Class Impact: WR Jayden Thomas to Notre Dame
Notre Dame picked up a major commitment today, landing Atlanta (Ga.) Pace four-star wide receiver Jayden Thomas.
Thomas had offers from Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Penn State, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Tennessee, Florida State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Purdue, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech among many others.
Let's take a look at what the commitment of Thomas means for the Notre Dame class and depth chart.
CLASS IMPACT
Thomas is the 19th commitment for Notre Dame in the 2021 class, and he's the 11th offensive commitment.
Notre Dame needed at least three top-level wide receivers in the 2021 class, and the commitment of Thomas gives the Irish their third wide receiver. He joins Pickerington (Ohio) Central standout Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Athens (Ga.) Academy star Deion Colzie.
All three commitments are four-star composite prospects, and all three are ranked in the Top 200 nationally by at least one recruiting service.
Notre Dame now has seven offensive skill players in the class, and five of those seven are composite four-star recruits.
NOTRE DAME FIT
Thomas is a strong complement to Styles and Colzie, which adds to his value in this class. While Styles is more of a field player that should thrive in the slot, and Colzie is more of a boundary player, Thomas has a diverse skill set that fits in well at all three wide receiver positions.
The 6-1, 205-pound receiver is ideally suited for the two outside positions, where he can use his length, strength and advanced route running technique to thrive.
Thomas has above-average speed and he's a strong all-around athlete. He's smooth, fluid and shows the ability to do damage after the catch. You wouldn't expect a player that lacks top-level speed to be as good with the ball in his hands as Thomas, but his balance, vision and strength allow him to shine.
His feel for route running is impressive, and it's even more impressive when you consider he splits the year playing football and baseball. Thomas knows how to use his size to get off the line, and his feel for the nuances of route running is outstanding.
Thomas has good ball skills and he's an excellent blocker.
You can read my full film evaluation of Thomas HERE.
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook