(UHND.com) – Notre Dame’s recruiting momentum continued to swing full steam ahead Wednesday when news broke that defensive back Jamoris Slaughter became the 16th commitment in this year’s recruiting class. Slaughter, a safety/corner back prospect, picked Notre Dame over rival Michigan and LSU.
Slaughter (6’0”, 185, 4.5) is an explosive hitter with the power to be a punishing safety who also has the speed and athleticism to play corner – something he’s done throughout his high school career at Tucker HS. Slaughter also has the versatility to be able to play on the offensive side of the ball, but the majority of schools recruited him to play defense.
Much like Notre Dame’s previous commitment, Robert Blanton, Slaughter brings a lot of flexibility to the defensive backfield. Both prospects have the ability to play either safety or corner and both also held scholarship offers from Michigan giving the Irish another couple recruiting victories over their hated rival this year.
Slaughter didn’t just have a scholarship offer from the Wolverines, however, he also grew up being a Michigan fan. The charisma of Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator, Corwin Brown, and the allure of the aggressive defense he plans to install this year was enough to overcome Slaughter’s childhood allegiance and get him to add to an already stellar recruiting class.
With the addition of Slaughter, the Irish now have nine commitments on the defensive side of the ball after only signing seven a year ago. Of those nine commits, seven of them are four star prospects according to Scout.com.
This commitment is also another example of Weis going down in SEC country and pulling out one of the top prospects. Slaughter joins fellow Georgia native Omar Hunter and North Carolina native Robert Blanton as southern defensive prospects who Weis and Brown were able to commit to the Irish this early on.
If Weis can get a third prospect out of Georgia in Brice Butler, it would be a recruiting coup comparable to what getting Chris Donald to join Golden Tate and Harrison Smith would have been last year had Donald selected the Irish.
Rumors were flying Wednesday night that Notre Dame’s 17th commitment was already in the fold as well in the form of 5 star defensive end prospect Ethan Johnson. Should these rumors prove to be true, it would be a major victory for the Irish for one of the nation’s truly elite prospects. Johnson is also one of Michigan and USC’s top targets which would make news of a commitment all that much sweeter for Notre Dame fans.
