Recruiting Comparison: Notre Dame vs Syracuse
One of the more entertaining ways to look at how teams match up is to look at the recruiting rankings for the two teams, and the Notre Dame vs Syracuse is incredibly interesting from this standpoint.
Notre Dame is a scuffling 4-3 squad while Syracuse is 6-1 and ranked 16th in the country. The recruiting rankings, however, tell a very different story. Let's take a look at how Notre Dame and Syracuse stack up from a recruiting standpoint.
All rankings are 247Sports composite rankings.
Notre Dame Offense vs Syracuse Defense
If you're someone who views recruiting rankings as indicative of college success, even if you simply look at it from a percentage standpoint, the struggles of the Notre Dame offense this season is certainly a head scratcher.
Notre Dame has struggled offensively all season, while Syracuse's success has been fueled primarily by its defense. If you look at this matchup strictly from a recruiting standpoint this shouldn't even be a contest.
Syracuse has just one former four-star recruit in its starting lineup or rotation on defense. That would be safety Alijah Clark, who didn't even sign with Syracuse coming out of high school. Clark, a true sophomore, began his career at Rutgers.
Notre Dame's starting lineup on offense has a former five-star recruit (Michael Mayer) and nine former four-star recruits. The only exception is left tackle Joe Alt, who has arguably been Notre Dame's second best player this season, behind only Mayer.
Notre Dame has more former four-star recruits at wide receiver than Syracuse has in its entire rotation on both sides of the ball, combined.
Notre Dame Defense vs Syracuse Offense
The story about the Notre Dame defense and Syracuse offense is the same. Notre Dame doesn't have as many former four-star recruits on defense as they do on offense, but six of the starters and several key reserves are former four-star recruits.
Syracuse has just one former four-star recruit on offense, and that would be quarterback Garrett Shrader. As is the case on defense, the highest ranked recruit on the Syracuse offense is a transfer. Shrader came to Syracuse from Mississippi State.
Notre Dame's entire starting lineup along the defensive line is made up of former four-star recruits. The Irish rotation also has a number of former four-star recruits coming off the bench.
CLASS RANKINGS
Here are the class rankings of the two programs from the last five seasons. (247Sports composite)
NOTRE DAME
2022 - 7
2021 - 9
2020 - 18
2019 - 15
2018 - 10
SYRACUSE
2022 - 65
2021 - 64
2020 - 62
2019 - 56
2018 - 51
Advantage: Notre Dame
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Irish Breakdown Content
Notre Dame 2022 Roster
Notre Dame 2022 Schedule
Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Offense
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Defense
Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense
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