SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Welcome back to another edition of the Notre Dame Mailbag as college football enters Talking Season. The amount of commentary coming from various athletic directors, conference commissioners and coaches probably makes you long for actual games. Unfortunately, we’re still three months away from kickoff at Lambeau Field.Until then, you’ve got questions about why Notre Dame is recruiting this well on the defensive line, which position groups are better (or worse) than last season, how we should look back at the Brian Kelly era (you can squint if necessary) and why an athletic department like Notre Dame can’t fund all sports more aggressively.Let’s get started.Notre Dame recently secured a commitment from recently reclassified Jackson Vaughn, a kid who put on a show at last year’s Irish Invasion. This is on the heels of Aidan O’Neil and David Folorunsho, who follow last year’s four-man class. Can you contextualize this recent run of defensive line players? It feels markedly different than the recent past. — Eric D.Full disclosure, I’m a noted skeptic on “Is this the best since X?” recruiting questions because we tend to imagine the best case on the front end with prospects and then downgrade those lofty expectations on the back end. Once we’ve seen how a short defensive tackle didn’t turn into Howard Cross or how a rangy rush end transferred to a MAC school after two seasons, it can be awkward trying to marry past recruiting rankings with current vibes.However, a look the 247Sports Composite rankings of Notre Dame’s D-line classes dating back to the historic haul under Brian Kelly that included Stephon Tuitt and Aaron Lynch backs up your sentiment. In the 17 classes since 2011 (including 2027’s commitments), the best average ranking of Irish D-line signees belongs to last year’s group led by Rodney Dunham (average 247 Composite ranking of 173), then that 2011 haul (average ranking: 181), with third place going to the current recruiting class (average ranking: 206). And that’s with Jackson Vaughn’s current composite ranking at 244th because Rivals/On3 rates him as closer to a three-star prospect … even though he chose Notre Dame over Miami and LSU.On top of that, Notre Dame appears to be done taking fliers on true developmental linemen after years of reaching for them. Assuming this year’s player rankings hold, Notre Dame won’t sign a defensive lineman with a composite ranking above No. 400 in back-to-back cycles. In the prior 15 recruiting cycles, that only happened twice, and one of those was in 2013 when Notre Dame signed just two linemen (Isaac Rochell and Jacob Matuska).The linemen ranked outside the top 400 signed under Freeman are Joseph Reiff, Dom Hulak, Gordy Sulfsted, Davion Dixon, Cole Mullins, Sean Sevillano, Armel Mukam and Donovan Hinish. Clearly, Hinish outperformed his No. 502 overall ranking. But that’s it. It’s hard to look at that group and see the kind of talent that’s winning in the College Football Playoff.So yes, Notre Dame is recruiting defensive linemen at a higher level now than at any point in the past two decades (and longer). It’s also fair to point out that simply having Marcus Freeman as the head coach did not fix the talent acquisition issue. Defensive linemen are premium players in the NIL era, and Notre Dame is putting major money into its pass rush. Paired with Freeman, that’s a potent combo.Heading into the summer, which position groups are better and which are worse than their counterparts from this time last year? — Logan T.Here’s my short answer.Quarterback: Better