Notre Dame gained another 5-star recruit on Tuesday without adding new commitments to their class of 2020. They did so because Rivals released their newest version of their Rivals100 and moved wide receiver Jordan Johnson up to 5-star status. He wasn’t the only mover and shaker in the top 100 for the Irish though.
Jordan Johnson: Notre Dame’s 1st 5-star WR Since Michael Floyd
Notre Dame has not signed a 5-star wide receiver since Michael Floyd signed in the class of 2008 following that disastrous 2007 campaign. As of Tuesday, the Notre Dame officially has a 5-star wide receiver in the form of Jordan Johnson. Now they just need to sign him and hope that he remains a 5-star in subsequent rankings.
Rivals jumped Johnson from 59 all the way up to #19 overall in the country making him the 4th highest rated receiver in the country.
(note: Rivals’s player embed feature still shows Johnson as the 13th ranked receiver here, but he moved up to 4th)
If Johnson maintains this ranking through the end of the season, he will be the highest rated receiver ever to sign with Notre Dame since the inception of the Rivals rankings (2002).
Jordan is currently the only wide receiver in Notre Dame’s class, but the Irish are hot on the trail of a few other top 100 receivers. AJ Henning is visiting Notre Dame this week and checks in at #84 overall while other top targets like Jordan McMillan (#63 overall) and Michael Redding (#37) are firmly in the top 100 as well. If Notre Dame were to pair even one of them with Johnson and someone like Xavier Watts, they’d have perhaps their best wide receiver class in 30 years.
Michael Mayer Moves Into Top 100
Another big riser in the new Rivals100 for Notre Dame is tight end commitment Michael Mayer. Mayer previously was outside of the top 100, but he jumped up 55 spots to #71 overall. He is now the #3 rated tight end in the country and would be the highest rated tight end to sign with Notre Dame since Brock Wright according to Rivals rankings.
Mayer is one of two tight ends in the class of 2020 currently along with Kevin Bauman. Bauman is also a 4-star recruit from Rivals who was just outside the Top100 in the previous rankings at #111 overall. He clearly didn’t move into the new top 100 so it will be interesting to see if he moves up at all when the new Top 250 is released today.
Three Others in Top 100
Notre Dame has three other players in the new top 100 as well though all three either remained steady or dropped off a bit. Tosh Baker remained ranked #51 overall in the rankings as Notre Dame’s highest (and only) offensive lineman currently in the class.
Chris Tyree, Notre Dame’s highest rated running back since Greg Bryant, fell four spots to #64 overall though he remained the top ranked all-purpose running back in the Rivals rankings. Tyree’s fall momentarily drops him to 4-star status in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, but there’s a good chance he earns that 5th star back.
Quarterback commit Drew Pyne remains in the Rivals 100 though he too fell off a bit. Pyne is now #82 overall after dropping 10 spots in the rankings. He is the 6th highest rated quarterback in the latest round of Rivals rankings.
With five commitments currently in the top 100, Notre Dame has the third most Rivals100 commits behind only Clemson and LSU.
Time to Get Defensive
All five of Notre Dame’s current Rivals 100 commits are on the offensive side of the ball. The Irish will be more represented on the defensive side of the ball on Wednesday with Jordan Botelho and Rylie Mills likely in the Top 250, but it would still behove Notre Dame to start adding on defense like they are on offense.
The two most likely possibilities at this point from the new Rivals100 are safety Lanthan Ransom (#70) and cornerback Clark Phillips (#59) though the Irish currently have a lot of work to do on both fronts. In fact, it appears as though Notre Dame is currently trailing for both and have an uphill climb on their hands for either.
Should Notre Dame miss on both, the heat will be on Todd Lyght and Terry Joseph to fill out this year’s secondary class without having to make any late reaches to hit numbers. There is still plenty of time, but for all the good on the offensive side of the ball in this year’s class so far, there is reason to be concerned on defense right now – specifically in the secondary.
Gotta love Jordan’s wingspan
The main thing is Notredame needs a Heisman trophy level quarterback.Isnt interesting that over the last decade Clemsons average recruiting classes were rated 9.6.Notredames classes 10.2. That’s pretty close. What is the difference their Quarterbacks Tosh Boyd Deshawn Watson Trevor Lawrence.Notredames Kizer Golson Book. Enough said.Also I give a big edge to Dabo and his coaching staf f. vs Kelly and his staff.Hopefully these things change this year. One can always hope.