Notre Dame has leaned on some young receivers this spring, the development of a handful of current freshmen boding well for not only this fall, but also for 2020 and beyond. The Saturday night commitment of consensus four-star Jordan Johnson (DeSmet High School; St. Louis) should even further aid that cause.
The No. 13 receiver in the class of 2020, per rivals.com, Johnson chose the Irish over offers from USC, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia, to name a few of many top-tier programs chasing him. The sixth commitment in the class for Notre Dame, he joins two consensus four-star tight ends as skill position players in the early haul.
All glory to the man above ☘️💯 #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/oygnS3xyO4
— Jordan Johnson (@jjohnsonj1) April 6, 2019
At 6-foot-2, Jordan has a frame that will handle more than his current 180 pounds as he matures. That could position him as the boundary receiver to follow the group developing now in rising senior Chase Claypool’s wake. Both Claypool and fifth-year slot Chris Finke will be out of eligibility after this season, while rising junior Michael Young will have only one more year ahead of him. Those three represent the entirety of the Irish experience at receiver at this point.
Thus, while a quintet of targets will be two years ahead of Johnson, not to mention two more arriving this summer, they will have had limited chances to establish themselves when he arrives. Nonetheless, the pair most similar to Johnson have impressed this spring (Kevin Austin and Joe Wilkins).
“There’s going to be a collection of guys able to contribute outside, and [Wilkins] along with [Austin] and certainly [Young], all of those guys will contribute,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Saturday.
One other receiver note
Virginia Tech grad transfer Eric Kumah briefly considered Notre Dame as his destination earlier this spring, but he committed to Old Dominion on Sunday. Kumah’s interest in the Irish seemed to fade from afar as the likes of Austin, Wilkins and Braden Lenzy progressed this spring.
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