2018 WR Commit Micah Jones Talks Notre Dame And Recruiting

6’5 Illinois wide receiver is confident in his commitment to Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish have a tremendous 2018 class so far with 11 talented recruits committed. Many of them had been targeted early, including Micah Jones who I spoke to yesterday.

“Notre Dame overall was a better fit for me. The way you can get to the NFL from Notre Dame is better than a lot of schools. On top of that, the degree you can get from Notre Dame is the best in the country. Also, the family atmosphere Is great as well. Those are the three things I really looked at,” Jones told me.

Micah Jones won’t be going far from home to attend University. “I’m about 2 hours away from campus, so I’m not very far. It’s a great place for me to go so my family and friends can see the games. It’s not very far and it’s a convenient drive,” he said.

Must Read: Top 10 2018 Recruit Wish List - Notre Dame

Less than a week before Micah Jones announced his commitment, he attended the Junior Day event in South Bend along with several other recruits and commits.

Here’s what he told me:

“It was great. We got to spend a lot of time with the 2018 recruits. The coaches were taking us around as a group. It was mostly 2018 commits. It was mostly me, Lenzy, Gervin and one of the lineman Cole Mabry and Dallas Gant who hasn’t committed yet, going around together.”

“It was a great time. They were recruiting us the whole time and me and Lenzy and Kalon really talked about it as a group and thought that it was probably the place for us. We set up the times that we would commit and get down there again and set up a time to get in touch with each other.”

“On top of that, we talked to a lot of the players who already go there and a lot of the coaches that are there. It was a great time to be around everybody.”

The current ’18 commits, or #IrishBouND18 as they’re known on Twitter, have been working really hard at recruiting as well. “We’re doing well with the other recruits and we’re trying to recruit as much as we can. We’re trying to get more recruits down here, as many as possible. I think we’re the number 3 class right now. We’re trying to get up there as that number 1 class,” Jones explained.

Micah and the rest of the commits have a group chat that they use as a tool to contact other recruits who are being targeted by Notre Dame. “We want them to end up at Notre Dame then show everybody that we are the number 1 class. That’s what we’re trying to do right now,”Jones said.

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He explained to me that they will have a few opportunities to talk with some of the recruits in person. “I think we’re all going to be down there for the spring game, so I think we’re all going to see each other and get in better touch with the other recruits there,” said Jones.

Jones then explained to me which recruits they were particularly after. Here’s what he told me:

“Right now, we’re looking at Amon Ra. We’re trying to him down to the game. I know were trying to get some more DB’s down there. We’re trying to get more players on the defensive side of the ball at this point. We think that’s what the coaches need and it’s what we need.”

“I know that we’re looking for Amon Ra and Thomas Booker. He’s a solid guy. I played with him at one of the Rivals camps. He’s a nice guy and I got to talk to him a lot down there and I think we can pull him down there, so we’ll see what happens.

“Those are the two guys that I’m really recruiting personally.”

Micah Jones has been to, and will be attending, many football camps, skill development sessions and combines across the country. He explained that his commitment won’t stop him from continuing to travel to other schools to compete.

“Since Notre Dame offered me and since I’ve committed, I don’t think that stops me from being able to work, so, I’ve been trying to get around the country and see as many of the top players as i can and test my skills out against them and see what I can get better in and see where I can clean it up and just be competitive everywhere I go,” he explained.

“I’m not going to stop working out and being around  the top players and stop going against the top players, so I mean, that’s my goal.”

Micah Jones also plays on a successful 7-vs-7 team. “Being on one of the top 7-on-7 teams in the nation, it really helps a lot, playing for a mid-west school. I get to see a lot of the top players every weekend or every other weekend. It helps a lot,” he explained.

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Him and his team competed in the 7-vs-7 National Championships in Las Vegas recently. He talked about that. “It was great. We did pretty good as a team. We got fourth place in the tournament. I think we could have done a little bit better as a team, but fourth place out of 32 teams wasn’t too bad. We have a tournament coming up in Michigan that’s coming up this weekend.”

Jones then told me about his football career and how it progressed throughout his life.

“I started playing when I was 9 or 10. It runs in my dad’s side of the family….It was something I was forced as a little kid, I played soccer and baseball and all the little things regular American kids play. It didn’t start to get big for me until 7th or 8th great when I started really working on it and focusing on it. That’s when I started to get bigger, stronger and faster.”

That led to my next question which was about his size.

“I am 6’5, 203 pounds right now, trying to get to 210,” Micah said.

“I’m trying to get bigger so I can get across the field and in the back of the end zone, going up for the ball, be a bigger target….It’ll be lean muscle, help with my explosiveness and things like that. I want to keep my top end speed. I want to keep my top end speed and get my weight up.”

Micah talked about his hopes for a spot in the two-deep early in his career for the Irish. “I sense that Equanimeous is probably going to go to the league his junior year and probably Alize as well, and probably Chase Claypool, so it’s going to open up a spot for me so I think I can and will take that spot,” he said.

With Braden Lenzy and Micah Jones committed this early, Notre Dame is sure to end up with a great receiver class on Signing Day. Lenzy provides elite speed and Jones is certainly a large target who has great intangibles for his size, and has good speed as well.

Hopefully they can do as well in their recruiting efforts as they do on the football field.