-
Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Notre Dame landed its highest-ranked commitment in the 2026 class Tuesday night with a pledge from four-star outside linebacker Thomas Davis Jr., the son of former Georgia All-American and 16-year NFL veteran Thomas Davis.
The younger Davis is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior at North Carolina’s Weddington High School and is ranked as the No. 126 overall prospect in the ESPN Junior 300. His commitment comes three days after he visited Notre Dame during the program’s 52-3 win over Florida State, and also follows the Irish’s Monday night flip in the 2025 class of former Boston College running back pledge Nolan James, another weekend visitor in South Bend.
After logging 123 total tackles across his first two seasons of high school football, Davis reaches the end of his junior season as ESPN’s No. 10 outside linebacker in the 2026 cycle. Other front-runners for his pledge included Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina, NC State and Oregon.
Davis is the third and highest-rated member of head coach Marcus Freeman’s 2026 class. Davis joins four-star quarterback Noah Grubbs (No. 140 in the ESPN 300) as the second top-300 prospect to commit to Notre Dame in 2026, and the Irish also hold a pledge from 2026 three-star wide receiver Dylan Faison of Boca Raton, Florida.
Davis will follow his father’s footsteps into major college football when he signs at the end of the 2025 cycle.
The elder Davis spent three seasons at Georgia, from 2002 to 2004, emerging as a two-time All-SEC linebacker and earning consensus All-American honors in his junior season in 2004. The 14th selection in the 2005 NFL draft, he spent the first 14 years of his NFL career with the Carolina Panthers, where he became a three-time Pro Bowl selection and an All-Pro in 2015. He was also named the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2014.
Notre Dame’s 2025 class is headlined by nine ESPN 300 pledges and currently ranks 15th in ESPN’s latest team class rankings for the 2025 cycle. The eighth-ranked Irish host Virginia at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.