Where Notre Dame Sits In National Recruiting Rankings After Signing Day
After adding a commitment from Bakersfield (Calif,) Liberty cornerback Ramon Henderson during the early signing period, Notre Dame moved up to No. 15 in the Rivals Team Recruiting Rankings for the 2020 class.
However, after Danville (Ky.) Boyle County Landen Bartleson was dismissed from the Notre Dame football program, and the Irish not taking any additional recruits in the February signing period, Notre Dame took a tumble in the updated Rivals rankings.
Rivals only takes into account a school's top 20 signees into the rankings, and when you only have 17 prospects in your class, it's hard to make much headway.
As of Thursday, February 6, Notre Dame ranks No. 21 in the class rankings. The top five schools are as follows: Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Ohio State.
The Notre Dame fan who doesn't follow recruiting probably looks at that national ranking and thinks that this class just isn't pushing the Irish in a place to compete for a national championship.
That still remains to be seen, but basing that opinion off a team recruiting ranking lacks context.
Rivals has point values for each level of a recruit ranking (5.2 two-star all the way up to 6.1 five-star). Rivals adds up the point value for every recruit in the class, and then ranks every class in the nation based on its total point value.
And for the explanation straight from the horse's mouth, click here.
As I mentioned, Rivals only takes into account a school's top 20 recruits. A school like Penn State that signed 27 recruits doesn't have all of its 5.5 and 5.6 three-star recruits counted towards its class ranking total, whereas Notre Dame has a two-star recruit counted.
Let's just say Notre Dame added three more recruits ranked as 5.6 three-star prospects to the 2020 class. That would put Notre Dame at 20 recruits. It would still put the Irish at a disadvantage stacked up against Penn State and other schools that signed over 20 prospects.
But with just adding three 5.6 three-star recruits, Notre Dame (using the Rivals formula) would have a total class points of 2,202, moving them up to No. 12 in the country (and past Penn State at No. 14).
But with Notre Dame having a small 2020 class and deciding not to take an additional recruit just for the heck of it, the class ranking suffered, which I'm sure isn't keeping Brian Kelly up at night.
This is just an explanation for Notre Dame fans about why Notre Dame is ranked where they're ranked and a lesson for the untutored on the subject matter.
And also, it goes to show how highly Notre Dame's class actually is ranked all things considered. If you want sort by average star ranking, Notre Dame's class ranks No. 12 nationally (3.59).
Ranking high school recruits is an impossible job. Fans obsess over them, whether in a good way or bad.
So what does it all mean? Who knows.
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