I do not believe ND will be able to successfully be a Top 3 type of recruiting school on a consistent basis. I believe they will need the portal more so than the other top schools. The admission requirements are higher at ND than most schools. There are not as many 5 star guys who can get into ND and who actually want to go there. I think ND can bring in the guys like QB Leonard: someone not good enough to get a offer from ND coming out of high school but proved in a 2-3 years of college that they can play at a ND. Hopefully their next qb can throw better than Leonard.
ND can pick the top players from a Duke, Wake Forrest, Stanford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, etc. One other advantage ND has in getting back to the College Playoffs; their schedule isn’t that difficult. 5 ACC schools, a couple of service academies, USC, etc