Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class is on a roll.
The Fighting Irish are up to 19 commitments after Phoenix Brophy Prep cornerback Benjamin Morrison announced his pledge to Notre Dame on Thursday afternoon. Notre Dame is tied for second most verbal commitments in the class among all Power Five programs.
Marcus Freeman and Co. are loading up with talented prospects. Eight of Notre Dame’s last nine commitments (including prospects in the 2023 class) play on the defensive side of the ball.
For the past few weeks, Notre Dame has held the ranking for the No. 2 class in the country. After defensive end Darren Agu decommitted (and has since flipped to Vanderbilt), the Irish fell to No. 4 but quickly jumped Penn State and LSU for the No. 2 spot after linebacker Jaylen Sneed, a top-50 prospect, pledged to Notre Dame.
With the commitment of Morrison, Notre Dame strengthened its positioning at No. 2 but still has a way to go to if it hopes to overtake Ohio State for the No. 1 spot. The Buckeyes’ class of 17 prospects has 2,636 points, while the Irish are at 2,116. The difference of 520 points is essentially two five-star prospects.
Rivals only takes into account a program’s top 20 recruits into its class rankings formula. The Irish are just one commitment away from that mark. At that point, if a new commitment is ranked higher than the Irish’s lowest ranked pledge, then the higher ranked recruit’s total will replace the lowest commit’s total.
For example, if Notre Dame is 20 commitments and Zach Rice, who is a five-star recruit with a 6.1 Rivals ranking, commits to the Irish, his total of 211 points would replace Amorion Walker, who is a three-star player with a 5.5 Rivals ranking, and his 60 points. Notre Dame’s score would increase 151 points (211-60=151) in this case.
For more details on the Rivals rankings formula, click here.
Notre Dame’s average star ranking per recruit of 3.74 is strong, but it will continue to need to hit on top, highly ranked targets to finish in the top five, especially considering Alabama (10 commitments), Clemson (eight), Georgia (11), Oklahoma (13) and others will eventually get up to 20 commitments as well, making it a more even playing field.
Morrison was a big pick up for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame’s first defensive back pledge in the 2022 class was Corona (Calif.) Centennial’s Jaden Mickey back in March. The Irish didn’t land secondary commitment No. 2 until Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic’s Jayden Bellamy announced his decision on July 2, and two days later, Naples (Fla.) High’s Devin Moore made his commitment. Moore and Morrison visited Notre Dame together during the June 11-13 official visit weekend.
“Realistically, you’re going to bring in two to four defensive backs in a class, and I’m excited about this group,” Morrison said. “Iron sharpens iron; I’m only going to grow with these guys around me. It’s only going to make us all better.”
Morrison will enroll at Notre Dame next summer and is completely locked in with his Irish pledge.
“I’m set in stone with Notre Dame,” he said. “I’m not going to take any other visits.”
Rivals ranks Morrison as a four-star recruit, the No. 4 player in Arizona and the No. 30 cornerback in the country.
Morrison, who could play field or boundary cornerback for the Irish, held more than 20 scholarship offers, including Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, UCLA and Washington.
During the 2020 season, Morrison recorded 36 tackles, three tackles for loss, one pass defended and two blocked field goals in five games played. He also added six receptions for 83 yards.
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