Last July, amid overtures from USC, James Blanchard reportedly signed a two-year, $800,000 contract to remain at Texas Tech.

Notre Dame football reeled in four-star offensive tackle Will Black and four-star defensive end Christopher Burgess Jr. at the early signing date.

“Notre Dame is targeting Texas Tech’s James Blanchard for its new general manager position, sources tell me and @TomLoy247 for @CBSSports/@247Sports,” Matt Zenitz said in a post. “At Texas Tech, Blanchard has become of the nation’s most respected college front office figures.”

Freeman made an extended run to snag Blanchard away from Texas Tech before the Red Raiders at the time awarded Blanchard with one of college football's top dea

While there are benefits to success, it also comes with consequences. Notre Dame is experiencing those now following their national championship runner-up seaso

According to numerous reports on Wednesday afternoon, Chris Ash has accepted the position of defensive coordinator for Notre Dame football. Ash replaces Al Golden, the Irish defensive coordinator of the last three seasons who moved on to the Cincinnati Bengals in the same role less than a week prior.

Chris Ash, a former Rutgers head coach who spent the past four years in the NFL, will be Notre Dame's new defensive coordinator.

Notre Dame finished runner-up in the College Football Playoff and now is after Texas Tech football's James Blanchard for its new GM spot, per reports

Al Golden came to Notre Dame as a defensive coordinator with prior head coaching and NFL experience. The Irish got a similar resume to replace him.

Co-defensive coordinator with Luke Fickell for Ohio State’s 2014 national champions, Chris Ash helped coach Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes go 26-2 in 2014-15.

As for the 2025 Senior Bowl roster, we’ll break that down a bit more as we go along here, but first let’s answer the question posed in our headline. Here are the seven 2025 Senior Bowl players who were 5-star recruits coming out of high school (listed in alphabetical order):