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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Notre Dame landed a commitment from four-star quarterback Blake Hebert on Monday, flipping the longtime Clemson pledge and securing a quarterback for the Irish’s 2025 class less than two weeks after Deuce Knight’s seismic flip to Auburn.
Hebert, ESPN’s No. 6 dual-threat passer in 2025, announced his decommitment from Clemson via X before giving his pledge to Notre Dame minutes later Monday evening.
Hebert, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from Greenwich, Connecticut, had been committed to Dabo Swinney and the Tigers since June 16, 2023. With his recruitment closed, Hebert took a pair of trips to Clemson earlier this year, most recently on an official visit in May.
Yet the quarterback landscape in the 2025 cycle shifted when Knight, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback, pulled his pledge from Notre Dame on Oct. 2 and committed to Auburn, ending a lengthy recruiting saga that began in the summer. The Irish were aggressive in their pursuit to land another 2025 quarterback following Knight’s departure, and Marcus Freeman & Co. found one in Hebert, now bound for South Bend, Indiana, through a late-cycle recruitment led by Notre Dame quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator Gino Guidugli.
“I’d like to start by thanking the Clemson coaching staff as well as the program itself for all they have done for me,” Hebert wrote on X minutes before announcing his pledge to the Irish. “With that being said, I have chosen to withdraw my commitment and will spend my next 4 years at another institution.”
Hebert missed nearly all of his junior season at Connecticut’s Brunswick School after he suffered an ankle fracture in the program’s season opener last fall. As a first-year starter in his sophomore season in 2022, Hebert completed 58.3% of his passes for 1,748 yards with 24 touchdowns to one interception.
Hebert now joins a Notre Dame recruiting class that has lost several commitments in recent months. Before Knight, four-star safety Ivan Taylor marked a key departure when he flipped to Michigan in July, and the Irish lost a pledge from three-star running back Daniel Anderson earlier this month. However, Notre Dame still holds commitments from nine ESPN 300 pledges in 2025, led by four-star offensive tackle Will Black (No. 99 in 2025 ESPN 300), and Hebert will arrive on campus alongside four-star tight end James Flanigan (No. 144), running back Justin Thurman (No. 300) and wide receiver Elijah Burress (No. 44 wide receiver in 2025).
The Irish’s incoming class sits at No. 14 in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the 2025 cycle.