SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame on Thursday landed a commitment from four-star defensive tackle Brayden Parks, a 6-foot-1, 310-pound standout at Brother Rice High School on Chicago’s South Side. Parks is Notre Dame’s 23rd verbal commitment in its 2027 recruiting class and third top-10 player from the state of Illinois, following defensive lineman David Folurunsho and linebacker Roman Igwebuike. His commitment puts Notre Dame’s class at No. 2 according to both 247Sports and Rivals, one year after the program signed its highest-rated recruiting class in nearly three decades.Notre Dame beat Oregon head-to-head for Parks, who is the godson of former Irish defensive tackle Chris Zorich and the cousin of former Irish running back Tony Jones Jr. Parks took official visits to South Bend (June 12) and Eugene (June 19) last month before wrestling with a final decision.While Parks had ample family pressure to play closer to home, the Oregon recruiting pitch of trying something new and perhaps getting on the field sooner was hard to ignore. Ultimately, familiarity won out, as did Notre Dame’s recent reputation for pulling in top defensive line talent under head coach Marcus Freeman.
A decade ago, Parks would have been seen as a potential game changer. Now he’s just part of a trend.Parks joins a recruiting class that already included five-star Folorunsho and four-star Segun Alexander on the interior, with commitments on board from five-star end Abraham Sesay and four-star ends Aidan O’Neil and Jackson Vaughn. All six players are ranked among the cycle’s top 300 prospects per the 247Sports Composite, with all but Alexander ranked inside the top 200. Notre Dame signed three defensive lineman ranked inside the top 200 last cycle: five-star Rodney Dunham, four-star Ebenezer Ewetade and four-star Elijah Golden.Eight commitments from defensive linemen ranked in the top 200 during these two cycles would match Notre Dame’s total from the previous six classes. The Irish landed Gabe Rubio, Josh Burnham, Aidan Gobaira, Tyson Ford, Bryce Young and Chris Burgess during that span (2020-25); that list is also a reminder that high school recruiting rankings don’t guarantee college production.Still, Freeman is putting the program in better position to land that higher-rated talent, via recruiting, name, image and likness money and the exposure of playing in the CFP. Whether the stars matter or not in the end, Notre Dame plans to add as many as possible, building on its run to the title game two years ago.“Did playing in a national championship game help get more eyes on us? Yeah, I believe that,” Freeman said this week. “I hear that from recruits that their parents know about Notre Dame, but the national championship made us maybe a little cool?“Then the following year, we had a good year. I know it didn’t finish the way we wanted, but now it’s like, ‘OK, I want to go check out Notre Dame.’”
