National Signing Day report card: Grading Notre Dame’s 2024 class

By Tyler Horka

Needs, needs, needs. Everyone has them. Not everyone fulfills them. Wednesday, Notre Dame did.

National Signing Day was good to the Fighting Irish. The program signed 23 high school prospects and at least one in every major offensive and defensive position group. Some of the signees were among the very best in the class of 2024.

Here is a look at how Notre Dame fared at each position, including a letter grade assigned by Blue & Gold for all of them.

Quarterback: A

Signee
•Four-star CJ Carr of Saline (Mich.) High

Notre Dame wanted Carr all along. The Fighting Irish went out and got their guy in a commitment period that spanned a year and a half. The Michigan legacy never wavered. He was even the glue guy of the class, constantly enticing other recruits to choose the Irish.

Carr is the No. 6 quarterback in the class per the On3 Industry Ranking. You can’t do much better than that. He’s the type of signal-caller signee you expect to play in your team’s uniform from the very start. Sure, Notre Dame is soon welcoming Riley Leonard of Duke to campus. But there are going to be whispers from fans calling for a rapid ascension of Carr up the depth chart. That comes with the territory of bringing in such a highly ranked recruit.

And you take the territory every single time you can.

Running back: A

Signees
•Four-star Kedren Young of Lufkin (Texas) High
•Four-star Aneyas Williams of Hannibal (Mo.) High

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman recalled specific recruitment anecdotes for both Young and Williams during his National Signing Day press conference. Freeman could recite one from all 23 signees. That’s how much he cares. But the fact that he brought to memory specific stories about Young and Williams says it all. He really likes what Notre Dame got in that duo. Irish fans should, too. They’re both multi-tool players who add versatility to an already stacked running back room.

Deland McCullough, take a bow. You did it again.

Wide Receiver: A+

Signees
•Five-star Cam Williams of Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South
•Four-star Micah Gilbert of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian
•Four-star Logan Saldate of Salinas (Calif.) Palma

Williams is the first five-star wide receiver signee for Notre Dame since Michael Floyd in 2008. So yeah, doing something that hasn’t been done in a decade and a half warrants an A+. Notre Dame has been void of elite speed at the position for a while, and Williams has it. Gilbert and Saldate aren’t quite as fast, but they’re productive players who help make up for the losses of Rico Flores Jr., Tobias Merriweather and Braylon James to the transfer portal.

This wide receiver class is mostly about bringing in someone like Williams though. Wide receivers are game-wreckers across college football. Think Marvin Harrison Jr. Malik Nabers. Xavier Worthy. Luther Burden III. Notre Dame might finally have someone like that.

Tight end: B

Signee
• Three-star Jack Larsen of Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic

This isn’t a Michael Mayer-like signing and Larsen might not ever even reach Mitchell Evans heights in his college career, but the Irish couldn’t go empty-handed at a position that’s been so good for them over the years. Larsen was a nice depth pickup, similar Cooper Flanagan last year. Flanagan looks like he could be in for a breakout sophomore season, so Larsen has footsteps to follow.

Offensive line: B+

Signees
•Four-star Guerby Lambert of West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial
•Four-star Styles Prescod of Fishers (Ind.) Hamilton Southeastern
•Four-star Anthonie Knapp of Roswell (Ga.) High
•Three-star Peter Jones of Malvern (Pa.) Prep

Lambert is a consensus top-100 talent and a consensus top-10 talent at his position. He will start at tackle for Notre Dame at some point. The question is how soon. The other offensive line signees are less surefire, so the grade comes down a bit, but Lambert in and of himself is an A+ get.

Defensive line: B+

Signees
•Four-star EDGE Bryce Young of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian
•Four-star EDGE Loghan Thomas of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward
•Three-star tackle Sean Sevillano of Clearwater (Fla.) Academy International
•Three-star EDGE Cole Mullins of Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek

This isn’t an A because Notre Dame did not do much to address the interior of the defensive line, but Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills returning in 2024 surely helps with that. You can afford to go light in a certain area in one class if you know that area is going to be stout the next year with what you already have. Young and Thomas are talented edge rushers, too, and Notre Dame could use as many of those as it can get right now. This is a solid quartet of trench warriors on defense.

Linebacker: A-

Signees
•Four-star Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco
•Three-star Bodi Kahoun of Roanoke (Va.) Patrick Henry
•Three-star Teddy Rezac of Omaha (Neb.) Westside

Viliamu-Asa is an A+++. Freeman said he’s the most college ready of any of Notre Dame’s signees. The other three might be Bs, so the grade comes down a smidge. Y’all get how this works by down. But Viliamu-Asa is to the 2024 defensive class what Williams or Lambert are to the 2024 offensive class. He’s someone who’s eventually going to start anywhere in the country. The fact that Notre Dame kept him out of Columbus, Ohio, is massive.

Defensive backs: B-

Signees
•Four-star athlete Tae Johnson of Fort Wayne (Ind.) North Side
•Three-star corner Leonard Moore of Round Rock (Texas) High
•Three-star safety Taebron Bennie-Powell of West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West
•Three-star corner Karson Hobbs of Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller
•Three-star safety Kennedy Urlacher of Chandler (Ariz.) High

Johnson is the one to watch here. He’s got the size, range and athleticism you’re always looking for in an elite safety. And if the lowest-ranked guy in the group has the last name Urlacher, that can’t be so bad, right? Not bad bringing in the son of a Hall of Famer.