Floridian Joe Wilkins became the 19th Notre Dame commit of the 2018 cycle when he announced for the Irish today. The 6’2″, 180-pounder just took an official visit for the Wake Forest game with his mother; they had planned on visiting a few more schools, but apparently they saw all they needed in South Bend.

Joe Wilkins is the first cornerback of the 2017 or 2018 recruiting cycles to pledge to Notre Dame, which is big news in itself. He’s a solid developmental prospect with an excellent frame – more on that below – and his addition lets the staff really focus in on the rest of their secondary targets.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247 Composite — 3 star (.8560), #697 overall, #59 WR, #109 in FL

247 Sports — 3 star, #443 overall, #28 WR, #67 in FL

Rivals — 3 star (5.5 rating), NR overall, NR WR, NR in FL

Scout — 3 star, NR overall, #95 ATH, #10 in FL

ESPN — 3 star (80 rating), NR overall, #82 WR, #82 in FL

Something’s obviously up with Scout’s state ranking, but I don’t have much interest in filtering through the list to figure it out. So, use your imagination.

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Wilkins holds offers from Arizona, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, Pitt, South Carolina, and Washington State, among others.

Highlights

There are three things that jump out for me on Wilkins’s senior film. First, his athleticism is obvious – he shows good acceleration and top-end speed, and some of the cuts he makes with the ball in his hands are absurd. Second, he’s aggressive all the time, whether as a receiver, returning kicks, in coverage, or in run support. He seems to have a mindset that the ball and the turf belong to him. Third, and sort of feeding off that, the kid has some swagger; whether it’s the era of Shane Walton or Robert Blanton, the Irish defense has always benefited from having a little attitude on the back end.

If you’re looking for something to work on, the list has a single entry: everything. I kid, mostly, but in addition to the physical tools and mentality, it’s also pretty clear that Wilkins is raw, raw, raw. He’s not completely clueless out there, but he definitely is getting by on athleticism right now, on both sides of the ball. He’s doing a lot of the right things, like breaking on throws or selling a double move, but they’re not always as crisp or decisive as they should be. The good news is that you can teach technique but you can’t teach athleticism.

Impact

Joe Wilkins is probably a down-the-road contributor; in addition to the technique work he needs, the depth chart will be pretty stacked for 2018. Nick Watkins, Julian Love, Shaun Crawford, Troy Pride, and Donte Vaughn will all return and will all have multiple seasons of game experience. 2019 is a different story, though, with Watkins definitely gone and Crawford possibly gone. The most likely scenario seems to be that Wilkins gets a redshirt year to hone his craft, then works on special teams and mop-up duty as a sophomore, then gets a shot to push his way into the rotation as a junior. The tools are there – it just rests on how much he can develop.

Welcome to the Irish family, Joe!