8/25/2020 football Edit

Notre Dame Movement In Updated 2021 Rivals250

Mike Singer • InsideNDSports

Recruiting Insider

Avon (Ind.) High’s Blake Fisher is Notre Dame’s highest-ranked commitment in the 2021 class and was elevated to five-star status by Rivals on Monday morning. Fisher, who ranks as the No. 19 prospect in America, is one of five Irish pledges in the updated Rivals100.

Because there was no camp circuit and very limited opportunities to see class of 2021 prospects for the past few months, this is a smaller update from the Rivals team of analysts, but there was still some notable movement to report.

Another positive move for the Irish commits was Valrico (Fla.) Bloomingdale cornerback Philip Riley being boosted from an unranked nationally four-star prospect into the Rivals250. The 6-1, 190-pounder is listed as the nation’s No. 240 prospect.

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Valrico (Fla.) Bloomingdale cornerback and Notre Dame commit Philip Riley — Florida cornerback Philip Riley moved into the national rankings. (Rivals.com)

“His coverage skills on film compare favorably to some other guys at his position,” Rivals.com Florida analyst Rob Cassidy said about Riley’s updated ranking. “He’s a versatile guy. He closes pretty quickly because he has solid length.

“I think he has incredible ball skills and is the kind of guy who could play wide receiver if he needed to. He won’t because he’s turning into a polished defensive back, but he has great hands. He can cover the slot and a lot of different wide receivers. [Notre Dame] will be able to move him around the field.”

The notable faller among Notre Dame’s commit list in the national rankings was La Mesa (Calif.) Helix Charter quarterback Tyler Buchner, who dropped 34 spots and sits at No. 80 in the Rivals100.

Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney doesn’t believe there’s any reason for panic here.

“It might look significant, but it's not a major move down,” Gorney noted. ‘He did struggle at the Elite 11 and was okay at the QB Collective event, so we thought it was necessary not to plummet him down the rankings by any means but definitely re-adjust some of the guys at the top — and that meant Buchner slid a little.

“We still think he's one of the best quarterbacks in this class and the important thing is he does his best work on a football field and not in camp settings.”

Prospects who stay status quo in the rankings typically take small drops. As others move up, someone has to move down.

Pickerington (Ohio) Central wide receiver Lorenzo Styles moved down two spots to No. 41 nationally, recent Irish pledge Rocco Spindler from Clarkston (Mich.) High slid three notches to No. 59 and St. Peters (Mo.) Lutheran of St. Charles defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio moved down one spot to No. 100 in the country.

There are six Notre Dame targets listed in the updated Rivals rankings. Below is their school, position, name, new ranking and differential from old ranking in parentheses.

Lititz (Pa.) Warwick OT Nolan Rucci – No. 29 (+7)

Baltimore (Md.) Mount St. Joseph WR Dont’e Thornton Jr. – No. 55 (-2)

West Bloomfield (Mich.) High RB Donovan Edwards – No. 65 (-4)

Los Angeles Loyola CB Ceyair Wright – No. 95 (+5)

Athens (Ga.) Academy WR Deion Colzie – No. 107 (-34)

Tallahasee (Fla.) John Paul II Catholic ATH Terrion Arnold – No. 193 (+16)

Atlanta Pace Academy WR Jayden Thomas – No. 194 (-63)

Click here to view the full Rivals250.

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