Grading The Notre Dame 2022 Offensive Recruiting Class
Notre Dame has finally put a bow on its 2022 recruiting class by landing talented running back Gi'Bran Payne. That means we can give the offensive haul final grades. All of these grades are based off high school grades and evaluation, and anything done during spring as an early enrollee - good or bad - has not been taken into account.
QUARTERBACK
Grade: C+
Signee: Steve Angeli
Angeli is a solid football player that has a Sean Clifford (Penn State), Jack Coan (Notre Dame) type of projection. He's reportedly a high character young man with good quarterback size, a quick release and he's a gamer. What he lacks in big time arm strength he makes up for with a good overall feel for the game.
The smoothest path to a championship is having an elite quarterback, and Angeli isn't an elite quarterback. But he is a gamer, a smart young player and he's a capable player that could win a lot of games if he gets a strong enough supporting cast around him.
RUNNING BACK
Grade: A-
Signee: Jadarian Price, Gi'Bran Payne
This grade jumped up from a B+ after Payne chose the Irish. Price graded out as a Top 100 recruit on the Irish Breakdown board after a dominant senior season in which he rushed for 1,803 yards (9.3 YPC) and 18 touchdowns while showing an outstanding burst, excellent athleticism and top-notch vision and feel for the game.
Landing Price was huge for Notre Dame. The grade was dragged down because Notre Dame clearly wanted a second back in the class but missed on many of its top targets, prospects like Nicholas Singleton, Dallan Hayden and Gavin Sawchuk. Had Payne not been injured it's quite likely that he would have been a player the staff made a priority much earlier, but instead the staff missed on its other targets and ended up signing only Price in December.
Payne is a legit four-star running back, and if not for the injuries the last two seasons he would have received a grade of a Top 150 caliber prospect, and that's true if he didn't improve at all from his sophomore film. His grade is dragged down by the injuries, which is why I have him only ranked in the Top 250-300 range right now.
If Payne gets back to full speed and stays healthy this running back group of Price and Payne will give the Irish a pair of very talented and dynamic running backs.
WIDE RECEIVER
Grade: B-
Signee: Tobias Merriweather
A case could be made that the grade should be lower because Notre Dame fell at least two players short in the class. With so much personnel loss in the last offseason (five transfers) and the possibility of losing even more players from the current roster the staff needed impact talent and it needed numbers. After losing CJ Williams (USC) and Amorion Walker (Michigan) in the days leading up to signing day it's clear that Del Alexander and Tommy Rees came up woefully short.
There will be time to recover by the February signing day, but the grade is dinged in a big, big way because of the poor finish and a questionable handling of how the position was recruited from the beginning.
The reason I still give it a B- is because of how good I view Merriweather to be. He grades out on my board as a Top 50 caliber recruit, and he has the same grade on the SI All-American rankings (No. 46 nationally). Merriweather is a potentially dynamic player that can play all over the field, he can stretch the field, he can make plays after the catch and he can win contested throws. As he fills out his frame his game is going to explode.
TIGHT END
Grade: A
Signees: Eli Raridon, Holden Staes
If there's a conversation about the best tight end class in the country the Notre Dame haul better be in that conversation. Raridon is a Top 100 caliber prospect and Staes is grades out as a Top 200 prospect with Top 50 potential. This is a very, very talented pair of tight ends.
Notre Dame certainly met its needs in the class, and it landed impact talent. Just as important is that Raridon and Staes complement each other very, very well. They both can do a little bit of everything, but their strengths are a bit different, which means they can be used together as much as they can be used as part of a rotation.
This was a home run haul for John McNulty.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Grade: A-
Signees: Ty Chan, Ashton Craig, Billy Schrauth, Joey Tanona, Aamil Wagner
Notre Dame needed numbers in this class, but more important it needed depth of talent, and that's exactly what the staff got with this five-man class. No matter who you view as the fifth-best prospect in this line haul I'll be willing to bet he's better than any other fifth-best prospect in the last decade. Perhaps the top level talent isn't quite as good, but the depth of talent is excellent.
This matters because five really good players that fit together can be an elite unit even if it lacks one elite player. Rees and Jeff Quinn had some bumps in the road, but at the end of the day the class turned out very good. Landing Schrauth at the end was what sealed the deal. This is not an A class without Schrauth, so getting him late in the process was huge.
On top of the individual talent this group met position needs. Notre Dame needed at least two tackles and it accomplished that with Chan and Wagner, although I do have some questions about Chan's ability to stay on the edge based on his senior film. A case could be made, however, that the other three signees could also play tackle. This is a five-man group that can naturally and comfortably form a starting line if the need arose, and that's harder to do than you think.
GRADE KEY
A — Elite / College Football Playoff caliber
B — Outstanding / Top 15 caliber
C — Solid / Borderline Top 25 caliber
D — Subpar / Not good enough
F — Disaster
Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge
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
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook