Notre Dame football making an early push for an elite running back recruit with offers from every major CFB program
Notre Dame football just offered an elite player from the 2029 recruiting class. What are the chances for the Fighting Irish?
While all eyes and attention are on the 2026 season for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the recruiting operation never sleeps. On Monday, the team made a very intriguing offer to 2029 Atlanta (Ga.) Carrollton star running back Zach Watts.
The 5-foot-11, 182-pound runner is only a sophomore in high school but is already being pursued by some of the top overall programs in all of college football. Notre Dame does not typically offer a ton of freshmen or sophomores at the high school level, but Watts is truly a special football player.
Zach Watts’ recruiting background
Per an early ranking from 247Sports, Watts currently sits as the No. 34 overall player, the No. 1 running back, and the No. 8 player from the state of Georgia for the 2029 recruiting class. If that early ranking doesn’t impress you, his offer list surely will.
Some of the top programs that have offered Watts so far include the Fighting Irish, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Miami, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, Auburn, Florida State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest, among several others.
A dominant start to his high school career
As a freshman in 2025, Watts immediately made his impact felt for a talented Carrollton team that plays some of the top overall programs in the state of Georgia and across the country on a year-to-year basis. He managed to rush for 1,037 yards and 17 touchdowns on just 108 carries, nearly 10 yards per tote.
Watts also hauled in seven receptions for 177 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Through four games of his sophomore year, the 5-foot-11, 182-pound ball carrier is putting together a tremendous season for Carrollton.
He has run the ball 38 times for 401 yards and 10 touchdowns, an average of 10.6 yards per carry. He has totaled over 100 yards in three of those four games so far. As if that wasn’t enough, Watts has also upped his game as a pass receiver, hauling in 14 receptions for 182 yards and five more scores through the air.
Playing alongside fellow 2029 recruit quarterback CJ Cypher, Watts has made it very clear that he is one of the most important players on this offense and on the entire team.
What this means for Notre Dame recruiting
As you can tell by his offer list, landing the talented runner is not going to be easy. But as we’ve seen over the last few years, whether it was under former running back coach Deland McCullough or now running back coach Ja’Juan Seider, Notre Dame has been recruiting the running back position at an extremely high level.
Getting on a player like Watts early on could end up being incredibly important for the recruitment in the end. Having the success of players like Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price should not hurt the overall pitch.
Where things go now between Notre Dame and Watts remains to be seen, but this is now a multi-year opportunity for the Fighting Irish to put themselves in a good early spot. Notre Dame is clearly taking their shots with the best running back in the 2029 recruiting class early on, and that kind of proactive approach from head coach Marcus Freeman’s staff could pay dividends down the road.
