California speedster Geordon Porter became the 18th Notre Dame commit of the 2018 cycle when he announced for the Irish at his high school today. At 6’2″, Porter is actually the shortest of the three receivers in the class at this point; clearly the Irish have prioritized size at the position. What is even more interesting about Porter, though, is his speed – he has a 10.61 100M and an electronic 4.57 40 on his resume, as well as a 35″ vertical. He needs some polish, certainly, but the raw athleticism is visible and it’s impressive.
Porter visited Notre Dame for the first time back on Georgia weekend. Despite the game result, he and his father both loved the visit and couldn’t say enough good things about it. Arizona State and, to a lesser extent, Utah made a strong late push for his services, but ultimately the work Brian Polian put into this relationship proved to be too much for them to overcome. The staff got its desired downfield threat in the class, as well as a guy who could get a look at defensive back.
Also, if you were wondering – I definitely was – his first name is pronounced “Jordan.” Flutie should have fun with that one.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 3 star (.8690), #490 overall, #86 WR, #32 in CA
247 Sports — 3 star, #333 overall, #54 WR, #41 in CA
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #67 WR, #47 in CA
Scout — 3 star, NR overall, #144 WR, #23 in CA
ESPN — 3 star (78 rating), NR overall, #113 WR, #55 in CA
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Geordon Porter also holds offers from Alabama, Arizona State, Cal, Duke, Georgia, Utah, UCLA, and Washington State, among others. Arizona State and Utah were the primary competition.
Highlights
Porter broke current NFLer Marvin Jones’s school record for all purpose yards in a game earlier this season, ironically enough against Max Redfield’s high school. In the senior highlights below, you can see why he’s dangerous; he shows that excellent open-field speed from the first play. He has a long stride and watches for the right moment to accelerate, so at times it looks almost like he’s loafing – and then BAM. He shows pretty good vision in the open field and an aggressive mentality. He’s not afraid to take a guy on if that’s the best way to get through. On the final play of this highlight reel you even get to see him on defense, where he does a good job of recognizing the play and closing out on the ball carrier.
Porter will definitely need to work on his craft before he can contribute. Most of the routes here are either a go, a post, or a fade; when there’s something a little more nuanced, he tends to round off his cuts or sort of drift through the route to where he’s supposed to be. That’s easily teachable. He’s also not the shiftiest guy, but he has the speed and explosion numbers to improve somewhat there. That’s not the end of the world since he’s in this class as a take-the-top-off type of guy. Finally, while he shows great concentration, there were a few catches he made here where he went to the ground needlessly. He got away with that here, obviously, since it’s a highlight reel, but I’d like to see him attack those balls more aggressively to cut down the time the defense has to disrupt the catch.
Impact
Geordon Porter needs some work on technique and probably needs to add a some good weight to his 175-pound frame. He’s probably not going to see the field in 2018, but if he develops his game I could see him working into the rotation as a sophomore and becoming a regular contributor as a junior. You can teach technique, but you can’t teach raw speed, and he has that. That’s going to be hard to keep out of the lineup. He could also get a look on defense, probably at corner, and/or as a return specialist.
Welcome to the Irish family, Geordon!
Nice! I’m always confused when they have low recruiting rankings but a high recruiting cohort.
It just doesn’t jive to me.
I’m still scarred from the “Devin Studstill is going to be the greatest safety in ND history despite his 3-star ranking” talk.
Not the California WR I want but congrats to him for joining the family. Wonder if we’ll keep him around, though, if the other CA WR commits
It will be interesting to see if all commits are given the opportunity to sign in December (and, if not all, how the coaches decide who gets to sign then/who doesn’t). I presume ASB is going to wait until the February signing day, and four WRs seems like a lot.
St. Brown is announcing at the Army All-America game, I think January 6th.
And we’re not Alabama or Michigan. We wouldn’t take a kid’s commitment if we weren’t willing to also take his LOI. If ND gives you the green light to commit, you have that scholarship in your pocket and it’s not coming out. Every committed recruit will have the opportunity to sign in December if they want.
The staff like Porter a lot. If they didn’t, they would tell him to wait. Simple as that.
Makes sense, particularly when it applies to Porter given that he’s committing only a month before the new signing day. I wonder, though, if that will end up being generally applicable – e.g., guys who commit way early and then have not-so-great junior and/or senior years. I’ve gotten the sense that the staff has gotten increasingly less shy about telling underclassmen on the roster that they may not have many opportunities in the not-so-subtle hope that they transfer and free up a roster spot – which, by the way, I think is fine! A welcome development, even – and I wonder if that’s the case (or going to be the case) with committed recruits.
Regarding the “management” at the upper class end of the depth chart–it’s actually better for the kid, too. If they finish their degree and then transfer to somewhere else to play, that’s great!
Thanks Brendan, Clearwall’s and Nd12’s comments surprised me. It’s not the way ND rolls. Kids may transfer when they see the writing on the wall but are not forced out the door. (Jimmy Byrne)
Following up on that, though – is the “green light” how it works w/r/t getting the numbers right? I.e., ND “offers” a kid, but some offers (the offers that a recruit can actually commit to) are more equal than others? Are there times when an offered kid wants to go to commit and coaches are like, “well, uh, about that…”? Genuinely curious, as I have no idea how that works.
I think so. Many kids are told they have to wait until player x makes a decision or knocks ND out. Just like when a kid gets hurt, ND doesn’t pull offers after a commitment. I think the honesty factor pays dividends for ND over the long haul.
I could be wrong, but I do not think Notre Dame will rescind an offer to a committed athlete unless there is an admissions issue.
They don’t rescind, but as discussed above, they will slow play kids who are lower priority, tell them to wait to commit, etc.
This sounds like georate news!
At 6’2″ Porter seems Stout.
IPAcwydt
What superb wit(bier) from the commentariat. Although I don’t know how weiss it is to be so prone to puns.
Let’s not mention Weis(s), okay? I think we’ve tapped out the humor there, let’s not doppelbock to that.
Speaking if We is, Brendan used the term “BAM” in this post. BAM, what is that? Is that like “WHOOSH”?
I agree. Let’s not gose there.
If anybody does, we’d be at lagerheads.
Whew. This is turning into quite the session.
If beer puns is the worst thing ale everd do in my life, ale die a hoppy man
Yeah, you wouldn’t be bitter, or lambic that fate.
Brandon Wimbusch
Khalid Kareem Stout
His running style reminds me of Floyd. Those long strides don’t make him look like he is running fast, but no one is catching him. He looks a lot bigger than 175 lbs in that video.
Brendan – ND is having a great season and has a D-coordinator who actually looks like he is putting effort into recruiting (i.e., the staff is not short-handed anymore). However, it does not seem like there are (m)any 5 stars jumping to commit to ND. Does this suggest that the current iteration of ND (as a high academic school) will never attract 5 stars? What are your thoughts?
We’re 8 games removed from a 4-8 season. I’m sure that doesn’t help.
Not Brendan, but I think the short answer is that it’s really hard to land 5* kids. I can count on one hand the number of schools pulling in multiple five stars, and ND has some pretty strong players in this class (6 of top 150 in 247 composite and in the mix for a few more). Winning and Elko will certainly attract the attention of a few more top guys but it also takes time for the impact of this turnaround to translate, especially with how early kids commit now (i.e. impact of this season more likely to show up in next class than this one).
The current iteration of ND really hasn’t changed a lot in the modern era in terms of academic restrictions, and there’s also a pretty good record in terms of attracting and landing five stars – Tommy Kraemer, Quenton Nelson, Jaylon, Redfield, Greg Bryant, Tuitt, Lynch, Ishaq, Manti. Not all of those guys panned out, but the suggestion that ND can’t land top kids has been debunked by recent history.
Wait, but I can get half a class of 5 stars on NCAA Football 2013!?!?!
I think there are two problems there: (1) There’s a very limited supply of five stars, only about 30 in any given recruiting cycle. (2) For the most part landing those guys is an 18-month process, not a six-month process.
So being good now might catch the attention of some 2018 guys, but it’s highly unlikely that any of them will actually change their minds to seriously give ND consideration. Where this season can potentially help us a lot is in the 2019 cycle, and I think that’s already happening – long way to go, but we’re in good shape with Texas safety Brian Williams, who is #7 overall in the 247 Composite. We’re still in it with Amon-Ra, so we could pull a five star in this class still, but I would really look for this season to have an impact in the next recruiting cycle.
Also to consider, a good chunk of 5-stars don’t qualify academically or are simply not good culture fits for Notre Dame (Ex. Micah Parsons). That, along with what Brendan and Michael said, really limit the pool.