National Signing Day is finally here for Notre Dame and the class of 2019. Sure, most of the drama and fun wrapped up during the Early Signing Period on Dec. 19 when the Fighting Irish secured signatures from all 21 commits. However, there is still some good news on the way. Concord (Calif.) De La Salle four-star defensive end Isaiah Foskey will announce his commitment during a live broadcast from his high school that will be aired on ESPNU between the 3 and 4 pm ET hour. All signs point toward the Fighting Irish beating Washington, Ohio State, Michigan and Cal for his services. When that news breaks, Irish Illustrated will have complete coverage of his decision. CLICK HERE for the latest buzz on Foskey's recruitment. All that said, make sure to stay locked to this thread all day long as this will be your one stop shop for all of your recruiting needs. When we post a story, it will be linked in this thread. When Notre Dame provides some coverage, it will be provided right in this thread as well. If there are national stories that are intriguing, this will be the place to be. National Signing Day is underway and the updates will be rolling early at 247Sports and Irish Illustrated.<doc-sep>Georgia had the top class in Rivals.com’s rankings, but Alabama was No. 1 on ESPN.com and 247Sports.com to secure the top spot in 247’s composite rankings, which aggregate the three services. The almost 22-point gap between the Bulldogs and No. 3 Texas was greater than that between Texas and No. 13 Penn State.<doc-sep>Now that National Signing Day is over with, we can get to the real numbers that fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish concern themselves the most when it comes to recruiting... that class ranking. Notre Dame has been remarkably steady in this regard with an average class ranking of 13 over the last decade under Brian Kelly. While this won’t sit well with those that think the Irish should finish in the top 3 each year (lol to that) it does show the Irish still get plenty of talent to work with every year, If you’re into comparing the Irish to the Alabama Crimson Tide or Georgia Bulldogs or Ohio State Buckeyes in this regard, you’re wasting your time. It’s a different era, and although can crack the Top 5 occasionally, the days of hitting that mark year in and year out are over. If you need some cheering up after reading that, the Clemson Tigers, rarely hit that Top 5 mark either. Notre Dame’s best recruiting year in terms of class rank was in 2013 when they finished #5. It could have been even higher, but we had the Eddie Vanderdoes situation. Within the table below, I have Kelly’s 2012 class ranked #2 even though it had the lowest ranking under his reign at #17. The class only had 17 commitments, but they had an average ranking of .9121. 2012 was also the class that had Tee Shepard, Gunner Kiel, Davonte Neal, and Will Mahone. So... recruiting is just weird. The numbers never tell the real story of each class, but for right now it’s all we have to go with. Here are Brian Kelly’s recruiting classes at Notre Dame using the 247 Composite Team Rankings.<doc-sep>
Isaiah Foskey has known for months that he was signing with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The recruiting services covering the 6-foot-4, 233-pound prospects have known it for months too — arguably, since October. So why didn’t the four-star prospect end the cat-and-mouse affair and announce in December? Foskey made a commitment to his teammates at De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) to announce together, and he’s stuck to it. Person w/direct knowledge says 4-star DE Isaiah Foskey (Concord, Calif.) has "already signed" with #NotreDame, as expected. This upcoming ESPNU announcement is just for show. Washington, Ohio State, Michigan and Cal were the other finalists. — Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) February 6, 2019 It’s not the timeline Irish fans would have preferred, but the end result is the same. The drop end is the 22nd — and final — commitment in the Irish’s Class of 2019. In picking Notre Dame, Foskey spurned offers from the Alabama Crimson Tide, California Golden Bears, Clemson Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes and Washington Huskies, to name a few. Foskey is the 45th person since Jim Harbaugh was hired to hold a Michigan scholarship offer, but ultimately choose Notre Dame. He’s the 34th four-star, the 11th in the Class of 2019 and the third from the state of California during the Harbaugh era. Foskey took his official visit during the weekend of the Stanford Cardinal game. In the 247 Sports Composite, he is the 168th best player overall, the 10th weakside defensive end and 25th best prospect from California. De La Salle is the alma mater of former Irish defensive lineman Derek Landri and offensive tackle Aaron Taylor. (And Nate Montana.)