The ESPNU Top 150 for the Class of 2012 was released on Wednesday afternoon and featured several current and former Notre Dame targets along with a few Irish verbal commitments.
The list includes eight five-star players, with the remaining 142 athletes ranked as four-star prospects.
Maryland athlete Ronald Darby leads the group of Irish verbals as a four-star prospect, ranked 70th among all of the players in the country. Florida wide receiver Justin Ferguson is just behind Darby at 75th overall, followed by California cornerback Tee Shepard, who checks in at No. 89 on the list.
Darby, who will play cornerback at Notre Dame, is 11th on the list among athletes while Ferguson is the 11th-ranked wideout and Shepard is the seventh-ranked cornerback in America, according to the rankings.
Florida State defensive end verbal commitment Mario Edwards tops the list followed by Washington D.C., defensive tackle Eddie Goldman. Missouri wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, Pennsylvania defensive end/linebacker Noah Spence and Alabama safety commit Eddie Williams round out the top five.
The Irish offered scholarships to each of the top five players on the board and are still in the race for Green-Beckham and Spence.
North Carolina’s Keith Marshall is the top-rated running back and checks in at No. 6 on the list, followed by fellow North Carolina prospect D.J. Humphries, who is the top-ranked offensive lineman and seventh-ranked player overall. Notre Dame has scholarships out to both and both have expressed interest in taking visits to South Bend.
Indiana quarterback Gunner Kiel is the No. 1-ranked signal-caller in America and is expected to announce his decision soon. Kiel, who is the nephew of former Irish quarterback Blair Kiel, has visited Notre Dame, but the Irish are no longer considered major factors in his recruitment.
Other highly-ranked targets on Notre Dame’s radar include a few prospects currently committed elsewhere.
California defensive lineman/offensive lineman Arik Armstead is the 17th-ranked player in the country. Armstead is a USC verbal, but will visit South Bend this summer. California wide receiver Jordan Payton is another Trojan commitment, who plans on visiting Notre Dame either this summer or this fall. Payton is the 146th-ranked player.
Florida outside linebacker Noor Davis checks in at No. 18 overall. Davis shocked recruitniks when he chose Stanford over Notre Dame and Florida, but Davis has talked about the possibility of still taking an official visit to Notre Dame in the fall.
The 42nd-ranked player, Florida wide receiver Avery Johnson, is committed to LSU, but will visit South Bend for Notre Dame’s camp this month. New York defensive lineman Jarron Jones will also be at Notre Dame’s camp later this month. Jones, the 97th-ranked player, is currently committed to Penn State, but the Irish are still in his top five.
California defensive lineman Aziz Shittu recently decommitted from Stanford and has expressed an interest in the Irish. Shittu is the 88th-ranked overall player.
Other current Irish targets on the list include: #19 Tracy Howard (Florida CB), #21 Shaq Thompson (California S), #22 Andrus Peat (Arizona OT), #27 John Theus (Florida OT), #28 Davonte Neal (Arizona ATH), #29 Chris Black (Florida WR), #30 Kyle Murphy (California OT), #31 Geno Smith (Georgia CB), #37 Cyrus Jones (Maryland ATH), #39 Devin Fuller (New Jersey ATH), #40 Yuri Wright (New Jersey CB), #41 Nelson Agholor (Florida ATH), #43 Josh Garnett (Washington OT), #49 Joel Caleb (Virginia ATH), #50 Ifeadi Odenigbo (Ohio DE/LB), #62 Durron Neal (Missouri WR), #66 Deon Bush (Florida S), #78 Barry Sanders (Oklahoma RB), #80 Chad Kelly (New York QB), #84 Darius Powe (California WR), #85 Jordan Simmons (California OG), #90 Byron Marshall (California RB), #91 Vadal Alexander (Georgia OG), #94 Channing Ward (Mississippi DE), #96 Adolphus Washington (Ohio DE), #98 Ty Darlington (Florida OC), #100 Tyriq McCord (Florida DE), #101 Se’Von Pittman (Ohio DE/LB), #103 Jordan Diamond (Illinois OT), #109 Korren Kirven (Virginia DT), #111 Dwayne Stanford (Ohio WR), #122 Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick (California TE), #125 Zach Banner (Washington OT), #128 Derrick Woods (California WR), #135 Tommy Schutt (Illinois DT), #136 Brian Poole (Florida CB), #141 Carlos Watkins (North Carolina DT), #144 Sheldon Day (Indiana DT) and #147 Kent Taylor (California TE).
Click here for the complete ESPNU Top 150.
