Marcus Freeman’s biggest recruiting impact for Notre Dame football has gone well beyond raw star ratings
The Fighting Irish fan base voted on the 10 best players on Notre Dame’s roster. Where did each of them rank as recruits?
Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have built one of the top programs in college football through elite recruiting classes, but some of their most impactful players arrived without the fanfare of five-star billing. Notre Dame’s 2026 roster is loaded with contributors who outplayed their recruiting rankings, developed beyond expectations, or emerged from unconventional paths to become cornerstones of the program.
In a poll posted on Twitter (@RiseNDraft), the Notre Dame fan base was asked to rank the five best offensive players and five best defensive players on the Fighting Irish roster. After tallying all the votes, a deep dive into each player’s recruiting background paints a picture of just how well Freeman and his staff have identified, developed, and maximized talent.
Here are Notre Dame’s top five offensive players and top five defensive players, as voted by the Fighting Irish fan base, and where they all ranked as recruits.
Offensive stars
No. 1: QB CJ Carr
CJ Carr, a member of the 2024 class, was a consensus four-star ranked as the No. 68 overall player, the No. 6 quarterback, and the No. 1 player from the state of Michigan on the 247 Sports Composite. Ratings can be funny sometimes. Notre Dame decided to stop recruiting Julian Sayin when the Fighting Irish were seen as a top contender for him. Sayin ended up being a five-star in the composite ranking, but it’s hard to imagine any Notre Dame fan would trade Carr for Sayin right now.
No. 2: WR Jordan Faison
From the 2023 class, Faison has become one of the best stories in recent memory for Notre Dame football. Despite holding a scholarship offer from Iowa to play football, Faison committed to Notre Dame as a lacrosse player and a walk-on for the football program. He has developed into one of Notre Dame’s best overall players on either side of the ball. As a recruit, he was a non-ranked player. A big reason for that was his role as a high school quarterback running option, combined with the fact that he was viewed primarily as a lacrosse player and one of the top lacrosse recruits in the 2023 class. That clouded his status as a football recruit entirely.
No. 3: OL Anthonie Knapp
Knapp was a tremendous find for offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, who had previously been recruiting him at Virginia Tech. Once Rudolph came to South Bend, he prioritized getting Knapp into the Notre Dame class, a controversial take at the time, even though he has now developed into one of the better offensive linemen in all of college football. He was rated by most as a three-star but did end up on the composite ranking as a four-star, the No. 332 overall player, the No. 26 interior offensive lineman, and the No. 38 player from the state of Georgia. Knapp went very much under the radar from Southern school interest but has ended up being a tremendous value for Notre Dame.
No. 4: WR Micah Gilbert
There is some recency bias here, as Gilbert currently sits as Notre Dame’s leader with 337 receiving yards this season during his breakout junior campaign. A member of the 2024 recruiting class, Gilbert was considered a four-star by some and a three-star by others. He ended up as a four-star, the No. 245 overall player, the No. 41 wide receiver, and the No. 8 player from the state of North Carolina on the composite ranking. Gilbert comes from a football family and has started to tap into the overall upside that the Notre Dame staff was excited about coming out of that 2024 class.
No. 5: RB Nolan James Jr.
This one was a surprise, as James edged out the likes of Ashton Craig, Guerby Lambert, and Jaden Greathouse to be the final offensive player listed. James was considered a three-star for the majority of his recruiting life but ended up as a four-star, the No. 303 overall player, the No. 22 running back, and the No. 7 player from the state of New Jersey for the 2025 recruiting class. He was a bit of a riser down the stretch and a nice find for the Fighting Irish, who had a very up-and-down running back recruiting cycle in 2025. Coming from the same high school as current Notre Dame wide receiver Elijah Burress, James ended up being a really nice value addition for this staff.
Defensive standouts
No. 1: CB Leonard Moore
Leonard Moore is not only the best player on Notre Dame’s team but one of the most elite players in all of college football. He was not rated extremely high as a recruit. Moore ended up as a four-star on the 247 Sports Composite but ranked as just the No. 432 overall player, the No. 38 cornerback, and the No. 67 player from the state of Texas for the 2024 class. Part of that was because he was banged up and injured for the majority of his senior season, which most likely would have caused a rise in his recruiting ranking. Multiple recruiting platforms saw Moore as a three-star player. They ended up being very wrong in their evaluation. Despite Leonard’s father being a professor at the University of Texas, the Longhorns never gave Moore much of a look. Notre Dame was incredibly early on Moore and did a great job of evaluating and identifying a player who has developed into an All-American.
No. 2: LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa
KVA was no secret, coming from a great program in St. John Bosco in California. Despite missing his sophomore year, KVA ended up having a great final two seasons for St. John Bosco, and he was ranked as the No. 41 overall player, the No. 4 linebacker, and the No. 4 player from the state of California in the 2024 recruiting class on the composite ranking. Viliamu-Asa is a dynamic weapon, and when healthy for Notre Dame, he has been truly elite and one of the best overall linebackers in the country. He has certainly lived up to his billing as a recruit.
No. 3: S Adon Shuler
Shuler committed to Notre Dame during his sophomore season and was stagnant in terms of his recruiting rankings. Some evaluators saw him as just a three-star. He did end up as a four-star, the No. 317 overall player, the No. 28 safety, and the No. 5 player from the state of New Jersey in the 2023 recruiting class. Shuler has outplayed his recruiting rankings, becoming a multi-year captain and starter on the back end. He has been a tremendous football player who always seems to be around the ball.
No. 4: EDGE Boubacar Traore
Once committed to Boston College, Traore’s recruiting rankings were all over the place due to an injury during his senior season. Despite that, he still ended up as the No. 221 overall player, the No. 27 edge, and the No. 4 player from the state of Massachusetts for the 2023 recruiting class. The talent Traore brought to the table, including his explosiveness, bend, and length, was always easy to see. The questions were about what his upside would be after missing the majority of his senior season. He has become one of the better sack artists in college football and a premier player for Notre Dame’s defense.
No. 5: S Brauntae Johnson
From the 2024 recruiting class, Johnson was recruited as a wide receiver by some schools and a safety by others. He has settled into being one of the better defensive backs in college football when healthy, even though he’s dealing with an injury currently. He was rated as the No. 198 overall player, the No. 15 safety, and the No. 5 player from the state of Indiana for that 2024 class. Johnson has outplayed his recruiting rankings. Some evaluators struggled with what to do with him as a player who won with raw athleticism in high school, but he has been able to figure things out technically at the college level.
Best of the rest
Narrowly missing the list was 2023 linebacker signee Drayk Bowen, who has developed into a multi-year starter and a leading tackler for Notre Dame over the last three seasons. He was ranked as a four-star, the No. 107 overall player, the No. 8 linebacker, and the No. 1 player from the state of Indiana in the 2023 class, winning the Butkus Award, given to the best linebacker in high school football, during his senior season.
Center Ashton Craig also just missed the list. He was rated as a three-star in the 2022 recruiting class, the No. 521 overall player, the No. 39 interior offensive lineman, and the No. 12 player from the state of Indiana. When healthy, Craig has been a really good starting center for Notre Dame, though he has dealt with some key injuries over the last several years. Hopefully he continues to put together a great final year for the Fighting Irish.
Offensive tackle Guerby Lambert from the 2024 class also received many votes. He was rated as the No. 46 overall player, the No. 4 offensive tackle, and the No. 1 player from the state of Massachusetts. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound offensive tackle moved from right guard to starting right tackle this offseason and has shown some growth over the last couple of weeks.
Defensive end Bryce Young from the 2024 class was also on the shortlist. He was the No. 73 overall player, the No. 11 defensive end, and the No. 2 player from the state of North Carolina. With his father being Bryant Young, a Notre Dame legend, longtime NFL player, and Hall of Famer, Young was considered to be a developmental player. He is starting to realize that potential at 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds. He is a freaky athlete with a ton of upside.
The final player to receive votes was Jaden Greathouse from the 2023 class out of the state of Texas. He was the No. 140 overall player, the No. 23 wide receiver, and the No. 27 player from the state of Texas on the composite ranking. Greathouse has had some great moments in South Bend, but he has also been mired by inconsistency. Notre Dame fans still want to see him make a consistent impact from a week-to-week perspective, but so far this season it has left a lot to be desired. Hopefully Greathouse will be able to turn it around and help trend the slot position upward.
