Notre Dame Recruiting: Two-Year Grades For The Irish Offense

Breaking down and grading recruiting for the Notre Dame offense over the last two seasons

The best way to evaluate a program's recruiting is to look at it with a more broad focus, which means looking at back-to-back classes. Teams that recruit the best build complementary classes, and they had top talent on a year-by-year basis.

Grades are a combination of landing top-end talent, depth, meeting needs and scheme fit. The grades and analysis are based on how each player was evaluated as a recruit, not what they've done in college.

Notre Dame has recruited extremely well on offense the last two seasons, and it's that side of the ball that carried the last two classes. While the 2020 class added more impact skill players, the 2021 class brought in an elite quarterback and much-needed depth at running back and the offensive line. Add the two classes together and the Irish are recruiting on offense at a very high level.

Here's a look at the two-year grades for the Notre Dame offense:

QUARTERBACK

Grade: A
Signees (2): Tyler Buchner (2021), Drew Pyne (2020)

Notre Dame didn't just land two starting caliber quarterbacks in the last two classes, it landed players capable of taking Notre Dame to the next level as a program. Buchner is a legit Top 50 caliber recruit that possesses five-star tools. If he puts it all together he has the arm talent + athleticism to be a difference maker in college.

Pyne gets far less fanfare, and it would seem many think he has already been supplanted with the signing of Buchner. Anyone that knows Pyne, however, knows he’s not going to go down without a fight. If Buchner beats him out it means Buchner is really, really good, because Pyne is a good football player.

If Notre Dame can't develop a difference maker at quarterback from this tandem then the problem isn't about recruiting or the players being brought in.

RUNNING BACK

Grade: A-
Signees (3): Chris Tyree (2020), Logan Diggs (2021), Audric Estime (2021)

Multiple years of subpar running back recruiting put Notre Dame in position where it needed to make up ground in a hurry. The 2020 and 2021 classes accomplished that, and despite a rough start to the 2021 class the Irish staff was able to provide the backfield with a huge boost in talent and numbers.

Landing Tyree in the 2020 class gave Notre Dame one of the nation's best backs, and arguably the most explosive player in the country. Tyree graded out as a Top 50 player on my board, and ESPN ranked him as the nation's No. 30 overall player. His versatility and home run skills were exactly what the backfield lacked.

Notre Dame's running back recruiting strategy early on in 2021 was less than impressive, and the Irish staff lost out on all of its top early targets. They were able to rebound and ended up finding a couple of steals in Estime and Diggs. Estime is a thumper with strong vision and impressive agility and Diggs is a dual-threat back that can lower the boom in space.

Adding two bigger backs after Tyree was important, and with Diggs being able to make plays in the pass game and on the perimeter he also complements Estime. 

I wouldn't say this trio is an A- grade on sheer talent alone, as Tyree is the only player with five-star upside. This grade gets a bump because of Tyree's ceiling, the depth the two classes brings and the manner in which they complement each other.

WIDE RECEIVER

Grade: A
Signees (6): Jordan Johnson (2020), Xavier Watts (2020), Lorenzo Styles Jr. (2021), Deion Colzie (2021), Jay Brunelle (2020), Jayden Thomas (2021)

The lack of playmakers at wide receiver comments over the last couple of seasons really don't hold water, but even if you grant that premise, there's no way that argument can continue to be made after the talent added in the 2020 and 2021 classes.

Notre Dame signed six wideouts in the last two classes, and three of them were ranked as Top 100 national recruits by at least one recruiting service (Johnson, Styles, Colzie) and another - Xavier Watts - earned a Top 100 grade on the Irish Breakdown grading scale. 

There is balance in the classes; there are big receivers, fast receivers, good vertical players, good after the catch players, good route runners. It's a deep and diverse group of pass catchers. The best players in the class can play together without having to alter how the staff likes to use its receivers. Notre Dame needs more players that can be impact pass catchers down the field and with the ball in their hands, and there is plenty of that in these two classes.

If you look at the 247Sports composite rankings, Notre Dame's three best wideouts in the last two classes ranked No. 37 overall, No. 102 and No. 115. Clemson's three best wideouts the last two years ranked No. 69, No. 85 and No. 174. There are zero excuses for Notre Dame when it comes to having the talent needed to develop a dynamic group of receivers.

TIGHT END

Grade: A
Signees (4): Michael Mayer (2020), Cane Berrong (2021), Kevin Bauman (2020), Mitchell Evans (2021)

Notre Dame continues to recruit the tight end position as well as any program in the country. Its 2020 and 2021 classes loaded the depth chart with numbers, talent and a diverse set of skills.

To have an A grade you need a game changer at the position, and Mayer was arguably the nation's best tight end. I graded him as Notre Dame's best signee in the 2020 class, and 247Sports ranked him as a five-star and the No. 23 overall player in the country. He ranked No. 32 overall on the 247Sports composite rankings.

2020 signee Kevin Bauman (No. 236) and 2021 signee Cane Berrong (No. 227) were both ranked among the Top 250 players in the country. When your third best signee at tight end is a Top 250 recruit you're loading up. Mayer ranked just 227 in the composite ranking, but ESPN ranked him as the No. 51 player in the country and SI All-American ranked him No. 61.

Mitchell Evans is a bit of a project, but he's 6-7 and 240 pounds with good foot agility. When you have guys like Mayer, Berrong and Bauman you can take a flyer on a guy like Evans.

This two-year haul is absolutely loaded. When you look at the six wideouts and the four tight ends, plus Tyree at running back, the talent is certainly there for Notre Dame to put a dynamic, explosive offense on the field.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Grade: B+
Signees (7): Blake Fisher (2021), Tosh Baker (2020), Rocco Spindler (2021), Michael Carmody (2020), Caleb Johnson (2021), Joe Alt (2021), Pat Coogan (2021)

A case could be made that this haul should be ranked a bit higher, but Notre Dame came up one player short in the 2020 class and there's a drop off from the top four players to the other three prospects in the class. Notre Dame is one more top-level recruit away from being an A- or even an A grade along the offensive line.

Another ding for me is the lack of tackle bodies. Of Notre Dame's seven signees, three are definitely interior players, and a case could be made two more might be better suited to play inside. If not for Fisher making a big jump in comfort level on the edge the grade might have been dropped a bit due to a lack of tackles.

Those are the negatives. 

The positive is the top-level talent in these two classes is outstanding. Fisher (No. 52), Spindler (No. 60) and Baker (No. 100) were all composite Top 100 recruits, and Carmody ranked No. 146. Baker is a pure five-star upside player, and Fisher ranked as a five-star recruit by Rivals. None of the other three signees ranked in the Top 300.

If that group of four turns out to be as good in college as their recruiting rankings the Irish have the makings of a very, very good offensive line. If Alt reaches his full potential he could boost this class up a grade.

Notre Dame will need a strong four-man unit (if not five) in the 2022 class to get the numbers back on track.

Related Content

2021 Class Grades: Offense
2020 Class Grades: Offense

Player Rankings: 2021 Offense
Player Rankings: 2020 Offense

Notre Dame QB Talk: Malik Zaire Breaks Down Tyler Buchner 

Tommy Rees Talks Jack Coan, Tyler Buchner And QB Recruiting 

WSBT: Talking Notre Dame Recruiting, Jack Coan, Tyler Buchner, Rebuilding vs. Reloading 

To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter