Notre Dame landed a pledge from Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka on Saturday, and with his pledge, the Irish made a big move in the 2022 Rivals team rankings.
After Pittsburgh Central Catholic defensive tackle Donovan Hinish’s commitment to the Irish on June 4, Notre Dame had the No. 4 recruiting class in the country. The combination of Tuihalamaka’s pledge to Notre Dame and both LSU and Georgia, who had the No. 2 and 3 classes respectively, having multiple decommitments catapulted the Irish to the No. 2 class in the country.
Tuihalamaka’s pledge gave Notre Dame 144 points to its class total of 1,650. LSU trails the Irish by just 57 points at No. 3. Ohio State has 13 commitments in its 2022 class – two less than Notre Dame — and has 449 more total points than the Irish.
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Ohio State has four five-star prospects committed, which holds a great deal of weight, while the Irish do not have a five-star commit.
Fifteen verbal commitments for Notre Dame is the most in the country among Power Five programs. It will be difficult to Notre Dame to remain in the top five, as a school like Alabama only has seven commitments at this point in the cycle but is expected to finish in the top five, as it typically does. Other top programs will continue to add more commitments, which will improve their ranking as well. Only time will tell if the Irish will be able to reach a top-five class.
Notre Dame’s average star ranking of 3.73 is strong, but it will continue to need to hit on top, highly ranked targets to stay in the top five.
For more details on the Rivals rankings formula, click here.
Rivals ranks Tuihalamaka as a four-star talent, the No. 10 prospect in California, and the No. 5 inside linebacker and No. 144 overall player in the country.
Stats are not available for his shortened spring season in 2021, but Tuihalamaka posted 65 tackles, seven tackles for loss and eight quarterback hurries as a sophomore in 2019.
He is Notre Dame’s third linebacker pledge of the cycle, joining Michigan recruits Joshua Burnham and Nolan Ziegler.
All three are listed as four-star recruits by Rivals. Notre Dame has 15 commitments in the 2022 class.
Casey Clausen — the older brother of former Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen — is the head coach Bishop Alemany, Tuihalamaka’s high school.
2022 Rivals Top 10 Team Rankings (as of Feb. 22, 2021)
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