For Ohio State, Ed Terwilliger, the Director of High School Relations, and a few other staff have been out on the trail keeping tabs on the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes. Earlier in the month, despite position coaches not being on the road, a myriad of offers went out to a handful of prospects.

Ohio State and Notre Dame have reached the same destination with rosters built much the same way. The teams set to play in the College Football Playoff championship game in Atlanta on Monday night sign elite high school recruiting classes year after year.

Notre Dame will enter Monday night’s national championship game in Atlanta as a long shot. A team few expect to win. An 8.5-point underdog against Ohio State. Since 2013, the only team that was a bigger underdog in the sport’s final game was TCU two years ago,