Notre Dame picked up it’s 17th commitment of the year on Monday when Coppell, Texas running back Cam McDaniel committed to the Irish when Brian Kelly and Kerry Cooks visited him.
Even before Notre Dame officially lost Justice Hayes to rival Michigan last week, the Irish expressed interest in McDaniel. Once Hayes switched his pledge, Notre Dame turned their attention to the shifty running back and offered him a scholarship today that he quickly accepted.
McDaniel is a shifty running back who has played in a spread offense against some of the best competition Texas has to offer. Coppell High plays in Texas’s 5A class and one of the main reasons they are still alive in the state playoffs has been the play of McDaniel.
This past weekend McDaniel ran 16 times for 142 yards with 2 touchdowns against Midland High in a 5A Division I regional playoff game. He chipped in 2 catches for 21 yards as well. This weekend he and his teammates will turn their attention to Euless Trinity in the Division I regional quarterfinals.
For the season, McDanial has rushed 287 times for 1,859 yards (6.5 average) with 31 touchdowns – all against the highest level of competition in the state of Texas. As a junior in 2009, McDaniel carried the ball 23 times for 1,210 yards (5.2 average) with 20 touchdowns while adding 57 receptions for 595 yards and another 7 touchdowns.
McDaniel picked up offers from Stanford, Iowa, and Cincinnati before committing to the Irish on Monday.
As of now, McDaniel is the only running back in this year’s class, but Notre Dame is still recruiting New Jersey speedster Savon Huggins as well. Some reports have suggested that McDaniel was recruited as a slot wide receiver, but he was targetted as a rnning back and at the very least will start his career there.
McDaniel is the first commitment for the Irish since Devaris Daniels picked the Irish at the end of September and ends a stretch that saw Notre Dame lose four commitments – Justice Hayes, Aaron Lynch, Jordan Prestwood, and Clay Burton.
We’ll have some highlights of McDaniel posted later tonight.
Im so glad we now have two kids from Texas. Texas has tons of talent and this kid plays in 5A were the big boys are.If we can hit Dallas and Houston and even the east Texas area for recruits that would be awesome. GO IRISH!!!!!