(UHND.com) — Notre Dame and head coach Charlie Weis got their fifth verbal commitment of this young recruiting season Wednesday when wide receiver Duval Kamara of Hoboken, New Jersey announced he’d be attending Notre Dame on ESPN News.
Kamara (6’4”, 200, 4.6) picked the Irish with offers from the likes of USC, Miami, and Penn State and joins an impressive group of offensive commitments with Mike Ragone and Jimmy Clausen already in the fold for the Irish.
Don’t let the 4.6 time in the 40 fool you, this is a big commitment for the Irish. Kamara is big time receiver in the Maurice Stovall mold. He’s got great size and outstanding athletic ability for his size. As a junior he caught 46 passes for 983 yards and 12 touchdowns in a run oriented offense.
Kamara was on hand for the Blue-Gold game a few weeks back and got a chance to meet his future quarterback in Jimmy Clausen. It didn’t take Kamara long to decide to join the talented signal caller and is the second commitment since the Blue-Gold game both of whom where at the game.
Wide receiver is a huge position of need this year with the Irish losing Rhema McKnight and Jeff Samardzija after this year and with little proven depth behind them heading into this season. Notre Dame received verbal commitments from a number of wide receivers last year (Barry Gallup, Robby Parris, Richard Jackson, George West), but this year its important that the Irish land a couple of big time receivers who can play from day one.
Getting Kamara is a great start for the Irish at receiver. He is on Rivals.com’s preliminary Top 100 list and could find his way onto Scout.com’s as well. He’s a huge receiver who will be matchup problems for just about any corner who is left to guard him alone. He can be an excellent target in the redzone, much the way Stovall was for the Irish this past year because of the obvious mismatch he creates over 5”10 and 5”11 corners.
Kamara’s weight is listed on various sites anywhere from 190 to 210 pounds. He plays basketball as well which is why his weight is listed on the lower end towards 190, but 210 is probably much more close to the weight he will probably come in ready to play with.
With Arrelious Benn rumored to be looking very good for the Irish, Notre Dame appears to be setting themselves up for a truly special class of wide receivers. Benn is ranked as one of the best prep receivers in the country and could be the Rhema McKnight to Kamara’s Maurice Stovall in this class.
Notre Dame now has three of Rivals.com’s preliminary Top 100 recruits and the calendar still says May. Kamara joins Mike Ragone and Jimmy Clausen on Rivals.com’s list with the Irish sure to add more before all is said and done.
