Wednesday was a bit of a roller coaster for Notre Dame. The day started off a pair of elite defenders Justin Hilliard and Jashon Cornell committing to Ohio State and then took a turn for the worse when news broke that Nile Sykes would be transferring before his first official practice as a Notre Dame football player. Wednesday night, however, Notre Dame fans got some good news when 4-star WR Miles Boykin committed to Notre Dame.
— miles boykin (@MBoykin814) July 3, 2014
Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Michigan State, and Illinois were the other finalists for Boykin’s commitment, but the huge wide receiver prospect also picked up offers from the likes of Arizona State, Oregon, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin as well.
Boykin comes to Notre Dame as a consensus 4-star prospect with Rivals holding the highest opinion of the latest member of the #ShamrockSoldiers15 ranking him as the #10 wide receiver in the entire country. 247 Sports has Boykin as a 4-star recruit as well but has him lower on their list of wide receivers coming in a #34.
With Boykin’s commitment, Notre Dame has now picked up three commitments in the last three days. Earlier this week Notre Dame received commitments from running back Josh Adams and cornerback Ashton White pushing Notre Dame’s commitment list for the class of 2015 to 17.
After adding Boykin to this year’s class, Notre Dame now has three wide receivers in the class of 2015 with Boykin joining CJ Sanders and Jalen Guyton. Boykin, however, adds a different dimension to the group standing at 6’4″ and weighing in at 220 lbs already heading into his senior season at Providence High School in New Lenox, Illinois. That size, in fact, has many thinking that Boykin could eventually grow into a tight end at some point down the road.
Whether or not that happens will be determined with how Boykin develops in the weight room. As is, it’s hard to look at Boykin and not be reminded of Maurice Stovall. Like Boykin, many felt that Stovall would grow into a tight end during his career at Notre Dame. That never happened and Stovall went on to have a breakout senior season in 2005 leading to the Philly native getting drafted in the 3rd round of the ’06 NFL Draft.
Even with three wide receivers in this class, Notre Dame likely won’t stop recruiting some of the top targets left on their board including Ryan Newsome and Equanimeous St. Brown. Even if Notre Dame ends Signing Day 2015 with just the trio they have committed now though, Notre Dame has done a great job recruiting at the position this year just as they have each of the last three years.
With the versatility of a player like Boykin who could one day grow into a tight end, Notre Dame could also potentially afford to pass at the tight end position in this year’s class after adding two in each of the past two seasons.
Miles Boykin Highlights
It looks as if the Midwest, and some favorite Catholic Schools, will be a key battleground for recruiting in the class of 2016. It is remarkable how the recruiting calendar has crept up. These kids for 2016, if they redshirt, will not see the field until September of 2017, almost three years from now.
Nevertheless here are the the suspects:
Liam Eichenberg
6’5″ 290, Cleveland St. Ignatius (2014’er OG Jimmy Byrne and many others)
Tommy Kraemer
6’5″ 285, Cincinnati Elder (it’s Catholic)
we are purportedly in great shape for these two and are still chasing also
Ben Bredesen, 6’4″ 265 Arrowhead High School, Arrowhead Wisconsin, an early STRONG Wisconsins lean, but in conversation with the Irish
Defensive linemen
Josh King, 6’6″ 250 Hinsdale South, with the Irish near the top of the list.
Auston Robertson 6’5″ 230 DE, Fort Wayne Wayne, ND has offered but a wide open Midwest dogfight, just switched from WR but Robertson is climbing as a Jhonny Williams type athletic DE
Wide Receiver
Austin Mack 6’2, 205 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (Jaylon’s School) Notre Dame in dogfight with the usual Midwest suitors, with Michigan perhaps in the lead
Tight End
Jake Hausmann, 6’5″ 235 Bishop Moeller, with Ohio state clear leader
Linebacker
LB Daelin Hayes, camped at Invasion, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 6’3″ 225, Notre Dame in adequate position, must fight off Michigan, but now USC has entered the fray.
None of these eight is a reach, to say the least, with Robertson accelerating down the stretch.
It appears that Notre Dame is in for many quarterbacks, with Louisiana’s Shea Patterson the current most likely to commit.
If the Irish can succeed in the Midwest (as in getting more than four of the listed eight, as well as they have in the 2015 class, the future will remain bright.
There’s a lot of talk about this class is lacking 4 & 5 star talent and how we do not have any ayers inside the top 100. Keep in mind that these kids still have there senior seasons to play and develop. It’s likely that some of them may see there star value increase this fall.
With that said I do agree that I would very much like to see some elite talent added to the mix. Not because of star rankings but the athleticism they bring to the table from day 1.
IrishChan – you’re right in that some of these guys ratings will go up. But it’s also true that some of these guys ratings will go down.
So far, they have shown an inability to secure elite talent in this year’s recruiting cycle and they have very few slots left to do anything about that.
You are wasting your time IC, no matter what you say Mike is not pleased with this class.
the array of wide receivers in the pipeline is intriguing.
Corey “Catch Radius” Robinson is the tallest
Boykin is 6’4
Daniels 6’3
Chris Brown and Corey Holmes are 6’2
Prosise, Brent, Guyton and Fuller are 6’1
Torii Hunter is 6’0
Sanders is 5’10”
Equanimeous Brown at 6’5 is still an option,
and this year’s Isaiah McKenzie is 5’9″ Ryan Newsome from Aledo
Notre Dame is in play for both.
This area has nice balance of different skill and speed sets and nice balance up and down the classes.
It is much stronger than in 2012 when noble warriors like Daniel Smith, Robby Toma and Goodman were forced to take key snaps. We have come some distance, and you are part of the solution, Mr. Boykin!
Better hope Oregon doesnt become more interested in him…Cause then hes gone
Don’t forget about Alabama, OSU, FSU and a few others
RIP Louis Zamperini
X2. A phenomenal man and a life well-lived.
Great pickup. Nice addition to a deep, varied WR stable.
Now let’s see what we can do for our front 7; losing out on Hilliard, though somewhat expected, and Cornell really stings. Having trouble landing the real studs on D lately; hope it turns around soon.
It’s a good day for Mike!
It’s a start, Ron. But he’s still outside the Rivals 100. That means they have 17 verbal commits and no top 100 players. I can’t see them going past 20 with this cycle, so they have to hit HR’s with all of their last recruits.
The class is still ranked in the Top 10 so it can’t be that bad.
As of now. ND has little wiggle to move up the rankings because they’ve almost filled their available slots. I guarantee you if they don’t sign blue-chippers with their remaining slots, they will get passed and passed by a lot of teams.
They may even fall out of the top 20.
I’m trying my best to make you happy Mike but it is tough.
How about this, the 21st ranked class is better than the 22nd?
It’s not a question of happy or unhappy. I’m just stating the facts. This is not a great class or even a good class. That top 10 ranking is just a snapshot in time. It’s a mirage. Every recruit they get from here on out has to be better than Boykin. And that is very unlikely to happen.
ND has finished outside the top 20 in recruiting only once in the last 10 years (2009)
(based on combined stats from Rivals, Scout, & ESPN)
Currently, the 3 mentioned recruiting services have ND listed as 7th, 6th, & 12th.
That averages out as the the 8th best class in the nation over all thus far.
I my self would consider that as “A Good Class”
Shazamrock – the current ranking means nothing. It’s just a snapshot in time. Assuming no one else decommits, ND has used up roughly 80% of the scholarships available to them. They’re almost done with this recruiting cycle. Other schools are not. If they fill out the rest of this cycle with players outside the top 100, I guarantee you they will drop significantly in the rankings.
If the current ranking means nothing then why are you always complaining about it? It’s a long way to February so just chill and see where it ends up. And then it’s another 3 years until any of these kids play anyway. In 50 some odd days nobody will care about this anyway.
Mike,
I agree that current rankings mean little at this time, which is why I pointed to the fact that ND has finished outside the top 20 only once in the last 10 years.
As you say, current rankings are only a snapshot in time… final results however, over many years, paint a more permanent portrait.
If ND fills out the rest of this recruiting cycle with players inside the top 100, I guarantee they will rise in the rankings.
Ron – The high rank ND has now means nothing because they have an entire class with no kids inside the top 100. Other schools will sign these kids and then leapfrog past ND.
I’m not complaining about the rankings. I’m pointing it out to those who think ND has a top 10 recruiting class and therefore will end up as a top 10 class. ND is almost filled up with their slots this year so unless something miraculous happens, this will not be a highly rated class. That’s not a complaint. That’s a statement.
I wonder what the number is going to be at the end for this class. I hope we can take more then 20. U make some good points Mike. Only time will tell, I guess.
I’d like to see what this kid could do with a QB who is able to get him the ball early and in stride.
He looks like a 5* guy out there.
I’d like to see more YAC. Looks more like a possesion reciever which isn’t a bad thing. True, though, his QB wasn’t that good in the vid.
Great hands on the big fella! Very nice get!!!
Go IRISH,
Woodrow
I agree.