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National Championship: Over 100 former blue-chip recruits between Ohio State, Notre Dame

Collin-headshotby:Collin Ginnan•about 15 hours•

GinnanCollin

recruiting stars afi

On Monday night in the heart of Atlanta, Ohio State and Notre Dame will face off for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in the inaugural year of the 12-team format.

The two most efficient teams in college football over the course of the season, the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish come into the national championship having faced plenty of adversity that has molded their exceptionally talented rosters.

Despite both suffering shocking losses during the regular season, the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will compete for a national championship trophy after navigating the most difficult postseason paths to a title in the sport’s history.

How Ryan Day and Marcus Freeman reached this pinnacle of the sport started with the foundation of any elite program — recruiting.

Over 100 blue-chip recruits feature in this game

Ohio State and Notre Dame’s rosters consist of 108 former blue-chip recruits — prospects rated as four- or five-star players as high school seniors according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Ten former five-stars and 45 four-stars headline Ohio State’s roster, in addition to 14 former three-star recruits.

The Irish do not have any former On3 Industry five-star recruits, but four players ranked as five-star prospects in the On300 Ranking. Fifty-three Industry four-stars and 29 three-stars make up the entirety of Notre Dame’s semifinal-winning roster.

The former On3 Industry 5-stars will wear Scarlet and Gray

Each former On3 Industry five-star recruit playing in Monday night’s game will have Buckeye leaves on his helmet:

A native of Pickerington, Ohio — a Columbus suburb — Jack Sawyer was the hero of the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Texas. Sawyer sacked former Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth-and-goal and returned the loose football 83 yards for a Buckeyes touchdown, sealing the 28-14 win.

Flashing back to 2019, Sawyer was the very first recruit to commit to Ohio State in the Ryan Day era — committing two years before he stepped foot on campus officially a Buckeye.

“Ohio State was just the best place for me,” Sawyer told Lettermen Row. “Coach Johnson and Coach Day make it feel like home for me. There’s no need to wait. I’m ready to get rolling. I’m just so excited to be a Buckeye.”

Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and TreVeyon Henderson have been obvious offensive threats for the Buckeyes, while Donovan Jackson has stepped up to lead the offensive line at left tackle in the absence of an injured Josh Simmons.

Smith was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 recruiting class and broke Cris Carter’s record for receiving touchdowns by an Ohio State fresman. In the Rose Bowl against Oregon, Smith broke another Carter record — receiving yards in a game by a freshman — with 187 yards and two scores.

On the defensive side of the ball, Caleb Downs — a transfer from Alabama — may just be the best safety in the country. Though, Notre Dame may have something to say about that. Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau have been creating havoc for offensive lines throughout the playoffs, and Sonny Styles is an athletic hard-hitter at linebacker.

And that’s just the five-stars. Several former four-star recruits have been just as impactful to the Buckeyes’ run to the national championship.

Tyleik Williams has been seriously disruptive on the interior of the defensive line. Cody Simon captains the defense at linebacker; and Davison Igbinosun, Denzel Burke, Lathan Ransom and Jordan Hancock have helped Downs mold this into one of the best pass defenses in America.

After losing Josh Simmons and Rimington Trophy winner Seth McLaughlin, four-star offensive linemen Luke Montgomery and Carson Hinzman have stepped up down the stretch and revitalized the patchwork interior that struggled mightily against Michigan.

Former three-star prospects are not to be forgotten, either. Quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins and right tackle Josh Fryar were each On3 Industry three-stars coming out of high school. Fryar was recruited by the Buckeyes. Howard came to Columbus by way of Kansas State, while Judkins transferred in from Ole Miss. Howard is No. 5 nationally in yards per attempt and earned Cotton Bowl offensive MVP honors. Judkins scored two of Ohio State’s three offensive touchdowns against Texas.

While Ohio State holds arguably the most talented roster in college football this year — the Buckeyes are heading to Atlanta to face the best Notre Dame team of the last 20 years.

Notre Dame’s deepest, most talented roster of the playoff era

Built on 53 former On3 Industry four-star prospects — including four former On300 five-stars — this version of Notre Dame football is the most talented and most productive it has been in the last decade.

Arguably no team in the sport has successfully overcome worse injury luck this season than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Seemingly each time a starter has gone down this season, a highly-touted prospect or game-ready freshman has popped up to keep everything rolling smoothly for the Irish.

Along the offensive line, Notre Dame has lost starting center Ashton Craig, starting left tackle Charles Jagusah and season-long left tackle Anthonie Knapp.

Knapp — who was a blue-chip outlier for On3 in the 2024 recruiting class — played his way into On3 True Freshman All-American honors after replacing Jagusah. Unfortunately, Knapp went down with a high-ankle sprain in the Orange Bowl semifinal against Penn State. Tosh Baker, a fifth-year player who stuck with the Irish despite not winning a starting job, stepped up in relief of Knapp against Penn State. Baker was yet another former top-100 recruit.

On the defensive side of the ball, starting ‘vyper’ Jordan Botelho, sophomore defensive lineman Boubacar Traore, sack-leader Rylie Mills and junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison have each suffered season-ending injuries.

Splitting time at the hybrid LB-DL ‘vyper’ position have been Joshua Burnham and Junior Tuihalamaka, who have combined for 11 tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries. Burnham and Tuihalamaka are, you guessed it, two more former blue-chips. Both ranked in the top 200 in the 2022 class.

Also part of the 2022 class was On300 five-star Jaylen Sneed, who is third on the team in TFLs. That 6th-ranked 2022 recruiting class was Freeman’s first cycle in South Bend as defensive coordinator, and it served as his launching point as head coach.

As mentioned previously, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs may be the nation’s best safety. Also as mentioned previously, Notre Dame may have something to say about that. Senior safety and former four-star Xavier Watts won the Bronko Nagurski trophy in 2023 as the country’s best defender. This season, he has led the team with six interceptions — No. 2 in America.

Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love was a top-100 recruit in the 2023 cycle and has been one of the best young tailbacks in the sport. Despite battling injury, Love ranks in the top 10 in yards per attempt and No. 12 in touchdowns scored.

Top receivers Jaden Greathouse and Beaux Collins were also four-star recruits in their respective classes, as was starting tight end Mitchell Evans.

As for the youth — Knapp was already mentioned as a standout true freshman in South Bend, but he’s not the only one. Leonard Moore replaced the injured Benjamin Morrison this season; while linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and EDGE Bryce Young have both been significant contributors on the defense.

In addition to all of this talent across Notre Dame’s two-deep, the Irish are in a remarkably similar situation at quarterback as the Buckeyes. Former three-star recruit Riley Leonard transferred in from Duke and has led the Irish the distance, accouting for 35 touchdowns through the air and on the ground.

More on the matchup

The national championship will kick off Monday night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It will be televised on ESPN. Ohio State is currently an 8-point favorite.

Notre Dame (14-1) is coming off a College Football Playoff semifinal win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State (13-2) beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl semifinal game.

The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish have played eight times in history, and this will be the third consecutive season the two teams have met. Ohio State won both regular-season games against Notre Dame in 2022 and 2023.

Ohio State and Notre Dame have played in the postseason twice previously — both occurrences in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes won both the 2006 and 2016 editions of the bowl game.