Earlier this past week, On3 released a Way-Too-Early Top 100 players in college football for the 2026-2027 list, and it caused a lot of commotion in the collegiate football community. Some players were ranked too high in relativity to others, other players were ranked too low while other impact players like Drayk Bowen, the middle linebacker from Notre Dame, were completely left off.
As controversial as this list was, On3 still named five Notre Dame players to this list, but only two standouts cracked the Top 25. The highest ranked, and it comes as no surprise, was star cornerback Leonard Moore (No. 6) who will be entering his junior season.
“Leonard Moore is a total stud. As an underclassman, he’s plausibly been college football’s best coverageman. A true definition of a lockdown corner, he’s totaled a ludicrous 21 defended passes on a miserly 4.8 yards/target over the last two years. And like you’d expect from Impact CB1, his 92.5 PFF coverage grade was tops last fall.” – Clark Brooks, On3
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The other Fighting Irish standout named in the Top 25 was left tackle Anthonie Knapp (No. 18) who will also be entering his junior season. Knapp started 15 of their 16 games as a true freshman in 2024 and started all 12 games for them in 2025.
“The former On3 outlier four-star will be a key cog along one of the nation’s most formidable fronts. Despite being thrown into the fire as an underclassman, Anthonie Knapp, has held down the blindside for the Fighting Irish. He’s just one of three returning college football players to allow fewer than 12 pressures and post a PFF run block grade of at least 72.” – Clark Brooks, On3
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The other three players named by On3 in their Top 100 rankings was defensive end Boubacar Traore who checked in at No. 66, quarterback CJ Carr who checked in at No. 86 and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa who came in at No. 89. I’m sure we can all agree that Carr, Traore and Viliamu-Asa are amongst the Top 100 players in the country this upcoming season, but there’s a couple of things I’m sure we can all disagree with.
First and foremost, you’re not going to convince me that there are 12 other quarterbacks in the country better than Carr heading into the 2026 season. The Michigan native finished the regular season ranked 6th in the country in passer rating (168.1) and tied for 3rd in the country in yards per attempt (9.4). Carr played a vital role in Notre Dame rattling off 10-straight wins to end the 2025 season and did all of that as a redshirt freshman.
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Second, how are players like Bowen, receiver Jordan Faison who led the team in receiving this past year, safeties Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson and offensive lineman Guerby Lambert absent from this Top 100 ranking? As a redshirt freshman, Lambert, in 12 starts, only allowed one sack and zero hits on the quarterback. If that doesn’t warrant a spot in the Top 100, I don’t really know what will.
Still, this list is early, and I’m will to grant all outlets a mulligan when lists like this come out a week removed from the National Championship game. Ideally, this gets re-evaluated and will be released once again post-spring and once more in the early fall. As it stands, Notre Dame had five players named in the On3 Top 100, but they have an extremely strong case to have more.
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