Notre Dame Adds CB Joe Wilkins to Recruiting Class of 2018

Notre Dame picked up its third commitment in the last few weeks on Monday night when Joe Wilkins Jr became the first cornerback and 19th overall recruit to Notre Dame’s class of 2018.  Wilkins visited Notre Dame officially over the weekend for the Wake Forest game and committed shortly after returning home to Florida announcing his decision on Twitter.

☘️❗️C O M M I T T E D ❗️☘️ pic.twitter.com/hmJ8VnQpxT

— Joe Wilkins Jr (@joewilkinsjrrr) November 7, 2017

Before committing to Notre Dame, Wilkins held offers from Michigan State, NC State, Iowa State, Kentucky, Arizona, Louisville, South Carolina, and Maryland.  Wilkins checks in at 6’2″, 180 lbs and ranks as the #28 athlete in the class of 2018 in 247Sports’s composite rankings.  The athlete designation comes because Wilkins plays both wide receiver and defensive back though Notre Dame has made it clear they recruited him as a corner.

Notre Dame offered Wilkins back in May.  At the time, he was listed as a wide receiver by 247Sports and wasn’t even listed as one of the top 100 prospects in the country at the position.  By the time the season rolled around, though, Wilkins was listed as an athlete and his ranking jumped up to #28 at the position.

As a corner, Wilkins is a very interesting prospect for Notre Dame with his 6’2″ height.  From a pure profile standpoint, Bennett Jackson comes to mind.  Jackson was listed at the #75 composite wide receiver as a 3-star prospect back in 2010 before moving to corner for Notre Dame in the spring of 2011,  If Wilkins has a similar career trajectory to Jackson, Notre Dame would be thrilled.

With the commitment of Wilkins, Notre Dame finally has a cornerback for the class of 2018 after losing Kalon Gervin back in the spring.  The Irish are looking to add up to three corners in this class making the addition of Wilkins a very welcomed sight.

While the Irish only have Wilkins at corner, they now have three defensive backs overall with crown jewel Derrik Allen one of the headliners of the class joined by Paul Moala already onboard at safety.

Look for Notre Dame to continue to stay recruiting every other corner left on the board as Wilkins is just the first of hopefully three corners for the Irish.  Notre Dame will also continue to push hard for a safety like Julius Irvin who visited Notre Dame for the Georgia game.  If the other two corners that Notre Dame adds to Wilkins are Alontae Taylor and Kyler Gordon, cornerback recruiting will be in great shape.