Recruiting Comparison: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Duke Blue Devils

A break down of how Notre Dame stacks up against Duke from a recruiting standpoint

Coming off of their 17-14 loss to Ohio State this past weekend, Notre Dame enters a big chance to get back on track on Saturday against the Duke Blue Devils. Currently ranked as the No. 17 team in the country, Duke is off to a fast start this season. They are a talented team, although more built off of long term development than instant impact.

When taking a look at the overall recruiting rankings for both teams, that fact becomes even more apparent. While recruiting rankings aren’t everything, acquiring high level talent is a requisite to compete at the highest level, at least from a sustainability perspective. Let’s take a look at how both teams compare from a recruiting perspective.

Notre Dame Offense vs Duke Defense

The Irish have the clear advantage in this matchup. Notre Dame has a total of nine former four-star recruits in their starting lineup. That includes the offensive line, who all earned four star status on the 247Sports Composite ranking outside of starting left guard Pat Coogan who was a three-star. Each of Zeke Correll, Rocco Spindler and Blake Fisher were ranked as Top 100 recruits, the highest being Fisher who stood as the No. 55 overall player in his class.

Notre Dame will be opposed by an excellent defensive line, although the recruiting ranking does not best illustrate that. Their defensive tackles are especially excellent, including former Irish defender Ja’Mion Franklin and All-ACC performer DeWayne Carter. Both of them were ranked as three-star players but have far outperformed that recruiting ranking.

The performances of the wide receiver room for Notre Dame has been a little inconsistent so far this season but is a room that is littered with talent. Even with Deion Colzie sidelined with an injury, the Irish still have five pass catchers who were rated as former four-star recruits. That includes former running back Chris Tyree, who ranked highest of the group as the No. 70 overall player in his class.

In the Duke secondary, there is a ton of talent to work with. That includes two former transfers in Al Blades Jr. (Miami) and Myles Jones (Texas A&M). Blades is the lone starter who ranked as a former four-star recruit. He also ranked as a Top 100 national recruit coming out. Arguably the top player in the secondary is sophomore Chandler Rivers, who has far outplayed his three-star ranking in a very short amount of time.

Notre Dame Defense vs Duke Offense

Duke has no players on the offensive side of the football who ranked as a four-star player coming out. Instead, they are a unit that is far outplaying their perceived values as recruits coming out of high school. They are led by star quarterback Riley Leonard, whose final ranking was hurt after his senior season was lost due to COVID.

The highest ranked player on the Duke offense from a ranking perspective is offensive guard Jacob Monk, who actually did rank as a four-star player by the 247Sports ranking but fell short on the composite list. Monk is one of the leaders of a stellar offensive line, including All-ACC left tackle Graham Barton.

The defensive line for Notre Dame will be counted on big time in this battle. In total, they have eight players who were ranked as four-star players in their two deep. A couple players to watch are defensive ends Jordan Botelho and Joshua Burnham and defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio, who ranked inside the Top 120 overall players in their respective classes.

CLASS RANKINGS

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

NOTRE DAME

2023 - 12
2022 - 7
2021 - 9
2020 - 18
2019 - 14

DUKE

2023 - 56
2022 - 51
2021 - 57
2020 - 62
2019 - 48

Advantage: Notre Dame

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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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