Notre Dame picked up a big-time commitment on Wednesday for the class of 2023 with top-200 overall, 4-star running back Sedrick Irvin Jr selecting the Irish over Stanford, Michigan State, and Oregon.
Notre Dame is still looking for a second back for its class of 2022 to pair with Jadarian Price, but they found their first back for 2023 already in the highly touted Irvin Jr whose father played at Michigan State before becoming a 4th round NFL draft pick in 1999.
IN addition to his finalists, Irvin held offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech among others. Michigan State wasn’t the only obvious connection to Irvin the Irish had to overcome in this one. Alabama head coach Nick Saban coached the elder Irvin during his time as the head coach of the Spartans.
Irvin visited Notre Dame earlier in the summer and RB coach Lance Taylor and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees did a fantastic job in overcoming the family connections in this recruitment to add a big-time talent to the Notre Dame football rost.er
Notre Dame is adding another all-around back to its stable of running backs under Taylor. Irvin Jr, 5-10, 190 lbs, has a similar profile to current Notre Dame star Kyren Williams. He is a patient runner who excels at maximizing his gains and finding daylight to run to. Like Williams, he isn’t a typical power back, but he has the ability to pick up tough yards. He is also a capable receiver out of the backfield. And, like Williams, he isn’t considered a “burner” out of high school though he has plenty of top-end speed and still rips off long runs because of his vision and patience.
In six games in 2020, Irvin Jr ran for 552 yards on 81 attempts (6.8 ypc) with 6 touchdowns for Gulliver Prep in Miami – one of the better programs in the Miami area and the state of Florida.
Irvin Jr ranks as the #177 overall prospect and the #8 running back in the country and brings a composite 4-star ranking to a recruiting class that already features talented players at defensive end, defensive back, and tight end. Of the five commitments in the class of 2023, all of them are currently ranked in the 247Sports top 247.
Sedrick Irvin Sr terrorized Notre Dame fans in 1998 during Michigan State’s 45-23 thumping of the Irish under the guidance of Nick Saban. Irvin ran the ball 24times for 119 yards and a touchdown. Michigan State led the Irish 42-3 at half-time. The Spartans were coming off an embarrassing loss to Oregon and Notre Dame had just beaten the defending national champion Wolverines the week before.
Sedrick Irvin Sr terrorized Notre Dame fans in 1998…rushed 24 times 119 yards 1 TD…uh…ND are such wussies…that’s a typical good game for good running backs nothing special.