Notre Dame football: What Irish are getting in WR commit Jayden Thomas

Notre Dame football recruiting is always a hot topic, and the latest commit could bring something special to South Bend.

Notre Dame football landed two Georgia wide receivers within a week of one another, the latest being 4-Star prospect Jayden Thomas out of Pace Academy in Atlanta committing to the Irish at the beginning of October.

The 6’1, 205-pound Thomas was last on campus in November of last year for an unofficial visit and has had the Irish on his radar for quite some time now. His top five schools for the past couple of months have been Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Penn State and Arkansas.

The Irish may have separated themselves from this pack during the last couple weeks of his recruitment and it never really wavered. The relationships with the current commits and also the communication with the staff through the pandemic was above the rest and with spots filling up, he wanted to make sure he had his spot solidified with the Irish.

As always, academics surely pushed this one over the edge for Notre Dame and Thomas as well. At the moment, he holds 27 FBS offers, with Alabama, Florida, Florida State, and Miami among the schools that have offered as well as those listed above.

So what will Jayden Thomas bring to South Bend?

Coming in as the No. 44 wide receiver in the nation and the No. 23 player in the state of Georgia, Thomas is not only a physical athlete at multiple positions but really prides himself on his physicality as a receiver. He adds rock-solid hands to his tools and rarely drops anything that comes his way.

The rangy receiver isn’t afraid to go up and get it either. It’s his ball and that’s the mentality he plays with. While not the fastest receiver you’ll see, he runs crisp routes and gets out of his break quickly. Combining his route running, exceptional hands, and ability to get through his routes easily, those combined abilities are top-notch.

On his physicality, he also loves imposing his will and getting his hands dirty while blocking, which is one of his strongest attributes. That trait can’t be taught this early and it’s something you gotta love from only a high school player. He will absolutely be taking advantage of that in South Bend and it will help him get on the field a lot quicker.

With Thomas committing to the Irish, they now have 19 commitments, with 11 being on offense and eight defensively. Jayden Thomas will be joining Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Deion Colzie in the wide receiver room for the class.

This is a great trio for the staff, especially after the receiver group that came in the last cycle. I would say that should do it for the 2020 position group unless the staff can find a way to get an elite receiver on the west coast to join this trio, but it won’t be an easy task especially with him planning to announce in the coming days.

All in all, Notre Dame fans should be thrilled with this finish after the past few months of ups and downs for receiver recruiting. It ended up turning out just fine for the Irish.