Notre Dame football has a running back in its class of 2021. On Wednesday, Louisiana native Logan Diggs committed to Notre Dame becoming the 14th member of the class of 2021 and the first running back after much trial and tribulation at the position for this class.
Diggs hinted at big news coming on Tuesday and he followed through with it on Wednesday with his commitment announcement.
Arizona, Arizona State, Michigan State, Ole Miss, USC, Purdue, Virginia, and Oklahoma State among others, offered Diggs a scholarship prior to his Notre Dame commitment. USC was briefly considered the leader for Diggs and there was some chatter that he wanted to commit to the Trojans at one point.
One team that hasn’t offered Diggs yet that will be one to watch is LSU. The homestate Tigers have reportedly been considering an offer for a while as they look to add a second running back to their class, but to date they have not. A LSU offer could make things interesting for Notre Dame, but that is a situation the Irish staff is well aware of.
Notre Dame’s running back recruiting hit a major roadblock when their all-in approach with Will Shipley backfired in April. They put all their eggs one basket with Shipley only to come in second to Clemson in a hard-fought recruiting battle. That left Notre Dame scrambling at the position. The first offer Notre Dame made after getting left at the alter was Diggs.
Diggs is not Will Shipley. Shipley is a composite 5-star recruit for a reason. He’s a day one, instant impact prospect. Diggs isn’t necessarily that. He is, however, a prospect with a high ceiling who has almost every trait you want in an every-down back. The only thing missing from his game is elite top-end speed. A lot of highly successful collegiate running backs lack elite top-end speed though.
Notre Dame is getting a potential every-down back who has a great burst, runs with toughness, and is a willing blocker. That alone will endear him to the Notre Dame staff that has been reluctant to play some younger backs in the past because of their deficiencies in pass blocking.
Despite his composite 3-star ranking on 247Sports, Irish Sports Daily has had Diggs ranked as a 4-star prospect from the beginning of Notre Dame’s pursuit of him. ISD’s Jamie Uyeyama explained why he is so high on Diggs in a film breakdown today.
Diggs has two critical traits that in my mind make him an elite prospect.
He has the vision and lateral agility to make defenders miss and he has the strength and balance to consistently gain yards after contact. Those are so important for a back at the college level and they are why I am so high on Diggs as a prospect.
Film Don’t Lie: Logan Diggs – Irish Sports Daily
We won’t know for three or four years if Notre Dame and Lance Taylor‘s decision to go all-in on Shipley was detrimental to the Irish offense in the future. Perhaps Diggs plays closer to the rating ISD gave him than what the major services have. It wouldn’t be the first time that they missed on a prospect. Considering they did go all-in on Shipley and came up empty though, they did pretty good in recovering with Diggs.
Notre Dame tried to kick the tires on LJ Johnson, a top-100 out of Texas, but never got traction since it was too little too late. They also tried to rekindle things with top-100 back Donovan Edwards, but most recent reports had Notre Dame running third or fourth in that race.
In Diggs, Notre Dame has added a running back that has all of the traits that you want in a running back other than blazing speed for Taylor to work with.
Notre Dame now has 14 commitments for 2021 after adding three to the class of 2021 in July alone. The Irish landed California defensive back Chance Taylor and Iowa offensive lineman Joe Alt earlier this month.
Next up on commit watch is tight end Mitchell Evans. It wouldn’t be surprising if he popped for Notre Dame in the coming days. Outside of Evans, the biggest recruit left on Notre Dame’s board, Rocco Spindler, is set to announce on August 8 with the race believed to be down to Notre Dame and Michigan. Notre Dame has to win that battle to have any chance at finishing in the top-10 this year.
So….hell become a decent pass rush blocker?