Notre Dame football flips 2027 OL Jackson Hill from UCLA

Notre Dame is often good for one surprise commitment in every recruiting cycle, and for the 2027 class, it’s West Hill (Calif.) Chaminade offensive lineman Jackson Hill.

The 6-6.5, 300-pounder announced on Thursday morning that he would be flipping his commitment from UCLA to Notre Dame, without ever posting on social media that he had an offer from the Irish.

Hill committed to UCLA on April 4, picking the Bruins over Oregon State, Colorado State, UNLV, Nevada, San Diego State and a few Ivy League schools. He added an offer from Stanford on May 5, but a few days later, he privately committed to Notre Dame after a few weeks of a quiet recruiting process with the Irish staff.

“The education at Notre Dame is an opportunity you can’t pass up,” Hill told Blue & Gold before announcing his decision. “The alumni network is top-notch, and the football is incredibly good. It’s not that UCLA had negatives, it’s just that Notre Dame had so many positives.

“I fit the best at Notre Dame. During my visit, I was able to eat wings with the offensive linemen, and I felt like I was so similar to those guys.”

Notre Dame’s recruitment of Hill kicked off just less than a month ago, and in that span, he developed a strong connection with offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.

“He’s incredibly smart,” Hill said. “You can see the emphasis and detail he puts into his coaching. His message is focused on doing the little things right, and they will add up. I see him as someone who has high integrity and will coach me well, while also taking care of me off the field.”

The offensive line tradition at Notre Dame appealed to Hill as well.

“Absolutely. That was another factor,” he said. “There’s a strong prestige, especially with Coach Rudolph putting players into the league. That was a major consideration.”

Hill didn’t plan on making a commitment to UCLA just to flip the next month, but his feeling of disappointment on that front is outweighed by how fired up he is to be on the Notre Dame commit list.

“I committed to UCLA and I don’t love that I had to flip, but I’m very excited,” he added. “It’s Notre Dame. It’s going to be a great school for me, and I’m going to gain so much from it.

“I’m really humbled to be going to Notre Dame. The fans and the culture of Notre Dame — it’s all connected. I’m really excited about the community there. Coach [Marcus] Freeman called me last Thursday when he was in Korea and really convinced me that this is the right choice for me. I’m fully bought into his coaching, and he’ll make me a better football player and definitely a better man.”

Hill ranks as Rivals’ No. 44 offensive tackle in America and No. 42 overall player from the state of California.

He becomes Notre Dame’s 16th commitment in the 2027 recruiting class and the fourth offensive line commit, joining Green Bay (Wis.) Notre Dame De La Baie Academy’s Richie Flanigan, Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s James Halter and Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep’s Oluwasemilore Olubobola.

How Hill’s Notre Dame commitment came together

Irish assistant general manager Kenny Sanders visited Chaminade on April 17 and met with Hill for a few minutes. Sanders spoke with the school’s head coach, David Machuca, for a while about Hill, too.

A couple of days later, Notre Dame reached back out and asked if Hill could visit on Wednesday, April 22. Hill jumped on the opportunity.

“Within 72 hours of Kenny Sanders coming here, Coach Rudolph was calling Jackson and got in contact with me,” Machuca said. “From there, it got going really quick.”

Hill loved everything about his Notre Dame visit that day.

“I was able to see what Notre Dame was all about,” he said. “We were in team meetings then position meetings, followed by practice. When I walked into the practice facility, my jaw dropped. It’s genuinely beautiful.”

Hill toured campus, met with Freeman, Rudolph, strength coach Loren Landow, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, general Mike Martin and others. He felt one central message during the visit with his father.

“They have a standard of student-athlete and think that I fit that standard,” Hill said.

Hill earned his offer from Notre Dame during the visit but didn’t commit on the spot because he wanted to think things over, especially after making his UCLA pledge three weeks prior and with everything happening so fast.

A week after his visit, Rudolph was back on the West Coast to watch Hill practice and have a home visit.

“We were able to talk even more about why he thinks I’m a great fit for Notre Dame,” added Hill.

On May 8, Hill called the Notre Dame staff to give them his commitment.

“Notre Dame is not only getting a phenomenal football player but an incredible young man,” Machuca said.

Jackson Hill’s athletic background

When Hill started high school, his main sport was baseball, and he played AAU basketball growing up as well as a secondary sport.

But as a freshman, he wanted to give football a shot and have some fun with it. And he impressed right away. Chaminade’s junior varsity offensive line coach told Machuca that he needed to pay close attention to Hill.

“So, I started watching him and said, ‘Damn, he is pretty good,’” Machuca recalled.

Machuca was hesitant on getting attached to the idea of Jackson sticking with football because he had seen baseball guys play football for a year and then go back to baseball. But Machuca remembers a moment in the winter of Hill’s freshman year where he saw Hill on campus and was convinced he could have a star prospect on his hands.

“I remember thinking, ‘This isn’t a normal baseball player. We need to get him back out here,’” Machuca said.

Machuca gave his pitch to Hill, who decided with his family to stop playing baseball after his freshman season to give his full attention to the football. And Hill is glad he did.

“Football is the better avenue for me to go higher at the collegiate level,” he said. “I knew I needed to focus on football. The majority of the strength you gain is in the offseason, and if I was still playing baseball, I wouldn’t have developed as much as I have so far.”

Hill’s physical growth has been substantial, going from 250 pounds as a sophomore to now 305 pounds going into his senior season. And now, as a Notre Dame offensive line commit, more eyes will be on him to see how he plays.

Machuca can’t identify why Hill’s recruitment was slower to take off and why he’s ranked so low. For what it’s worth, Rivals has him rated much higher than 247 Sports, who views him as the No. 96 offensive tackle in the nation. ESPN hasn’t even ranked Hill yet.

“I can’t put my finger on it,” Machuca said. “Luckily, he’s going to the place where I thought he should have been going this whole time. I always thought he was a perfect fit for Notre Dame — well before they started recruiting him. I would tell anyone who would listen. When you talk about coaches standing on the table, that’s where I was at.”

Regardless of rankings or more recruiting attention, Hill is just fine.

“He’s not the guy who needs all the notoriety to make him feel good,” Machuca continued. “I told him in February that his time would be coming soon with more offers, and he told me, ‘Coach, wherever I go, I’ll get developed and become a great football player.’ That was really mature from him.

“He’s going to go to work every day, do exactly what you ask him to do, fix what he needs to fix and make his strengths even stronger. He might be more old school; a lot of prospects will do all the camps to get rated higher and get more attention. But that’s not who he is.

“He’s a mean player. You wouldn’t know that about him. Between the whistles, he has a big smile on his face and is the nicest guy. But as soon as the ball is snapped, he turns into someone completely different.”