A Notre Dame football fan's guide to National Signing Day

Recruiting is a year-round sport. But not everyone participates until National Signing Day begins. Do you need to get caught up on Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class before prospects begin signing on Wednesday? Here is our beginner’s guide to National Signing Day, which includes the nuts and bolts you need to know beforehand.

What is National Signing Day?

National Signing Day is the first-day football recruits sign their financial aid agreement. Football recruits used to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI), a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution. However, the NCAA eliminated the National Letter of Intent, effective immediately, in October in favor of a financial aid agreement, which basically serves the same purpose.

There are two National Signing Days for FBS and FCS schools. The first one, which kicks off on Dec. 4, is the most utilized by Power Five football recruits. 

The first National Signing Day — known as the early period — begins Wednesday at 7 a.m. in the recruit’s time zone and lasts until 11:59 p.m. on Friday. The second National Signing Day — the regular period — is from Feb. 5 to April 1.

Notre Dame expects to sign all 24 verbal commitments during the early signing period. 

Who are the football recruits expected to sign with Notre Dame?

Since April 2023, the Notre Dame football program has secured verbal commitments from 24 high school prospects in the 2024 recruiting class. The 2025 class is made up of recruits who are high school seniors. 

For a complete list of the recruits signing with the Fighting Irish, you can visit Notre Dame’s 2025 class commits landing page. 

The page includes the recruit’s height and weight, hometown, high school, star rating and player ranking among other 2025 class recruits. It also features team statistics such as the number of in-state recruits committed to Notre Dame, the average distance from their hometown and blue chip ratio (the number of five- and four-star prospects in the class). 

Where does Notre Dame’s 2024 class currently rank? 

Notre Dame’s 2025 recruiting class currently ranks No. 12 in the 2024 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings. 

The Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings utilizes all four major recruiting media companies: On3, 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN.

Instead of a total points system like at Rivals, the On3 Industry Team Ranking uses a scoring average of the player rankings, which solves the problem of varying class sizes during the recruiting cycle. It compiles the highest-rated commits for each team up to a total based on a rolling average of current total commitments among Power Four schools.

The current average number of commits used in the rankings score is 18. This means that of Notre Dame’s 24 commitments, only the 18 highest-ranked players are used for the rankings score.

With this model, there are no bonus points for having more commitments than other teams, and only small deductions occur when a team has fewer commitments than the rolling average. Unlike distribution (bell) curves, this model doesn’t disproportionately weight a team’s top three or four highest-rated commits and is a more accurate representation of an entire class.

What is the difference between the On3 and On3 Industry Ranking on a recruit’s profile?

The On3 Industry Ranking is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. The On3 Industry Ranking is the industry’s most advanced, complete and unbiased rating and ranking measurement.

It weights the primary recruiting media services based on past performance data and overall scouting and recruiting coverage investment. The algorithm is weighted as follows: On3 (35%), 247Sports (35%), Rivals (20%), and ESPN (10%).

On3’s scouting department, spearheaded by director of rankings and scouting Charles Power, develops On3’s rankings. They began rating recruits during the 2021 recruiting cycle. This is the fifth class in which recruits have On3 ratings. 

As previously noted, the On3 Industry Ranking weights On3’s rankings at 35%. The recruit’s rankings from other primary recruiting media services (247Sports, Rivals and ESPN) are also visible on their profile.

Which Notre Dame football commits will enroll early?

Blue & Gold recruiting insider Mike Singer reported on this on Nov. 27. Pending their signature, Notre Dame expects the following recruits to enroll during the Spring 2025 semester:

• QB Blake Hebert (participating in bowl practices)
• RB Nolan James Jr.
• WR Jerome Bettis Jr.
• WR Elijah Burress
• WR Antavious Richardson
• OL Matty Augustine
• OL Cameron Herron
• OL Owen Strebig
• DL Davion Dixon
• CB Cree Thomas
• S JaDon Blair
• S Ethan Long

The remainder of the class will enroll in June:

• TE James Flanigan
• OT Will Black
• EDGE Christopher Burgess Jr.
• EDGE Dominik Hulak
• DL Joseph Reiff
• DL Gordy Sulfsted
• LB Ko’o Kia
• LB Anthony Sacca
• CB Dallas Golden
• CB Mark Zackery
• S Brandon Logan
• K Erik Schmidt

The University began allowing football recruits to enroll in January 2006. Last year, 15 recruits were mid-year enrollees, setting a new school record.