Notre Dame Football’s 2017 Recruiting Class Becomes No. 7 After New QB, LB

The Notre Dame football program made quite a stir in South Bend, Ind., over the weekend.

Notre Dame Football’s 2017 Recruiting Class Becomes No. 7 After New QB, LB

Notre Dame’s Junior Day event on Saturday reportedly featured up to 30 prospects from the class of 2017 from 16 different states.

Junior Day is designed to offer prospective players a closer look at the Fighting Irish’s campus and watch Saturday’s football practice as the university continues spring-ball workouts. The recruiting event appeared to reap immediate benefits, since it resulted in commitments from a pair of players rated as four stars according to 247Sports.

Avery Davis, a 5-foot-11, 192-pound quarterback from Cedar Hill, Tex., and David Adams, a 6-1, 215-pound inside linebacker from Pittsburgh Central Catholic, both announced their commitments to Notre Dame via Twitter this weekend.

Following the addition of Davis and Adams, the Irish’s 2017 six-member class has jumped to No. 7 in 247Sports’ composite team rankings with five four-stars and one three-star.

Davis, who is rated the seventh-best dual-threat QB and 213th overall prospect nationally for the class of 2017, and had 16 Division I offers in total, including Colorado, Houston, Texas Tech and Utah. He did not, however, receive any offers from his home state of Texas.

Adams had 32 Division I offers, including Baylor, Florida, LSU, and Michigan. He is rated the 105th-best overall prospect and fourth-ranked inside linebacker nationally for 2017.

The four other 2017 prospects currently committed to Notre Dame are:

• OT Dillan Gibbons (6-4, 311), three-star, Clearwater (Fla.) Central Catholic
  • TE Cole Kmet (6-5, 230), four-star, St. Viator (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
  • OT Joshua Lugg (6-6, 288), four-star, North Allegheny (Wexford, Pa.)
  • TE Brock Wright (6-4 ½, 243), four-star, Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas)

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men’s Basketball Team defeated the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 76-75 in the second-round game of the NCAA March Madness tournament in Brooklyn, New York on Sunday after a final tip-in off with 1.5 seconds left.  The Lumberjacks held a one-point lead in the final 3:30 before the Irish’s Rex Pflueger tipped in a shot with his right hand after forward Zach Auguste missed a putback after misses from Stephen F. Austin’s Thomas Walkup (who led the Lumberjacks with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists) and Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson, who led his team with 18 points.

The Fighting Irish shot 56.9 percent from the field, but attempted 13 fewer field goals than the Lumberjacks, who shot 45.3 percent. Auguste scored 18 points and added a game-high 16 rebounds for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame is now in the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. They will next face the Wisconsin Badgers.

Caption: GLENDALE, AZ – JANUARY 01: Quarterback DeShone Kizer #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish throws a pass during the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes at University of Phoenix Stadium on January 1, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. The Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish 44-28. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)