(
Loading ...James Onwualu – WR – 6’2″, 205 lbs, 4.5
Hailing from the same high school, Cretin Derham Hall, as former Notre Dame standouts Michael Floyd and Ryan Harris, James Onwualu was another early commitment in this year’s class. Notre Dame’s latest Cretin Derham alum brings a lot of versatility with him to Notre Dame. Recruited as a wide receiver, Onwualu has the ability to also play safety and running back as well depending on where he is needed and fits in best.
All of the major recruiting services except Scout list Onwualu as a 4-star recruit, but all of them do agree that he is an “athlete” as he leaves Minnesota and heads to South Bend. If Notre Dame didn’t have a backlog at safety already, safety might make the most sense for him given his size and speed. Given the numbers at safety though, wide receiver looks the most likely.
Notre Dame lacks a true “possession” wide receiver in this offense at this point – a chain moving, reliable target. Onwualu has the ability to fill that void. I hate using the term possession wide receiver because it carries a negative connotation, but every offense needs that big, physical wide receiver that can out-muscle a cornerback for position and move the chains.
Notre Dame has a lot of talent and depth coming back at wide receiver next year. TJ Jones and DaVaris Daniels started to establish themselves as the go to targets by the end of the season and 2012 freshmen Justin Ferguson, Chris Brown, and Davonte Neal all showed promise . Senior to be Daniel Smith, whose career has been slowed by injuries, returns as well.
It would also not be surprising if Onwualu got a look at running back with Theo Riddick out of eligibility and Cierre Wood looking very likely to forgo his 5th year of eligibility for the NFL. Amir Carlisle will return from injury next year, but there will be a lot of opportunity at running back for the Irish in the fall.
Onwualu picked Notre Dame with offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Stanford, UCLA, and Wisconsin
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the UHND.com RSS feed 
.
Related Posts
- A Look at Notre Dame’s ’13 Early Enrollees So Far
- An Early Look at Notre Dame’s 2014 Commitments
- Meet the 2012 Freshmen
- A Look Back at Early Enrollment at Notre Dame
- Five Set to Enroll Early at Notre Dame
- Meet the New Notre Dame Staff
- Meet Your 2009 Coaching Staff
- Meet the Recruits 2007: The Defense/Special Teams
- Meet the Recruits 2007: The Offense
- Early Enrollees ‘Setting in Nicely’
Comments to this Article
storespook commented on January 15th, 2013 at 3:13 am
Looks promising with these lads for the future of ND.
Irish Fans United
[Reply]
Rich commented on February 15th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
Everything seems to be coming together for ND. Great season and now an outstanding recruiting class. Only time will tell if this class will come through with enough wins to keep the ND faithful satisfied. That means at least 9 per season. Less than 9 does not cut it here in South Bend. Just ask Coach Kelly. His 8 win seasons were not going to get him another multi-year bigger bucks contract. But he managed to bring home the bacon with the 12 win season. Even the ND fans could have to complaints! Now wait a minute, they did get crushed by the Tide, but 12-1 and back in the hunt for the big prize should at least put the Irish wolves at bay for a while. What happens this coming year will tell you if the 12-0 was a fluke or the real deal. I happen to think it was for real. College football needs the Irish to be at or near the top. They are just like the Yankees. When the Yankees are winning baseball is good. The Irish do the same for college football. The haters have something to talk about when ND is down and they can complain an awful lot when the Irish are winning. Its a no lose situation. I’m one Irish fan that cannot wait for the season to start. Go Irish!
[Reply]