Allen Wallace of SuperPrep.com has a free article up on running back recruit Carlton Thomas in which he says Thomas is slightly favoring the Irish.
Although he says hell wait awhile before deciding, he admits to favoring Notre Dame slightly over West Virginia, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and Iowa. All of Thomas’ favorites have offered as well as Michigan State, Rutgers, Arkansas, Connecticut, Central Florida, South Florida and others.
“Notre Dame is recruiting me the hardest,” Thomas said. “They check on me like every day and text me all the time. I love the school and the education. It’s a great program and they have great coaches. They all have a lot of experience and know how to produce great players.”
Notre Dame will take just one running back, if any, this year and Thomas certainly would be a nice addition if he were to fill that role. Scout lists his 40 time as 4.5, but check out his YouTube highlights below and look at how hard he runs and how decisive he is with the ball. There’s no dancing around in the backfield with him – he sees the hole and hits it. You can’t coach instincts and his highlight reel certainly suggests Thomas has the instincts to be a big time college back.
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Getting at least one running back of Thomas’ caliber should be part of Notre Dame’s recruiting strategy every year. Over the last few years Notre Dame has been dangerously thin at the position and at times its cost the Irish wins. Remember the ’02 Boston College game when every back who got thrown out there seemed to fumble at least twice?
Should Notre Dame end up landing Thomas, a future backfield in 2008 of James Aldridge, Armando Allen, Robert Hughes, and Thomas would likely rival that of any backfield in the nation.
