The depth chart at running back is looking a bit less scary now, as Georgia running back C’Borius Flemister (C’Bo for short) has decided to flip from Georgia Tech and commit to the Fighting Irish. The 5-11/200 pound athlete out of Zebulon’s Pike County High School is the second running back to sign with Notre Dame, following Jahmir Smith — who signed with the Irish during the early signing period and is now on campus as an early enrollee.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Sports — 3 star (86 rating), #721 overall, #40 RB, #73 in GA
Rivals — 3 star (5.5 rating), NR overall, NR position, NR in GA
ESPN — 3 star (73 rating), NR overall, #88 RB, #130 in GA
247 Sports Composite — 3 star (.8382), #1386 overall, #83 RB, #134 in GA
C’Bo is a guy who really took huge strides in his senior year. A lot of the lower rated players don’t get reevaluated late in the process by the recruiting services. 247 didn’t reevaluate C’Bo until late January, and Tom Loy had to specifically ask Barton Simmons to do it after seeing his senior film and realizing it needed to be done. I’m not sure when Rivals and ESPN last evaluated him.
Cohort
C’Bo chose the Irish over other offers from Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Georgia Southern, Air Force, Army, Navy, and others. Not a bunch of heavy hitters in his offer list, but watch his senior highlights and you’ll see why the Irish started to pursue him late in the process.
Highlights
Watch those highlights and tell me that kid is the 1,386th best player in the class of 2018. C’Bo runs with power and authority. He drives his leg through tackles, has excellent body control, and rarely goes down on first contact. He made great improvement from his junior year. Over the offseason he worked on his strength and conditioning, explosiveness, and speed — and it paid off. This past fall he rushed for over 2,400 yards and 35 touchdowns for the Pike County Pirates.
Impact
This was a much needed addition to the class, given the state of the current depth chart at running back. After Markese Stepp was denied admission, and with CJ Holmes and Deon McIntosh being dismissed from the team in January, the Irish were in a tough spot with only three scholarship running backs on the roster (a number which includes true freshman early enrollee Jahmir Smith). This adds much-needed depth to the roster, and a quality late addition to boot.
C’Bo will have a big opportunity to see the field early at ND. He will likely start out as RB4 on the depth chart in the summer since Jahmir Smith is a bit more polished right now and will have those extra spring practices under his belt. He should earn some valuable reps early, though, and I could see him adjusting to the college level fairly quickly.
Welcome to the Irish family, C’Bo!
Listen, when you have the opportunity to get a C’Borius, you gotta do it.
Legendary name. And he definitely runs hard. I was surprised to see as many breakaway runs considering his ranking.
Low level of GA football? No way he isn’t a 4 star if that is the top competition in Georgia.
So many guys start low that it takes a lot for the services to take notice and move them. Considering how big of a leap he took between his junior and senior years in quality of play and production, he must have been though of pretty lowly to begin with. I like landing a kid with that kind of production against any Georgia competition who happens to be on an upward trajectory rather than showing signs of topping out. We’ve seen that too often with running backs in particular.
Running back from Georgia coming to ND..serious question, any relation to Darius Walker?
Georgia’s a state of 10 million people, so I’m going to guess no. He is kin to Maurice Stovall though, just as we all are.
I don’t think so, but I did read somewhere that he’s like a fifth cousin or something of Mo Stovall.
247 evaluated him last week for the first time since the start of his junior season. Not sure about the other services but I’m going to guess it was pretty similar. Tennessee definitely wanted him, so it’s not like we were alone in coming after him late. I doubt he’s a hidden five-star or anything, but I do think we got a steal.
I was asking more just about his level of competition. He really dominates, and outruns everyone, so I am curious what level he plays at.
If a kid ran for 2.400 yds adn 35 TDs in the top division/class, then he would have gotten noticed, irregahdless of where he was originally ranked. This is why I assume it is a lower level of GA HS FB, but was curious what relative level.
rec for irregahdless. Go B’s
I’m definitely going to inadvertently refer to him as Jorus C’bouth at some point during his career.
Good expanded universe reference.
FYI did some checking and his HS 9-12 shows 1121 students. They are 4A. Georgia is 1A-7A.
Test
Well said