(UHND.com) — Notre Dame received its 21st and 22nd verbal commitment for this year’s recruiting class on Thursday when offensive lineman Chris Stewart and wide receiver Richard Jackson pledged to Charlie Weis’ first full recruiting class.
Stewart, a 6’5”, 360 lb offensive lineman from Klein, Texas, is the 3rd offensive lineman to join the class. Stewart is a massive prospect at 360 lbs coming out of high school giving him the size to play as a freshman. Look at any picture of Stewart and you can see just how much bigger he is than everyone around him.
Notre Dame and Ole Miss ended up as Stewart’s final 2 but he also had offers from LSU and Texas A&M among others. Chris also carries an impressive 4.9 GPA (on a 5.0 scale) and is a likely candidate for early enrollment.
If Stewart does indeed enroll early as all indicators are suggesting, he will have a full offseason in the weight room and full Spring practice before his freshman year and will be ready to play next fall which is important for an Irish offensive line that will be short on depth.
Stewart is not just big and smart either — he’s a very highly rated lineman garnering 4 stars from both Rivals.com and Scout.com. He is also in the Rivals Top 250 and brings a lot of talent with him.
The other commitment on Thursday came from Florida wide receiver Richard Jackson. Jackson, 6’2”, 195, picked the Irish over Miami, Georgia Tech, and Pitt. Jackson has good size and good speed. He isn’t a blazer but he’s a tough receiver and will fit into the Notre Dame offense nicely.
Jackson almost certainly caps off the wide receiver recruiting for the Irish joining George West, Robby Parris, and Barry Gallup. Jackson would be considered the headliner of the group as the #13 wide receiver in the country according to Rivals.com. Scout.com ranks Jackson significantly lower at #47, but the scholarship offer from Miami tells you everything you need to know about his abilities.
Jackson visited the Irish during the USC game and it had been widely rumored that he was a Notre Dame lean after his visit.
These two commitments leave Notre Dame with probably as little as 5 more spots remaining, possibly 6 if George West enrolls early. James Aldridge and Chris Stewart should both enroll early and will count towards last year’s class which would give Notre Dame technically 20 commits so far this year.
