Irish in the NFL: Notre Dame football alum Harrison Smith comes in at No. 21 in PFF Top 50

Irish in the NFL: Notre Dame football alum Harrison Smith comes in at No. 21 in PFF Top 50 by J.P. Scott

Notre Dame football got big one on the recruiting trail yesterday.

Irish invasion does it again! Notre Dame football picked up its first commitment from a defensive back Monday night, a day after a major recruiting weekend in South Bend. 2020 cornerback Clarence Lewis was on campus for the annual Irish invasion and clearly everything went as expected and more.

Lewis should be listed as an athlete, seeing as he’s been recruited mainly as a wide receiver by most. But the Irish staff has loved him as a cornerback from the beginning and that’s exactly where he’ll play in South Bend. He’s also a high character guy, which is obviously what Notre Dame looks for when recruiting.

At the moment, Lewis has 15 offers, including some from the likes of Virginia Tech, Kentucky, and Boston College.

What will Lewis bring to South Bend?

As I said before, he’s an athlete who has the skill set to play on both sides of the ball. What the staff loves about him for the cornerback position is his length and athleticism. The 6’1″, 180 pound corner also brings speed to the field with a nice twitch and quick feet.

With that speed comes the ability to turn and run with his opponents at a high level. He has long arms that will really benefit him, especially when he’s in press coverage fighting to get leverage.

As a consensus 3-star among the recruiting ranking sites, he definitely has a high ceiling to be a very productive corner in blue and gold for the next several years.

This is a really solid pickup for the staff and the recruiting class. Now with Lewis committing, the Irish have 12 commitments — seven on the offense and five on defense. I’d expect the Irish coaching staff to continue evaluating their list of defensive backs and look to add 3-4 more on the back end of the defense. This past weekend’s Irish invasion is off to a great start and I would expect more good news from that group of recruits coming soon to the 2020 class.