Notre Dame football lands Justyn Rhett: What does he bring to the Irish?
By Carlee North
The Notre Dame football team continues to stack talent under head coach Marcus Freeman, landing a monster commitment from Las Vegas on Saturday.
Notre Dame football has landed 2023 defensive back Justyn Rhett, out of Las Vegas, on Saturday evening. The 2023 class is off and rolling with Freeman now at the helm, just as it was yesterday when he officially landed his first 2022 commit as the head coach.
Rhett has been to campus a few times, most recently at the end of October for his official visit. Clearly, South Bend is where he wanted to be, coming all the way from Vegas and having a top-5 competition of Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
The relationship with Freeman is great, along with Mickens and O’Leary and I think keeping that staff together really pushed it over the edge especially when Freeman was announced as the Notre Dame head coach. Relationships, what the Irish have to offer and the secondary needs are the reason I think the Irish got this one done as early as they did.
At the moment Rhett has 19 offers from obviously his top 5 above and other programs like LSU, Florida State, and Michigan.
What does Justyn Rhett bring to the Notre Dame football team?
The 6’1 192-pound defensive back is going to bring physicality with really good speed and coverage skills. He should fit best at corner in blue and gold when he arrives. Rhett has the length and frame to flourish on the outside, especially once he gets in the weight room.
His change of direction shows on film and he closes fast to the ball carrier. I like his footwork and that’ll only continue to improve once he gets his feet wet against college competition. The positive is he plays high school at Bishop Gorman so he gets to face off against some of the top receivers each week.
As I said as well, he’s physical and he isn’t afraid to get in there and make a tackle either. The biggest thing for me is the mental aspect for cornerbacks and if he’s able to carry his confidence and somewhat cockiness into South Bend he can have an excellent career because he physically and athletically has it all.
He’s a good cornerback prospect.
With Justyn Rhett committing this evening the 2023 class now has 7 pledges, with 5 on defense and 2 on offense. Rhett is will joining Adon Shuler in the defensive back room but I would expect Rhett to settle at cornerback while Shuler seems like a definite safety/Rover option. With this group already, the class holds strong as the No. 2 class in the Country on 247sports. It’s an outstanding start to the Freeman era, which I only expect to get better and better.