Five-star DE Keon Keeley remains Notre Dame's highest ranked commitment
Keon Keeley's overall ranking may have dropped four spots in the first release of new rankings from Rivals of the 2023 class, but the Notre Dame defensive end commit remained a five-star recruit and the highest ranked Irish pledge.
Rivals ranked the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Keeley as the No. 18 overall prospect on Monday. He's now the No. 2 weakside defensive end and the No. 6 prospect in Florida in the 2023 class.
"He’s had a quiet offseason and moved down the list a little as others have excelled at numerous events, but Keon Keeley is still special," said Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney.
Keeley totaled 61 tackles, 34 tackles for a loss and 16.5 sacks as a junior at Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep last season. Two sacks and an interception against top-ranked 2023 quarterback Arch Manning in a nationally televised victory over New Orleans Isidore Newman helped previously propel Keeley into five-star status.
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Three major Notre Dame recruiting targets are ranked higher than Keeley: Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy defensive end Samuel M'Pemba, IMG Academy wide receiver Carnell Tate and Detroit King quarterback Dante Moore.
The 6-4, 245-pound M'Pemba was previously ranked as the No. 1 athlete and No. 7 overall in the class. M'Pemba has now been classified as No. 1 weakside defensive end and No. 4 overall. Notre Dame has been recruiting M'Pemba as a potential rover linebacker who could grow into a vyper defensive end.
Because M'Pemba isn't in a rush to make a decision this summer, he recently moved his scheduled official visit to Notre Dame from June 17 to Nov. 5 for Clemson game. M'Pemba has visits to Georgia and Oregon scheduled this month. Florida, Miami and Missouri are among the other contenders for M'Pemba.
The 6-2, 170-pound Tate was elevated to the No. 1 wide receiver and No. 5 overall in the class. He was previously slated as the third-best receiver and No. 13 overall.
Ohio State and Tennessee have seemingly surged to the top of Tate's top five schools ahead of Notre Dame, Georgia and Alabama. LSU has made itself a contender as well. The recruitment of Moore could influence Tate.
“Dante is my guy,” Tate recently told Gorney. “We met on the camp series so I’d love to go to school with him. We talk about going to school together a lot.”
The 6-3, 199-pound Moore dropped three spots to No. 9 overall as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback. Tennessee commit Nico Iamaleava jumped Moore to No. 8 overall as the No. 3 pro-style quarterback.
The Irish remain one of the top contenders for Moore as he visits other schools across the country. Moore made official visits to LSU and Oregon in April and made an unofficial visit to Michigan in May. Moore will reportedly visit Texas A&M in June, but he hasn't lined up his next visit to Notre Dame.
The complete Rivals250 will updated Tuesday. Position rankings and state rankings will be released throughout the week.
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