Notre Dame Football Recruiting: The impact of landing Chance Tucker

Notre Dame football brought in another talented cornerback in the class of 2021 on Wednesday, bringing their total commitments in the class to 13.

Notre Dame football notched a big win on the west coast on Wednesday. The Irish landed 2021 cornerback Chance Tucker out of California. The staff offered him back in June, stayed on him consistently and went all in to land this coveted prospect.

Tucker got a chance to take a visit to South Bend over the July 4th weekend that was kept under wraps for a little while, and obviously that was a huge visit for not only Tucker but for Notre Dame, being able to have a recruit on campus on his own dime.

Ultimately this one was coming down to the Irish and Washington and in the end the combinations of academics and athletics won out here. Tucker didn’t want to wait any longer, wanted the recruiting process to be over and took a ton of time with his family to discuss the pros and cons for all and he decided to pull the trigger and commit to Notre Dame. Like I mentioned, academics absolutely won this battle here, which it should when Notre Dame goes head-to-head with just about any program in the Country.

At the moment, Tucker holds 15 offers from Northwestern, Washington and Colorado among others.

What will Tucker bring to South Bend?

The 6’1,” 170-pound cornerback will bring some length and aggressiveness to the secondary. A lot of schools offered Tucker not only as a corner prospect but on the possibility of the offensive side of the ball because he does play wide receiver, as well, but Notre Dame has been all in from the beginning at corner and that’s what I think Tucker gravitated towards to more.

One thing that stands out is he seems to pride himself on a high football IQ. He’s very smart and has the athletic ability to go with it. His aggressive nature really stands out in his coverage. He will press you at the line and he isn’t afraid to turn and run with you. Tucker has great speed for his size and really does a nice job of anticipating the coverage that’s coming his way. I don’t think his 3-star ranking is any indication of what type of player he really is. I truly haven’t seen one glaring negative in his game, as he has all the techniques and competitive instincts to be special for Notre Dame. If there’s someone in the current class that I’d consider a “diamond in the rough”, I’d absolutely have Tucker being one of those guys, especially when looks at the current recruiting rankings.

With Tucker’s commitment, the Irish now have 13 commits — six on offense and seven on defense. He’ll be joining cornerbacks Philip Riley, Ryan Barnes and safety Justin Walters in the secondary room. Cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens has absolutely dominated the recruiting trail since getting to South Bend. He has a proven resume that he can develop his players and with the combination of that and now being a coach at one of the top blue blood programs in college football, this could be a very special combo to come. Don’t expect him to slow down anytime soon, Irish fans. Outstanding work here by Mickens and the staff to get this one locked in, which is a great get from the west coast.