After placing six commits inside the updated 2025 Rivals250 on Tuesday, Notre Dame football received more good news on Wednesday when another commit — 2025 offensive tackle Will Black — was bumped to four-star status.
Black, who became Notre Dame's first offensive tackle commitment for the 2025 class in December, received his Irish offer last June after participating in the Irish lineman's challenge, which was his first-ever college camp.
Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph drew rave reviews from Black after that camp, and Rudolph kept close tabs on the 6-foot-7, 295-pound recruit through his junior season, although no game-day visit was worked out due to Wallingford (Conn.) Choate Rosemary Hall's schedule.
In December, Black visited campus and waited little time — five days to be exact — to give his verbal pledge to Rudolph and head coach Marcus Freeman. The Irish beat out Alabama, Michigan and Penn State, among others, for Black's commitment.
Black, a native of Canada who played his first season of football in the U.S. last fall, was also upgraded to a 5.8 rating, which makes him an All-American Candidate per the Rivals recruiting rankings formula.
"Considered one of the next-tier elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation’s top 300-325 prospects overall, a national All American candidate and a player deemed to have first to third round NFL potential," the formula reads.
At his position, Black slots in as the No. 40-ranked offensive tackle. He is also up to the No. 2 player in Connecticut, only behind 2025 Notre Dame safety commit Ethan Long out of Greenwich Brunswick.
“The 6-foot-7, 295-pound offensive tackle still has room to fill out his frame but is plenty strong, and it shows on film,” Rivals rankings director and recruiting analyst Adam Friedman said at the time of his commitment. “He does a great job putting defenders on skates as a run blocker, and he shows an aggressive streak when he finishes his blocks.
"He does a nice job setting his hands and resetting them as the defender tries counter moves to get by him. But Black has the athleticism and quickness to adjust when necessary."
With Black's upgrade, Notre Dame's top-ranked 2025 class has 13 of its 17 commitments with four-star ratings. Defensive end commit Christopher Burgess Jr. is the highest-ranked four-star with a 6.0 rating. Black's two peers at offensive tackle, four-star Owen Strebig and three-star Matty Augustine have ratings of 5.9 and 5.7, respectively.
Strebig and dual-threat quarterback commit Deuce Knight remained No. 6 and No. 1 at their respective positions, the same positional rankings they received in December. Running back commit Justin Thurman leapfrogged 13 spots to the No. 7-ranked all purpose back, while running back commit Daniel Anderson dropped three spots to the No. 19 running back.
Notre Dame's two wide receiver commits, Elijah Burress and Shaun Terry, each remained unranked at their position. Tight end commit James Flanigan dropped two spots to the No.9 tight end, and Augustine fell five spots to the No. 45-ranked offensive tackle.
Black, who has early plans to study at the Mendoza College of Business once he's enrolled, is the latest of several Canadians to commit to Notre Dame in recent classes.
Defensive linemen Armel Mukam and Devan Houstan, two Canadian-born players, signed with ND in the 2023 recruiting class after playing prep football in the U.S. Defensive line coach Al Washington continued that trend in the 2024 cycle by signing defensive lineman Sean Sevillano Jr. last December. Black is the lone Canada native in Notre Dame's 2025 class, although linebackers coach Max Bullough is targeting Antoine Deslauries out of Rabun Gap (Ga.) Nacoochee School, who is originally from Quebec.
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