Rivals is updating its recruit rankings this week, and as always, some prospects move up, while others move down. A couple of Notre Dame commits in the class of 2021 saw their ranking on the Rivals scale improve.
Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic's Caleb Johnson was bumped up from a 5.7 three-star to a 5.8 four-star prospect. He also moved up one spot in the offensive tackle rankings to No. 33 nationally.
Johnson flipped his commitment from Auburn to Notre Dame on Nov. 19. He previously committed to the Tigers back in May but left the door open for the Fighting Irish. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn pushed for the 6-7, 290-pounder in November and won the recruitment. Johnson will enroll at Notre Dame in late January.
The other riser for the Fighting Irish was Honolulu Punahou linebacker Kahanu Kia. Despite not having a senior season, the Rivals analysts saw enough in a re-evaluation of the 6-2, 205-pounder to bump him from a 5.5 to 5.7 three-star recruit.
Kia was not previously listed in the Rivals' top 50 outside linebacker rankings but now sits at No. 37 and moved up four spots in the Hawaii state rankings at No. 5.
Kia visited Notre Dame for the weekend of the Clemson game and soon afterwards picked the Fighting Irish over Stanford, UCLA and Utah.
Notre Dame has 23 commitments in the 2021 class, which ranks No. 10 nationally per Rivals. The Irish are directly ahead of Miami, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
Ten of the Irish’s commitments rank as at least four-star prospects — seven of them are slotted to play on offense.
Earlier this week, Jonesborough (Tenn.) David Crockett linebacker Prince Kollie was bumped from a three-star to four-star recruit and into the Rivals250 at No. 239.
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