Notre Dame is assembling a historic 2027 recruiting class, widely considered a consensus top-3 class nationally in both the ESPN and Rivals Industry rankings. This level of success would have led HC Freeman to look beyond and check if he could lock down his quarterback of the future.

But Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame’s search for a quarterback in its 2028 recruiting class has suddenly fallen apart. Just last month, Bergen Catholic High School quarterback Trey Tagliaferri had committed to the Fighting Irish. That commitment, however, lasted less than a week.

Per Hayes Fawcett of Rivals, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound signal-caller has decommitted from Notre Dame just six days after giving his public commitment, marking one of the shortest commitments in recent Notre Dame history.

Described as an impressive pocket passer, Tagliaferri ranked as the No. 11 quarterback in the 2028 recruiting class, per Rivals, and the No. 19 prospect in the cycle, per 247Sports.

It’s the script the school has seen before. Notre Dame is looking to get an early quarterback commitment but has failed repeatedly lately. As Ryan Roberts of A to Z Sports reported, before Tagliaferri, the school wanted quarterback Kingston Preyear in its 2028 recruiting class. And to his credit, the signal-caller quietly committed to Notre Dame.

At the same time, however, Preyear’s camp, especially his father, urged him to reconsider his options. Had he stayed at Notre Dame, the school would have addressed its quarterback recruiting needs very early. However, as Preyear’s commitment slowed down, the coaches changed their strategy.

Instead of playing a waiting game, Freeman’s staff created a short list of quarterbacks to recruit after being hurt by uncertainty in previous recruitments, especially with Deuce Knight. Tagliaferri, meanwhile, became one of the leading players. But that’s no longer the case.

Meanwhile, Neimann Lawrence was another option, but he has already committed to the Texas Longhorns. The only quarterback who still holds a Notre Dame scholarship offer and hasn’t committed anywhere is Lukas Prock. However, he currently holds 39 offers, and his recruitment is going to be a long race.

The decommitment leaves the Irish with just two players in their 2028 class: three-star safety Andre Jones and kicker Owen Davies. The only relief is that the Irish still have the commitment of QB Champ Monds in the 2027 cycle.

2028 is still two years away and we have seen a fair share of commits flipping to other programs after their initial commitment. So this decommitment is not an urgent problem for South Bend. Their success in the Class of 2027 more than makes up for misses like this. After all, HC Freeman has shown to the college football world that he doesn’t even need a conference to attract the best of talent.

Following a massive wave of commitments through June, the Fighting Irish have built a highly complete, dominant recruiting haul that positions them as possibly program’s best class in over 30 years. Out of 21 total verbal commitments, 17 are rated as 4-star or 5-star prospects.

A major factor fueling this class is Notre Dame’s complete embrace of the modern financial landscape. College football general managers cite Notre Dame as one of the sport’s top spenders in high school recruiting.

Albert Simien, the 5-star interior offensive lineman represents the crown jewel of the class. The Louisiana native is a top-15 national recruit who chose the Irish over home-state LSU and Texas A&M. He represents the highest-ranked offensive lineman of the Freeman era. Alongside such a heavy hitter upfront, the Irish landed elite skill players like 5-star wide receiver Julius Jones Jr. out of Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas.

With the bulk of the class locked in, Freeman is putting the finishing touches on the cycle. The coaching staff is focusing on just a few remaining high-profile targets, including Chicago linebacker Roman Igwebuike and defensive tackle Brayden Parks, to cement this group’s legendary status.

As for Tagliaferri, he is now being linked to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Trey Tagliaferri could commit to the Sooners

One of the major reasons Trey Tagliaferri has decommitted from Notre Dame has been his reported interest in the Sooners. Per reports, the signal-caller had liked Oklahoma from the beginning. However, considering the Sooners weren’t aggressively recruiting him, he committed to Notre Dame.

But once Tagliaferri committed to Notre Dame, however, Oklahoma became much more interested. The school pushed for Tagliaferri even after his early commitment to the Fighting Irish. For now, it’s still unclear whether Tagliaferri will eventually announce his public interest in the Sooners.

But Rivals vice president of recruiting and transfer portal Steve Wiltfong and Notre Dame recruiting insider Mike Singer are both convinced that the Sooners could be Tagliaferri’s next destination in its 2028 recruiting class. Rivals give the Sooners a 93.3% chance of landing the QB. And the fact that Oklahoma hosted Tagliaferri on campus and the quarterback managed to impress them only reinforces that belief.