A Look Back At The Recruiting Rankings Of Notre Dame’s NFL Draft Picks
Beneath the excitement of draft weekend, there is annual consternation over an early precursor to the players’ draft stock and NFL potential.
Star rankings.
With every no-star or small-school player drafted in high rounds comes cries of stars don’t matter. With every five-star recruit who goes in the first round comes support for the system.
Hashing out a case for each is for another time, though it is worth looking back at the high school recruiting rankings for each of Notre Dame’s six NFL Draft picks and its six undrafted players that signed with a team.
All told, Notre Dame’s six drafted players consist of five four-star recruits and a two-star. The group of undrafted rookies has three four-stars, two three-stars and a former walk-on.
Per our Michigan site’s research, the average star rating for Notre Dame’s six draftees was 3.7. Among the 10 teams with the most draft picks, only Georgia (3.9) and Alabama (4.3) were higher.
Now for the breakdown of each Notre Dame draftee and rookie free agent.
Notre Dame’s Draft Picks
Cole Kmet
NFL Draft: Second round, No. 43 overall, Chicago Bears
Kmet was the No. 3 tight end in the country and a top-100 overall player in the 2017 class. He left Notre Dame after three years and was the first tight end taken in 2020. No other one was taken until the No. 91 pick. The two players ranked ahead of him were Brock Wright, Kmet’s Notre Dame teammate, and Seattle Seahawks fourth-round pick Colby Parkinson.
Chase Claypool
NFL Draft: Second round, No. 49 overall, Pittsburgh Steelers
Claypool went from unknown to top-150 player and Notre Dame commit in the span of a few months. He had offers to play wide receiver, tight end and defense. He chose Notre Dame, which saw him as a receiver from the start. Rivals ranked him as the No. 22 wide receiver in the 2016 class. He was the 11th receiver taken in the draft.
Julian Okwara
NFL Draft: Third round, No. 67 overall, Detroit Lions
Okwara was not in the final 2016 Rivals250, but was still a four-star recruit and the No. 18 defensive end in the class. He was the eighth edge player picked in the draft.
Troy Pride Jr.
NFL Draft: Fourth round, No. 113 overall, Carolina Panthers
Pride originally committed to Virginia Tech before reopening and choosing Notre Dame on Christmas Eve 2015. He was a four-star recruit, the No. 4 player in South Carolina and the No. 23 cornerback in the 2016 class. He was not in the final Rivals250. The Panthers made Pride the 13th corner taken in the draft.
Khalid Kareem
NFL Draft: Fifth round, No. 147 overall, Cincinnati Bengals
A one-time Alabama commitment, Kareem was the No. 237 player in the 2016 Rivals250 and the No. 17 defensive end. On draft day, he was the 18th edge player picked.
Alohi Gilman
NFL Draft: Sixth round, No. 186 overall, Los Angeles Chargers
Gilman is the one Notre Dame draftee who wasn’t a four-star recruit. The story is well told: He came to Notre Dame after a year at Navy, where he started as a freshman at safety. He was a two-star recruit in the 2015 class and rated as an athlete. He held no Football Bowl Subdivision offers out of high school and attended Navy Prep for a year before going to Navy. The Chargers made him the 15th safety to be picked.
Notre Dame’s Undrafted Free Agents
Jalen Elliott
NFL team: Lions
Elliott is from the Richmond, Va., area and was a four-star recruit in the 2016 class. He was not in the Rivals250, but Rivals ranked him as the No. 15 safety.
Donte Vaughn
NFL Team: Chargers
Vaughn was a four-star recruit from Memphis, ranked the No. 20 safety in the country in 2016. He became a cornerback at Notre Dame.
Asmar Bilal
NFL Team: Chargers
Bilal spent five years at Notre Dame and didn’t break out until his final one. The Indianapolis native was the No. 246 player in the 2015 Rivals250 and No. 17 outside linebacker.
Tony Jones Jr.
NFL Team: New Orleans Saints
Jones finished his high school career at IMG Academy and was a high three-star recruit. Rivals ranked him as the nation’s No. 21 running back.
Jamir Jones
NFL Team: Houston Texans
Jones was a deep reserve until his senior year, when he broke into the rotation and made 6.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks as a defensive end. An upstate New York product, Jones was a three-star recruit and the No. 43 outside linebacker in the 2016 class.
Chris Finke
NFL Team: San Francisco 49ers
Fink was an unrated walk-on from Ohio who arrived in 2015 and earned a scholarship and a special teams role after a year on campus. He became Notre Dame’s primary punt returner in 2017 and was Notre Dame’s best slot receiver in 2018 and 2019.
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