Julian Bruno commits to Notre Dame over Oregon, Texas

Bruno came to town for the Miami game and left with his recruitment over. His quote says it all.

"Finally getting on campus, it just felt like home." That's the line every staff hopes a kid says after an official weekend. It helps when the weekend includes No. 11 Notre Dame never trailing against the top team in the country, CJ Carr throwing for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Luke Talich knocking away a 4th-down ball from Elija Lofton to save it at the end. That was Notre Dame's first win over a No. 1 team since 2020. Bruno watched it live and committed the next day.

Here's who the Irish got. Bruno is a 2028 linebacker from Grant Union High School in Sacramento. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as a 3-star, the No. 32 linebacker in the country and the No. 36 recruit in California. He's reportedly averaging close to 12 tackles a game this fall, with double-digit tackles for loss. He visited several schools this fall, and the South Bend trip had been on the calendar since the summer. Notre Dame beat out Oregon and Texas, 2 programs that don't usually lose West Coast linebackers to anybody.

The Marcus Freeman factor was real. Freeman played linebacker himself, and Bruno said that mattered: "Coach Freeman also played linebacker, so having a head coach who understands the position and constantly pours into the linebackers would be huge." He also pointed to "the amount of love they've been showing me and the vision they have for me." A former linebacker coaching linebackers is about as easy a pitch as you get, and Freeman closed it.

Bruno is also the first linebacker commit in Notre Dame's 2028 class, so the Irish have their start at the position more than a year before he signs. Last week they were a playoff bubble team. Now they're 8-1, they own a win over the No. 1 team and they're adding commits off the back of it. The good weekend is already showing up in recruiting.

What to watch next: Bruno still has plenty of high school football left. Oregon and Texas don't stop recruiting kids just because they've committed somewhere else. And if Notre Dame keeps winning into December, everyone who was in South Bend this weekend will remember it. Notre Dame's pitch right now is basically this: come visit, watch us beat the No. 1 team, and see how it feels.