Notre Dame football: Signing day superlatives

The early signing period for the 2022 class is pretty much over, with a few commitments trickling in today. For the Irish, they signed twenty-one players, making it a consensus Top-10 effort. There were obvious ups and downs, with the Irish seeing two receivers de-commit in the days leading up to the early period. That didn’t mean the Irish didn’t sign a great class and here are some early signing superlatives for Marcus Freeman’s “first” recruiting class.

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Notre Dame football signee tracker: Who has officially joined the 2022 class

Future defensive star

This one is fairly easy for me, linebacker Jaylen Sneed has all the intangibles to be an absolute star of the Irish. As we have seen the past few years, the defense revolves around impact LB’s and that’s what Sneed is. At six-feet-two-inches and 210-pounds, he’ll need to again some weight to live up to his massive potential but when it’s all said and done, Sneed should be the best of the bunch of the defensive recruits.

Future offensive star

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is not afraid to use a stable of running backs, that’s why Texas’ Jadarain Price has the potential to be a big time game changer for the Irish. He’s got great balance, very good burst and is a bit different from the other backs on the roster. Price has the makings of a future lead back for the Irish.

Future captain

The capability to bounce back and bring your team to the brink of a state title shows you the leadership in a football player. That’s exactly what Bergen Catholic quarterback Steven Angeli did. His shortened COVID-19 season was not impressive, but he came back and dominated his final high school season. That’s a sign of a leader and you can most likely expect Angeli to have a “C” on his shoulder at some point during his Irish career.

Under-rated defender

When you undergo a senior season position change there will be some bumps in the road. Well, that wasn’t exactly the case for Michigan linebacker Nolan Ziegler. Bulking up and moving off the back end into the middle seven, Ziegler showed he has the ability to make an impact at linebacker. He’s a bit raw due to his inexperience but once he’s able to add on weight and more reps, watch out.

Under-rated offensive player

The lowest offensive player in the class was instate offensive tackle Ashton Craig, from Lawrenceburg High School. The impressive lineman does not have social media, didn’t post much of his highlight tape online and is relatively unknown around recruiting circles. That doesn’t mean Craig can’t play and if there is one unit across the country that you don’t doubt assessments, it along the Notre Dame offensive line. I believe they got a under-rated gem in Craig.

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