Mike Singer: Notre Dame’s 10 biggest recruiting wins during my four years on the beat

May 1, 2019 was my first day working for Blue & Gold as a recruiting insider, and it’s been an incredible journey. The coaching staff had an upheaval. We’ve had more quarterback transfers in and out than I can count. Lots of bigs wins and losses on the field and in recruiting.

I thought it would be fun to recall Notre Dame’s 10 biggest recruiting wins during this period. No Manti Te’o listed here. Why? Because that recruitment was a decade before I started working for Blue & Gold. Heck, even players such as Michael Mayer and Tyler Buchner committed to the Irish before May 1, 2019. So, again, we’re only looking at recruiting wins for the Irish after that date.

Lists inherently are subjective and are cause for disagreements, but this is my list based on my own parameters. This doesn’t look at how good the players are/were at Notre Dame but simply how impressive the recruiting win was for the Fighting Irish at the time. You all know how much I love Joe Alt, but beating out Iowa and Minnesota wasn’t that impressive, for example.

Let’s get into it.

(The players are listed in alphabetical order…High school recruits only.)

Quarterback CJ Carr

The Saline (Mich.) High passer is the lone class of 2024 prospect on this list. The grandson of Lloyd Carr didn’t end up at Michigan? Both of Carr’s parents attended Michigan; his father was a quarterback there. His maternal grandfather was an All-American safety as well. I get that sometimes kids want to branch out and get other experiences, but this kid is Michigan royalty, and he picked the Irish.

Defensive lineman Tyson Ford

If my memory serves me correctly, Ford had a commitment date locked in and had informed the Oklahoma staff that he would be picking them. But I was told that then-defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman made a huge impact on Ford and got the big-time talent to switch his allegiances to the Irish. The most impressive part about it? Freeman had only been on the job for a week or two, which also means that there was no prior relationship between the two parties. Credit goes to former defensive line coach Mike Elston as well, but Freeman was the factor that turned the tide in favor of the Irish.

Running back Jeremiyah Love

I still maintain that Notre Dame shouldn’t have won this recruitment. He’s an SEC-type running back who had offers from all the big boys, and the likes of Texas A&M, Georgia and Michigan didn’t let up even after he committed to the Irish two months before signing day. There were big NIL pitches thrown at him, but he focused on the future that Notre Dame could help give him. The Irish lost running back commitments from Dylan Edwards and Jayden Limar in the 2023 cycle, but Notre Dame got the best of the bunch with Love.

Offensive lineman Billy Schrauth

An easy choice for this list. It had been 20 years since Notre Dame last signed a player from Wisconsin, and the Irish didn’t beat out Wisconsin for some scrub. On3 ranked Schrauth as the No. 88 overall player and No. 5 interior offensive lineman in the 2022 cycle. And if you recall, Schrauth was considered a strong Notre Dame lean very early in the process, but it swung back and forth between the Irish and Badgers for about 18 months before ex-offensive coordinator Tommy Rees helped swing things back into ND’s favor just before signing day. Again, it’s rare for Notre Dame to go into Wisconsin’s backyard to land a recruit, and the Irish got a darn good one in Schrauth.

Linebacker Jaylen Sneed

If Notre Dame doesn’t have Freeman on its staff, then the Irish don’t have a chance to land the On3 five-star prospect out of South Carolina. He had offers from just about everyone (excluding Clemson for whatever reason) and took an official visit to Oregon just before heading out to South Bend. He’s a Notre Dame-type kid, but I still doubt the Irish ever offer him if it weren’t for Freeman having a longstanding relationship with Sneed’s high school head coach, BJ Payne. While that aspect made this recruiting win easier, it was still a grind for the Irish staff to go into the South and land this elite of a player.

Wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr.

The Irish went into Ohio State’s backyard and landed the son of former Ohio State linebacker Lorenzo Styles Sr.? Now granted, Styles did end up back at Ohio State, but we’re just looking at the high school recruitment of these players. The Irish didn’t have any business landing Styles. Former offensive coordinator Chip Long may not have been the most lovable guy, but he was a war daddy on the trail and was key in landing Styles, who was a highly coveted prospect.

Offensive lineman Rocco Spindler

What a battle this recruitment was. His father played collegiately at Pittsburgh and starred in Detroit for the Lions in the 90s. As a Detroit kid, many thought Spindler would play for Michigan, but he left the Wolverines at the altar. Drama-filled recruitments are often more for skill players, but Spindler’s definitely had its twists and turns. I liked Notre Dame for him early, but Ohio State, Michigan and the Irish all were confident that they’d land him at various points of the recruitment. He left folks on pins and needs leading up to his decision.

Running back Chris Tyree

Although Tyree hasn’t quite hit the mark of what people expected out of his Notre Dame career to this point, this was may be the most hyped-up recruiting win for the Irish over the past four years. He nearly picked Oklahoma, but Long and ex-running backs coach Lance Taylor swung things back in Notre Dame’s favor with some aggressive recruiting tactics. Tyree’s commitment ended a spell of landing lower-ranked running back recruits, although the three-star the Irish landed in 2019 was Kyren Williams, who ended up a star for Notre Dame.

Offensive lineman Aamil Wagner

To this day, I’m still not sure how Notre Dame pulled off this recruiting win. His brother was on staff at Kentucky, and he’s a kid from the Buckeye State who was being pursued by Ohio State. Into the wee hours of the night before his commitment date, he was still mulling over his decisions, and he decided that Notre Dame was the best fit for him on and off the field. Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Mike Mickens being alums of his high school (Wayne High in Huber Heights, Ohio) played a big part here as well, and they did an excellent job in the recruitment along with former O-line coach Jeff Quinn.

Defensive lineman Brenan Vernon

Everyone — I mean everyone — outside of Notre Dame circles thought that the Mentor (Ohio) High star would head to Ohio State. But someone forgot to tell Vernon that, because he was enamored with Notre Dame from the start. It fit him as a person more; he liked the smaller campus compared to Ohio State’s. Vernon was drawing comparisons to the Bosa brothers as a freshman but didn’t care about that. It was an impressive recruiting effort for the Irish to pull off the upset.

Honorable mentions

LB Jaiden Ausberry: Like with others on this list, you have a legacy player who grew up in the backyard of that school but still picked the Irish. Ausberry’s father played at and works for LSU, but Ausberry always looked likely to want to leave home.

WR Deion Colzie: Florida, Georgia and Tennessee all wanted him at various points of his recruitment, but he left Athens for South Bend.

WR Tobias Merriweather: Notre Dame doesn’t go into the Pacific Northwest too often, and the Irish beat out Oregon, Washington, USC and others for Merriweather.

WR Cam Williams: He’s an elite talent from Chicago who grew up a Michigan. This recruiting win was sweet.

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