the quarterback committed early in the process can be massive for the rest of a recruiting class.

What this means for the 2028 class

Tagliaferri is the third player committed to Notre Dame in the 2028 class, and having a quarterback locked in this early can catalyze the rest of the group. Notre Dame has been recruiting at a very high level in the 2027 class, and there is every reason to believe that momentum will carry over. Freeman and his staff have built something real in recruiting, and this commitment is another example of the program’s ability to identify and secure priority targets well ahead of the curve.