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Notre Dame EDGE commit ranked as a five-star recruit during On3’s Monday rankings update

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•04/21/25•

MikeTSinger

Rodney Dunham 3 copy 1.jpg
Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park 2026 EDGE Rodney Dunham (Chad Simmons/On3)

When Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park EDGE Rodney Dunham committed to Notre Dame April 10, you most likely saw headlines or social media posts that mentioned him as a five-star prospect. He had that accolade from the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

However, those four media companies — On3, 247 Sports, ESPN and Rivals — all ranked Dunham as a four-star player in their own rankings. But the industry ranking listed Dunham as the nation’s No. 19 overall player, and the top 20 prospects in American earned five-star status at the time.

The industry ranking uses the national ranking to determine five-star status, while On3 has a specific rating attached to each recruit. (I hope this is making sense so far. Hang with me.)

Dunham ranked as the No. 7 overall player and No. 3 EDGE according to On3’s rankings, which surely sounds like a five-star ranking. However, he had a recruiting “rating” of 97.

The rating scale is as follows: Five-star prospects have grades 98-100, four-star recruits have grades 90-97, while 80-89 grades are for three-stars.

This is a long way to give the following update: Dunham stayed as the No. 7 overall prospect and No. 3 EDGE in Monday’s On3 rankings update, but his “rating” changed from 97 to 98. In other words, Dunham is now an On3 five-star prospect as well as an On3 Industry Ranking five-star recruit.

“This is a huge pickup for Notre Dame,” On3 director of scouting and rankings Charles Power previously told Blue & Gold about Dunham’s commitment. “There’s so much to like about Dunham as an EDGE prospect. On the surface level, it’s a big commitment at a premium position for Notre Dame. And when you look at him as a player, he oozes upside. He’s 6-4, 225 pounds and has a developmental frame. His best football is well ahead of him.

“Dunham is a loose, fluid athlete; he’s a fantastic athlete. What really stands out is the first-step quickness and flexibility. He has the movement skills you like to see at the position in addition to his size. He makes really impressive individual plays, and he’s scratching the surface as to how good he can be.”

Where Notre Dame’s other commits land in latest update

Garner (N.C.) South Garner EDGE Ebenezer Ewetade, who committed to the Irish a few days before Dunham did, moved up a few national spots, going from No. 36 to No. 29. His recruit rating improved from 93 to 94 as well; he’s the No. 6 EDGE in America.

Rankings for Notre Dame offensive line class in the On300 (the top national rankings for the top 300 players in the country) were status quo. Portage (Mich.) Northern’s Gregory Patrick moved up two national spots to No. 93 overall, Mechanicsburg (Pa.) Cumberland Valley’s Tyler Merrill slid down two spots to No. 119 and Davison (Mich.) High’s Ben Nichols is up a spot to No. 234 nationally.

Chattanooga (Tenn.) McCallie School cornerback and Irish pledge Chaston Smith got a bump up from outside the On300 national rankings to No. 296 overall.

The rest of the Fighting Irish 2026 class is not included in the On300.

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