Recruiting Comparison: Notre Dame vs Ohio State

A look at how Notre Dame and Ohio State's lineups stack up from a recruiting standpoint.

The 9th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) and the 6th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0) square off this weekend in one of the biggest matchups of the season. Irish Breakdown is going to spend the entire week breaking down this matchup, but one part of that matchup that I enjoy looking at is how the lineups stack up from a recruiting standpoint.

That's what this feature is all about (using 247Sports composite ranking).

Notre Dame Offense vs Ohio State Defense

The matchup between the Notre Dame offense and the Ohio State defense is closer than you'd think from a pure recruiting standpoint.

Notre Dame's offensive line has three former Top 100 recruits in the starting lineup, and that doesn't include preseason All-American left tackle Joe Alt. Ohio State has three former Top 100 recruits in its starting lineup along its defensive line. Where the Buckeyes have the advantage, from a recruiting standpoint, is that two of their Top 100 recruits are former five-star players (JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer).

A look at the Irish wide receivers and the Buckeye secondary players also shows a competitive recruiting matchup. When looking at the matchup of the cornerbacks and third level safeties and the Notre Dame wideouts you'll see the highest ranked player is Notre Dame receiver Chris Tyree (No. 70). Ohio State safety Josh Proctor is next (No. 71) but the third highest ranked recruit was Irish wideout Tobias Merriweather (No. 121). 

Every receiver in the Notre Dame starting lineup and in the rotation are former four-star recruits, and all but one of the Ohio State starters and backups were four-star recruits. This is a very even matchup from a recruiting standpoint, and will also be a very important matchup in regard to the outcome of the game.

Notre Dame Defense vs Ohio State Offense

The best recruiting matchup between the Notre Dame defense and the Ohio State defense is the one in the trenches. All four of Notre Dame's starter and four of its top five rotation players up front were four-star recruits coming out of high school. Notre Dame throws a lot of players that were highly ranked recruits at teams up front.

Ohio State's offensive line has talented former five-star guard Donovan Jackson at left guard, and right guard Matthew Jones was also a former Top 100 recruit. Both tackles were ranked outside of the Top 300 coming out of high school, and Josh Fryar was a three-star recruit. Notre Dame's starting edge players and its top three reserves on the edge all ranked higher thank both of Ohio State's starting tackles, and the Irish starters - Jordan Botelho at No. 120 and Javontae Jean-Baptiste at No. 201 - are ranked significantly higher than the Buckeye tackles.

The matchup on the perimeter isn't close from a pure recruiting standpoint. Ohio State has a pair of former five-star receiver recruits in its starting lineup (Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming) and the third starter - Marvin Harrison Jr. - ranked No. 97 coming out of high school. Ohio State also brings in former Top 100 recruit Carnell Tate off the bench.

Neither of Notre Dame's starting corners were ranked in the Top 300, with Benjamin Morrison ranking No. 311 overall and Cam Hart ranking as a three-star recruit (No. 635). Notre Dame's starting safeties, and all of its rotation safeties, were three-star recruits coming out of high school.

CLASS RANKINGS

Here are the class rankings of the two programs from the last five seasons. (247Sports composite)

NOTRE DAME

2023 - 12
2022 - 7
2021 - 9
2020 - 18
2019 - 15

OHIO STATE

2023 - 4
2022 - 4
2021 - 2
2020 - 5
2019 - 14

Advantage: Ohio State

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Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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