Notre Dame football’s big recruiting weekend is starting off with a BIG bang. Elite 2021 prospect Deion Colzie has decided to verbally commit to the Fighting Irish. The 6’4″/195-pounder out of Athens, Georgia is the 6th commit for Notre Dame’s Recruiting Class of 2021 — a class which already includes FIVE players ranked in the Top 100 per the 247Sports Composite.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #95 overall, #6 ATH, #9 in GA

ESPN — 4 star (86 rating), #48 overall, #9 WR, #6 in GA

247Sports — 4 star (95 rating), #55 overall, #6 WR, #4 in GA

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9750), #51 overall, #7 WR, #6 in GA

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (93 rating)

Cohort

Deion chose the Irish over other offers from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Duke, and others. Georgia and Alabama were likely the biggest competitors for his services. But this one was Notre Dame’s to lose from the start. Deion comes from a family that places a high priority on academics — and his mother has been a huge Notre Dame fan for years. The Irish took the lead  in this recruitment during his visit back in early June, and never relinquished control even after subsequent visits to Alabama and Georgia.

Highlights

Deion’s highlights show an interesting combination of the typical 50/50 jump balls you’d expect in the highlights on a 6’4″ wide receiver along with plenty of clips of him taking screens or other short passes and simply making would-be tacklers look silly. He possesses an elite blend of size, physicality, and athleticism.  There simply aren’t a lot of 6’4″ high school juniors who can run a 4.56 40/4.25 shuttle. If you’re looking for a guy who can be the next Chase Claypool or Equanimeous St Brown — look no further.

Impact

I don’t think you need me to tell you how big it is to be landing Top 50-ish guys at skill positions right now. We all saw the Cotton Bowl last winter, we know we need elite talent at receiver and running back to narrow the gap between Notre Dame and the Clemsons and Alabamas of the college football world.

The Notre Dame staff obviously made elite skill players a priority since that Cotton Bowl loss to a team that just had way more talent on the edge. Landing a player like Colzie is a heck of a start for the position for the Class of 2021. Let’s keep things rolling with guys like Will Shipley, Lorenzo Styles, and Christian Dixon please.

 

Welcome to the Irish Family, Deion!