Atlanta Pace Academy wide receiver Jayden Thomas announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Friday afternoon, giving the Irish 19 verbal pledges in the 2021 class. For more on his decision, click here.
After landing fellow four-star Georgia pass catcher Deion Colzie on Monday, Notre Dame, which was at No. 11 in the Rivals’ team rankings, was primed to jump to No. 9 with the expected commitment of Thomas on Friday.
However, Clemson, which has been at the No. 9 spot, added a commitment from three-star safety Andrew Mukuba, giving it 2,180 points per the Rivals rankings formula.
Notre Dame did, though, pass up Miami for the No. 10 spot by just one point.
As a 5.8 four-star prospect per the Rivals scale and the No. 195 overall prospect nationally, Thomas added 119 points to Notre Dame’s total score. The Irish have 2,154 points, just 26 points behind Clemson. Adding a two-star recruit would push the Irish past the Tigers at this moment in time.
For more details on the Rivals rankings formula, click here.
Notre Dame has the fewest amount of four-star recruits in the top 10 with six. The second fewest is Michigan with 11.
That may frustrate some Irish fans, but what is helping Notre Dame in the rankings is that nine of its 12 three-star commitments are borderline four-star prospects with a 5.7 three-star designation. With strong senior campaigns, Irish commits could see a bump down the road.
When sorting by average star ranking, Notre Dame has the No. 17 class in the country with an average of 3.42 stars per recruit. The Irish are directly above Auburn, Wisconsin, Utah and West Virginia, respectively.
Thomas is Notre Dame's third wide receiver commit of the class, joining Colzie and Pickerington (Ohio) Central's Lorenzo Styles Jr. 11 of the Irish’s 19 verbals play on the offensive side of the ball.
Thomas committed to Notre Dame over Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. He also plans to play baseball for Link Jarrett’s Fighting Irish program.
“My family and I sat down and had a great talk. They asked me what’s the place for me, and I said Notre Dame.” Thomas told BlueandGold.com about his decision. “It can do it a lot for me academically, culturally, and on the baseball and football fields.”
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @MasonPlummer_ and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.
