Notre Dame picked up a huge commitment on Thursday – perhaps their biggest in the entire class of 2015 – when 5-star LB/DE Daelin Hayes committed to the Irish over Michigan State and Ohio State. Hayes, a one time USC commitment, is the highest rated defensive player committed to the Irish and 19th overall commitment.

The recruitment of Daelin Hayes has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but in the end, the ride stopped with Hayes committing to Notre Dame on Thursday. Hayes originally committed to USC over the summer but decommitted in October and visited Notre Dame shortly after for their showdown with USC. From that point on the Irish were firmly in the race. It wasn’t always easy for the Notre Dame coaching staff though.

At various points in his recruitment over the last few months, it appeared as though Hayes was leaning towards both Ohio State and Michigan State at various times. Once an in-home visit with Urban Meyer last week was canceled though, it was clear this was a two team race between the Irish and Spartans. A race Notre Dame has won.

Rivals rates Hayes as a 5-star prospect and the #21 overall prospect in the country regardless of position. Speaking of position, Hayes is listed as an outside linebacker on all recruiting services, but considering he is already weighing in a 250+ lbs, it’s very easy to envision him growing into a defensive end. A pass rushing defensive end like Notre Dame has been sorely lacking for years.

If Hayes sticks at linebacker, it’s also very easy to envision him following in the footsteps of the two other most recent 5-star linebackers for Notre Dame – Jaylon Smith and Manti Te’o. Hayes has that kind of potential for the Irish and his relationship with Smith specifically likely played a major role in his decision. A quick scan of Hayes’s Twitter feed makes it easy to see he holds Notre Dame’s Butkus Award winning linebacker in high regard.

Role Model… big bro @JaeeSmiff9ENT 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 pic.twitter.com/LLFJIlYM0r — Daelin Hayes (@DaelinHayes_IX) September 6, 2015

On top of offers from his three finalists, Hayes held offers from USC, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, and Oklahoma among other major Power 5 programs.

Hayes is an early enrollment recruit and will begin his Notre Dame career next month when the spring semester kicks off. With his size and early start, it is very easy to imagine a scenario where Hayes sees the field in 2016 – especially with Notre Dame still in search of edge pass rushers for Brian VanGorder’s defense.

This commitment has the potential to give Notre Dame some much needed momentum heading into the final stretches of the class of 2015. Hayes is the type of elite talent that can draw in other recruits and with a lot of prospects left on the board and only a few more scholarships remaining (6 most likely) the Irish staff will likely be focusing in on the cream of the crop as they look to close this year’s class strong.