Notre Dame lands major commitment from four-star cornerback Christian Gray

Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have picked up their fifth commitment in six days, as St. Louis De Smet class of 2023 cornerback Christian Gray announced his pledge on Independence Day.

The Irish beat out LSU, Ohio State and USC for their coveted, longtime cornerback target. It’s crucial pickup for Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and Co. at premium position of need.

“A couple of the things about Notre Dame that is different from other colleges is that it has the most energy and what it can do for you after football is over,” Gray said. “The faith aspect is important to me too.”

Ranked as the nation’s No. 78 overall player and No. 7 cornerback recruit, Gray is Notre Dame’s highest ranked cornerback Columbia (S.C.) Richland Northeast’s Gary Gray (no relation), who was the No. 44 recruit and No. 5 cornerback — all per the On3 Consensus.

Gray gives the Fighting Irish 19 commitments in the 2023 class, which ranks No. 1 according to the 2023 On3 Consensus Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

Notre Dame has four defensive backs committed in the 2023 class. Gray joins Houston The Kinkaid School’s Micah Bell at cornerback, and the Irish have a pair of safeties on the safety commit list in Denton (Texas) Guyer’s Peyton Bowen and Irvington (N.J.) High’s Adon Shuler.

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Details on Gray choosing Notre Dame

Gray’s commitment to Notre Dame was a long time coming. Last summer, he first visited South Bend for the Irish Invasion camp, the day he received an offer from Notre Dame. Gray visited several weeks later for Notre Dame’s “Grill and Chill” recruiting event.

The four-star recruit made it to campus again to see Notre Dame blow out Georgia Tech last November and was back in South Bend for visit No. 4 to see the Irish’s first bowl practice under new coach Marcus Freeman.

He visited again at the end of January for a junior day. He stopped by campus in April. And he took his official visit to Notre Dame for the weekend of June 10-12.

Gray took every type of visit to Notre Dame that one can take. He built a year-long connection with the Irish staff and visited campus seven times. Notre Dame worked hard to win Gray’s recruitment and did on the 4^th of July.

“My grandfather and I always watched them, and I like the academics there,” Gray said. “I know it can help provide for me in my future.”

Gray’s recruitment was long viewed as a battle between Notre Dame and Ohio State, but LSU entered his recruitment in January and made its mark. Tigers’ head coach Brian Kelly hired Robert Steeples as his cornerbacks coach; Steeples was Gray’s high school coach from 2019-20.

His official visit to LSU the weekend of June 3 went well, but his trip to Notre Dame the next weekend was a gamechanger in his recruitment. He planned to officially visit USC and Ohio State the next two weekends, but he shut down his process after the Notre Dame official.

The Christian Gray file

Per STL Today, Gray posted 34 tackles, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions in 10 games last season. He also added a 30-yard rushing touchdown and three kickoff return scores, helping lead De Smet to an 8-3 record. Gray was a first-team 2021 All-Metro Catholic Conference performer.

When Gray joins the Notre Dame football program in 2023, he’ll be the third player from St. Louis area on the roster, joining defensive linemen Gabriel Rubio and Tyson Ford.

Gray recorded blazing 40-yard dash times of 4.40 and 4.42 at Ohio State’s football camp during June of 2021. He also ran a 4.49 40-yard dash at Notre Dame’s camp that month.

In his first ever track meet back in March of 2021, Gray ran 11.13 in the 100-meter and a 21.93 in the 200-meter races.

Along with his finalists, Gray held offers from the likes of Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Oregon.

Gray has an NIL Valuation of $114,000, which slots him at No. 156 in the high school football NIL rankings. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.