What began as an unlikely story for Daniel Anderson and Notre Dame football won’t come with a happy ever after. Anderson, a three-star running back in the 2025 class, announced on Thursday night that he’s no longer committed to the Irish.
When Notre Dame offered Anderson following the Irish Invasion camp Back in June of 2023, the running back from Bryant (Ark.) High only had one other scholarship offer — from FCS school Long Island University. Anderson committed to running backs coach Deland McCullough and head coach Marcus Freeman a little more than three months later.
Anderson’s on-field production and college projection from Rivals has diminished since then. As a sophomore at Bryant in 2022, Anderson rushed 74 times for 856 yards and 11 touchdowns during Bryant’s fifth consecutive Class 7A state championship run. Anderson entered his junior season rated by Rivals as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 15 running back and No. 171 overall in the class.
Anderson hasn’t lived up to those high expectations since then. His junior season was cut short after five games in which he rushed 29 times for 164 yards and one touchdown. In a healthy return from his foot injury, Anderson still hasn’t become the workhorse back for Bryant as a senior.
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In the first three games of the season for which stats were reported to MaxPreps, Anderson totaled 32 carries for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Per the Arkansas Democrat, Anderson rushed twice for 67 yards and two touchdowns in a 62-13 blowout victory over Little Rock Central in his fourth game of the season.
And yet Anderson has been in a timeshare in the backfield with senior Myron Thrash Jr., whose only Division I offer is from Long Island, and junior Zekariah Kertis-Jones, who became an all-conference player last year in Anderson’s absence.
Rivals' analysts dropped Anderson out of the Rivals250 in February and knocked him down to a three-star prospect in August. He’s currently ranked as the No. 28 running back in the 2025 class.
Without Anderson, Notre Dame has 21 verbal commitments in its 2025 class. The Irish lost four-star QB Deuce Knight's commitment on Wednesday, with Knight flipping his commitment to Auburn.
Four-star recruit Justin Thurman, who attended the last two home games, becomes the lone running back committed to the Irish class. Anderson hasn’t been on campus since July.
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The Irish previously pursued four-star running back James Simon as a potential third running back for the 2025 class, but Simon committed to Texas in May. The Irish haven’t been publicly pursuing other running back recruits since then, but that could soon change with the coaching staff already hitting this week with no game on the schedule Saturday. Only two previously offered 2025 running backs remain uncommitted: four-star recruit Ousmane Kromah and three-star recruit Jayshon Limar.
Anderson becomes the sixth former Notre Dame commit in the 2025 recruiting cycle after four-star tight end Nate Roberts (current Ohio State commit), three-star defensive end CJ May (Louisville), three-star wide receiver Shaun Terry (Missouri), four-star safety Ivan Taylor (Michigan) and four-star quarterback Deuce Knight (Auburn).
Notre Dame filled up most of its offensive class early in the 2025 cycle, but it landed Tuesday the first new offensive commitment in months when wide receiver target Antavious Richardson flipped his pledge from South Florida.
Then Knight finally ditched the Irish on Wednesday to commit to Auburn. Prior to Richardson, the last offensive commitment to come from someone still in the class belonged to three-star recruit Jerome Bettis Jr. on St. Patrick's Day.
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