Four-star QB Champ Monds commits to Notre Dame football over Ohio State

Vero Beach (Fla.) High class of 2027 quarterback Champ Monds has announced his commitment to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The four-star signal-caller visited campus during the weekend of April 18, his first trip to South Bend since the summer of 2025. The visit went so well that it catapulted the Irish to the top of his recruitment, leading to his public commitment on May 1.

“Notre Dame has everything you can think of when it comes to academics, people on the coaching staff and overall, it’s the best fit for me,” Monds said about his choice on the Pat McAfee Show. “My parents and I sat down, and it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. We felt like this would be best for me.

“Coach Freeman is super down to earth. He’s such a humble guy. He was telling me about how I’d fit in their program. He’s a great guy and a coach. I can’t wait to see what they do this season.”

Florida State and Ohio State were the two other teams largely viewed as the Irish’s top competition. The likes of Miami, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan and Alabama were among the 6-2.5, 220-pounder’s offers.

This is a major commitment for the Fighting Irish, ending Notre Dame’s intriguing search for a quarterback in the 2027 cycle.

“The academics, how the program is run and Marcus Freeman is a great coach,” Monds previously said when asked what interests him in the Irish. “I like their coaching staff with [Mike] Denbrock and [Gino] Guidugli. Those are things I really love about that program.”

Notre Dame initially earned a pledge last summer from Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb’s Teddy Jarrard needed a replacement in the 2027 class after he reclassified to 2026 in December.

The following month, the staff offered Monds, and in February, Guidugli and Co. added Sarasota (Fla.) Cardinal Mooney’s Davin Davidson and Salt Lake City West’s Kamden Lopati to the board, but they committed to Florida and Michigan, respectively.

And the Irish got the guy they offered first in their second go-round of 2027 quarterback recruiting.

Interestingly enough, Monds was originally part of the 2028 class but reclassified to 2027 in the winter. He’s the No. 288 overall prospect and No. 22 quarterback in the land per the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services. Rivals’ own rankings list him as the No. 214 player and No. 17 quarterback nationally.

At the end of last summer, Rivals ranked him as the No. 2 overall player in the 2028 class, but his reclassification significantly impacted his ranking.

Monds is Notre Dame’s 12th commitment of the 2027 recruiting class.

The Champ Monds file

Though he appeared in only four games last season, Monds — whose full name is Wonderful Monds IV — was effective. He completed 45 of 63 passes for 691 yards and recorded eight total touchdowns without throwing an interception.

He missed nine games early in the season after suffering an ankle injury in Week 1, then sustained a left shoulder injury to his non-throwing arm that sidelined him for two playoff games.

In 2024, Monds threw for 2,234 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing 181 of 268 passes with five interceptions. He ran 142 times for 502 yards with 9 rushing scores as a sophomore and was named the TCPalm Offensive Player of the Year.

“Champ is the total package — he’s big, strong, can rip the ball, athletic, and he’s the very best listener I’ve ever been around, adult or kid,” Vero Beach head coach Lenny Jankowski said. “He’s just a great listener. Champ is a big-time student of the game. He’s just really a special kid.”

Monds comes from quite an athletic family, as his grandfather, Wonderful Monds Jr., was a first-team All-American defensive back for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the mid-1970s before being selected in the fourth round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Pittsbrugh Steelers. He had four sons, all of whom played collegiate or professional athletics, including Mario Monds, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins. His uncles include Wonderful Monds II, who played for Florida International, and Devin Monds, who was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001.

His father, also named Wonderful, played professional baseball in the Atlanta Braves organization.

“I have a lot of pride,” Monds IV previously told Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong regarding his family’s athletic lineage. “We’ve just always been great competitors. I feel like growing up I had to be a great competitor and now that’s what I’m going to keep doing.

“The main thing every single one of them told me is to stay humble. That’s the main thing. When you start getting too big-headed you can drop. You just have to keep working.”

Monds received his first scholarship offer from UCF in June 2024, and Florida, Florida State and Miami all followed suit prior to his freshman year.