I agree on avg being more important, but not sure we will end up top 10 avg this year. We're right on the bubble (10ish, 90 avg) and I only see our avg dropping. Our current avg is good enough to be 12th right now (last year's avg ratings). I think we'll likely end up 88 or 89 avg, and somewhere 14-18 in avg, and 15-20 total. I think we'll end up with 4 more commits, with 1 equal to or greater than 90. If we kill it this year, that could change. There are several schools that we recruit against with hot seat coaches that impact things as well late in the cycle. Perhaps some of our three star kids get a boost this year as well and help our ratings. Gonna be close.
4* Uncommitted Prospects
.9350 4* WR Zion Puckett
.9228 4* WR Trey Knox
.9098 4* WR Cornelius Johnson
.9567 4* OL Enokk Vimahi
.9164 4* OL Julius Buelow
.9254 4* DL Isaiah Foskey
.9232 4* DL Joshua Pakola
.9229 4* DL Ty Robinson
.9816 4* LB Henry To’oto’o
.9076 4* LB David Gbenda
.9471 4* DB Max Williams
.9252 4* DB Cam’Ron Kelly
.9251 4* DB Isaiah Rutherford
Avg. Score Rank 2019
1. Georgia 94.45
2. Alabama 93.08
3. Ohio State 92.22
4. Oklahoma 92.20
5. Texas 91.68
6. FSU 91.50
7. Auburn 91.47
8. Oregon 91.30
9. Penn State 90.96
10. Texas A&M 90.88
11. Stanford 90.85
12. Notre Dame 90.14
ND is still in it with plenty of 4* guys. I don’t think they lead for very many of them but they don’t have a ton of spots so I don’t think they’ll be filling it with .8500 3*’s unless they miss out on all their 4* prospects which is also plausible. ND isn’t looking great to finish inside the top 10 in avg score or overall rankings which is disappointing but they chose a couple of guys over higher rated guys. Chez Mellusi was a no-no along with Jirehl Brock and instead they went after Kyren Williams. They didn’t pass on 4* receivers but instead they missed on a bunch of guys and for their one spot they ended up with a .8600 3* who’s ranked 660th in the nation. QB is defined by would’ve, should’ve, could’ve in that they had Cade McNamara who was a flake, had Dylan Morris who they told no, and had a ton of interest from Graham Mertz but he didn’t make the cut back in the day and when they circled back he said thanks but no thanks so they end up with .8702 3* Brendon Clark. At LBer they missed on Brandon Smith, Cade Stover, Nick Henrich, Tristan Sinclair, and Asa Turner. They picked up Jack Kiser for that second linebacker spot who has a .8626 3* rating.
Having said all of that, ND hit on all of their numbers needs and it’s august. I haven’t even mentioned anyone committed to another school who may flip in the fall (a couple hundred prospects will de commit between now and NSD). There have been zero gameday official visits which are usually good times to visit ND. The coaches haven’t been able to go into living rooms yet (11/25-12/15). Coaches on the hot seat haven’t been fired yet (Urbie might be close). And ND hasn’t played a game yet which usually has an affect on recruits if a team has a good season (it shouldn’t but it almost always does). So there is a lot of time between now and December’s signing period to boost that recruiting rating and fill even more needs for their roster.