Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Irish Land Cornerback

Notre Dame football captured a 19-14 over Pittsburgh, but that wasn’t the only win the Irish experienced on Saturday.

The Irish have landed a commitment from 2019 cornerback Isaiah Rutherford out of California. He was last in South Bend for an official visit September 1st against Michigan and clearly it couldn’t have gone any better.

It’s hard to grab recruits from the west coast, but Rutherford just seemed to understand the bigger picture both on and off the field at Notre Dame. The Irish staff have been on him since last August when they first offered him and never really let up. Colorado and Oregon were tough contenders that the Irish were up against but he wanted to be Irish and he finally pulled the trigger. Rutherford holds 19 offers from the likes of Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU, Southern California, and others.

What will Rutherford bring to the Irish secondary?

The 6’2, 180 pound cornerback is an athletic corner who has a long frame and uses that length to his advantage. He’s not going to blow you away with speed, running around a 4.66 forty in camps, but he has solid quickness that does the job. He’s not afraid to go head to head with a receiver physically and that shows as well.

What I like most though is he’s good at locating the ball and gets his hands up and bodies up with any receiver that’s in his way of getting after the ball. He could be a very good corner for the Irish once he gets into the strength program and gets a little more muscle, which will also help with his speed. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he contributed at safety. He reads the field really well and is a great tackler, but I still like him best as a corner for the Irish.

With the commitment of Rutherford, the Irish now have 19 commits, 10 on the defensive side of the ball and 9on offense, with maybe only two or three spots left. Rutherford will join corner KJ Wallace and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Litchfield Ajavon as the defensive backs in the class.

That’s a very impressive group of players and the staff is going to continue building outstanding talent in the secondary. Irish fans should be very happy about where this defense is right now and where it’s heading. I also expect the staff to try and add one more, maybe two defensive recruits to this class before it’s all said and done.