Ryan Roberts and Joe Deleone break down 2026 Five-Star Pass Rusher Rodney Dunham and what he will bring to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
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00:00Notre Dame just landed a massive 2026 commitment in five-star defensive end, Ronnie Dunham.
00:06Folks, forget the recruiting rankings, forget the stats.
00:09Let's talk about what makes Dunham so special next.
00:15Ryan Roberts from A to Z Sports, breaking down everything Notre Dame football.
00:18Folks, Notre Dame just landed a huge commitment in the 2026 class,
00:22a five-star defensive end, Ronnie Dunham,
00:24ranked as number 19 overall player on the on-three industry ranking,
00:27ranked as number 14 overall player nationally on 247 Sports.
00:31I didn't want to break this one down myself.
00:34I have my co-host from the A to Z Sports film room, Joe DeLeon,
00:37here to break down why this is so important.
00:40Joe, five-star defensive end out of the state of North Carolina.
00:43How excited are you about the Ronnie Dunham pickup for Notre Dame?
00:47Well, incredibly, and I think that this is now pushing Notre Dame
00:51into a completely different category,
00:52that they're able to attract five-star pass rushers.
00:56That is what separates the premier teams in college football
00:59from just the simple great ones that are at the conversation of the top 10.
01:03It's how you enter that upper echelon.
01:05And it has been a criticism of Notre Dame under the Brian Kelly era early on
01:09under Marcus Freeman that they were getting attractive players at various positions.
01:13We're used to seeing good offensive linemen.
01:15We're used to seeing good running backs.
01:17But those future first-round pass rushers have always been missed by Notre Dame.
01:22Now they've got a guy like Dunham who has the tools and the traits
01:26to go on to be not only very productive in college,
01:28and if he develops, could be a future first-rounder.
01:31This is what helps Notre Dame go from becoming a national championship conversation team
01:36to an actual national championship winning one.
01:39So we're going to watch some film here in a second, folks.
01:42A little bit of the background.
01:43Like I said, five-star defensive end, 6'4", 227 pounds,
01:47listed between 227 and 230, depending on what recruiting platform you look at.
01:51But, Joe, this is also a pretty cool one.
01:54He's also a dynamic baseball player from Myers Park.
01:57I'm interested to see if he explores playing baseball on the college level
02:01because he throws over 90 miles per hour on the mound.
02:03So he's a pretty dang good pitcher, just a good baseball player overall.
02:06But, Joe, I did some background research.
02:09We know how big Keon Keely was as far as an overall commitment to Notre Dame
02:13before he ended up flipping to Alabama.
02:16But this would be, if Rodney Dunham's ranking stays the same
02:19and he signs with Notre Dame, this would be the highest-ranked defensive lineman
02:23to sign with Notre Dame since Aaron Lynch in the 2011 recruiting class.
02:29I know some of you are saying, what about Bryce Young?
02:32Just a couple years ago, Bryce Young was ranked in the 20s.
02:35He was ranked as a five-star by at least one platform.
02:38But let's be honest, getting Bryant's young son to come play football at Notre Dame
02:42was not this just incredibly huge moment as far as making a statement nationally.
02:50You just took, and Ronnie Dunham, and again, we're going to consider
02:54that he was going to sign with Notre Dame because anything could happen.
02:57But if he does, you just stole one of the premier pass rushers
03:01in all of high school recruiting out of the state of North Carolina.
03:05By the way, among his finalists, Georgia, Tennessee,
03:09a lot of SEC schools were hot on the trail.
03:11But Joseph, the highest-ranked recruit Notre Dame has had on the defensive line
03:16in the last 15 years.
03:21Yeah, you just mentioned there that getting Bryant Young's son, Bryce Young,
03:24was huge because he ended up finishing as a five-star on some platforms.
03:28But I would have been stunned if Bryce Young didn't pick Notre Dame
03:32because of that family connection.
03:33We know that Notre Dame has not only done a good job
03:35of recruiting former Notre Dame players' sons,
03:37but just NFL players in general.
03:39They trust Marcus Freeman.
03:42I think overall what makes this just so massive
03:45that you're going and getting a player like Dunham,
03:47and if you're able to keep him and his final commitment,
03:50is that you're able to then prove to the rest of the recruiting community
03:54that, hey, this is a destination to get developed,
03:57get on the field early, get playing time,
03:59and go on to become one of the better players in college football.
04:02That was a big talking point for me during the national championship run
04:06is that this did so much for marketing for Marcus Freeman and for Notre Dame.
04:11A lot of people were saying how Notre Dame is now cool to go play for,
04:14and some people scoff at that, but that's the reality now.
04:17It is not the same stuffy institution that it was described as under Brian Kelly.
04:23This is now a unique destination for players that are incredibly gifted
04:27that can take that next step forward and get great coaching
04:29from the entire Notre Dame coaching staff and for Marcus Freeman.
04:33And if you don't trust the recruiting rankings, you don't trust the offer list,
04:37you don't trust our analysis, let's roll some film right now.
04:40As you can see, 6'4", 227 pounds, Joe.
04:44The thing that first pops off about Dunham for me is his first step explosiveness
04:50is something truly to behold.
04:52Now, obviously, he has the prototypical frame, right?
04:54He's 6'4", he's got pretty long arms,
04:57but that first step explosiveness, that closing speed to be able to finish on plays,
05:01those are a few of the things that really pop to me
05:04when we really take a deep dive into what Rodney Dunham is such a special football player.
05:09I think outside of that first step, which that immediately caught my attention,
05:13there's two other things that make him a premier player.
05:16The length shows up on film constantly.
05:18He doesn't have the pass rush moveset that we look for in a prospect,
05:22but he's a high school recruit.
05:23He doesn't need it.
05:24He's able to win with his athleticism,
05:25but the length shows up as he's able to get extension on these smaller,
05:29undersized offensive linemen, easily win, press them completely off of him.
05:34But the other thing that I was just enamored by was the motor.
05:37Getting a motor in a five-star recruit is something that sometimes can be hard to come by.
05:42Some guys just don't have that internal clock, if you will,
05:45to know that, like, hey, I got to keep going until this whistle.
05:48I got to keep playing until after the play is over.
05:50There are so many plays on his highlights that show he chases down running backs.
05:56He falls.
05:57He stumbles.
05:58He maybe doesn't win off the initial rip.
06:00And then he tracks down a quarterback as the play develops,
06:03and that quarterback tries to evade pressure.
06:05So that motor is exactly what Notre Dame needs
06:08and something that Notre Dame naturally covets in its prospects.
06:12And this is a player also that I think some context is needed out there
06:16as we wrap this guy up.
06:17He was kind of banged up as a junior as well.
06:19So if we're just looking at the highlights for what they were,
06:22the big-time plays that he was able to make in 2024,
06:26we do need to understand that we may not even have seen Rodney Dunham
06:29at 100% for the majority of this season.
06:32So if we're talking about five-star upside,
06:34I also must say, Joe, as we wrap up this film,
06:36this is huge for Notre Dame to continue to tap into the state of North Carolina,
06:40a state that puts out a lot of talent regularly, especially recently.
06:44They got, obviously, Bryce Young out of the state of North Carolina.
06:47They got Jack Larson out of the state of North Carolina.
06:49They got Micah Gilbert in the 2024 class out of the state of North Carolina.
06:522026 right now.
06:54You just got a commitment from Ebenezer Ewutade.
06:57You also are trying to get Akini Ogboko,
06:59the star offensive lineman in the 2026 class out of the state of North Carolina.
07:03Rodney Dunham really tapping into that North Carolina pipeline
07:06that Marcus Freeman and the staff is really trying to tap into.
07:10Folks, if you liked this breakdown,
07:12make sure to go join me and Joe over at A to Z Film Room.
07:15You can find that on YouTube right now.
07:17Go search it.
07:18We obviously stay more into the NFL draft space,
07:21but as we get after this 2025 NFL draft class,
07:25we're going to start really tapping into some high school recruiting as well,
07:28breaking down some big commitments,
07:30official visitors, and everything in between.
07:32Make sure you hit that like button,
07:33subscribe to the channel,
07:34and as always,
07:35Go Irish!