Speed freaks, rejoice! Notre Dame picked up its most important skill position recruit in a long, long time when elite back Chris Tyree pledged to the Irish today. Tyree is the kind of home-run threat Notre Dame needs to land to field an offense that can run with the big boys; he ran the fastest 60 meter time in the nation this past indoor track season, and he has run the 40-yard dash under 4.4 at camp events. So, yeah, he can fly. At #29 overall in the 247 Composite, Tyree is only the 15th top-30 commit for the Irish in the 20 years of the internet era of recruiting. He’s Notre Dame’s highest-rated running back since James Aldridge, who was #27 overall in the 2006 class, and highest-rated ball-carrier since Michael Floyd, who was #14 overall in the 2008 class.
Considering all that, this is clearly a pretty big win already for Chip Long and Lance Taylor. What makes it even more impressive is that the Dixie Duo went toe-to-toe with very formidable opponents – Alabama and Oklahoma both pursued Tyree heavily. Yes, Tyree is an excellent fit for Notre Dame and that’s part of why he showed interest. But a prospect as elite as this also makes his decisions for football reasons, and Long And Taylor convinced him that the best combination of reasons lies in South Bend. That’s huge.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 4 star (0.9831 rating), #29 overall, #1 APB, #1 in VA
247 Sports — 4 star (95 rating), #51 overall, #1 APB, #1 in VA
Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #60 overall, #1 APB, #2 in VA
ESPN — 4 star (87 rating), #22 overall, #3 RB, #1 in VA
IrishSportsDaily — 4 star (96 rating), #30 overall
Note: If Tyree’s Composite ranking holds, he’ll be a five-star when they do their final rankings towards the end of the cycle.
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Alabama, and Oklahoma, Chris Tyree holds offers from Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford, and Tennessee, among many others.
Highlights
This is just fun. Tyree’s long speed is, as you might expect, excellent. Perhaps more importantly, his burst is also exceptional – he goes from 0-60 absurdly fast. It’s on display over and over again, but there are a few plays that really stuck out for me: the opening play, at the 3:53 mark, and at the 7:08 mark. In each case somebody had him dead to rights in a crowd, and he either ran through contact or made someone miss in a phone booth and then hit the jets. I hesitate to say it because I know I’ll catch some heat, including in the writers’ room, but… he sort of reminds me… maybe a little bit… of… [whispers] Rocket. There, I said it…
He’s not quite as fast, of course, and Rocket’s agility was just off the charts stupid good, but I see some similarities. They’re both tougher than they should be at their size. Both use a combination of balance, power, and agility to run effectively inside. They both run past people like they’re standing still. And they both make defenses freak out every time they touch the ball. Friend of the Site Jaime Uyeyama, from ISD, compares Tyree to Warrick Dunn and Tavon Austin. It’s high pressure, but it’s also high praise for Tyree that those comparisons is even possible.
Impact
Notre Dame has a few solid young backs on campus now, no question. Those bodies may present a bit of a log jam, but make no mistake, Chris Tyree will find his way on the field early. Like Braden Lenzy last year, he would have to go on a month-long beer-and-wings bender to be considered slight, so he’ll have to hit the weight room. He’s also further along as a football player than Lenzy was last year, though, so he should need less ramp-up time. And he’s faster than Lenzy, as hard to imagine as that is, and that kind of speed just doesn’t stay on the bench. Tyree will bring something to the field that no other Irish player can at the moment. He’ll play early and I expect we’ll enjoy our three years with him.
Welcome to the Irish family, Chris!
Heck yes, what a HUGE pick-up for BK and the boys! Can’t wait to see him terrorize opposing defenses!!
Very, very big get. If we are to have a chance of having a legitimate chance of winning playoff games, we need players like Tyree and Johnson. I’ve been very impressed and pleasantly surprised with this class so far.
Lance Taylor making a good first impression on Irish fans prior to coaching a game.
Spectacular.
Seems like quite the (helmet) catch!
[Groan]
No relation that I know of, incidentally. Nobody has mentioned it and David is from central NJ while Chris is, as noted, from Virginia.
@But is he any relation to Mo Stovall?@
That’ll work. These guys are on 🔥. I’m so impressed with the work they are doing. McGregor is up tomorrow. I’m hearing mixed messages. But seeing as how ND has put out a bunch of new offers at D-end, it’s looking like the skunk bears win this one.
So this brings me to back to the age old question. How do we effectively judge a recruiting class? I don’t think whatever the recruiting sites decide before the players even hit the field is truly accurate. I would love to see the recruiting sites do a re-evaluation of classes after the 5 years of eligibility is up.
We’ll see on McGregor. I think there’s reason for optimism but I see it as a coin flip at the moment.
I hope you’re right.
Tyree’s commitment moves us from 9th to 6th in the 247 Composite team rankings, btw. McGregor would get us up to 4th.
You didn’t get his best highlight video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkp34dy4mSM
This guy any good?
https://18stripes.com/way-way-too-early-guess-notre-dames-recruiting-class-2020/
Read the very bottom section of my best guess 🙂
The only thing I see in that post is you promised McGregor!
(Kidding…kind of)
As someone from Central VA I’m so happy to see a young man going on to Notre Dame. (Chris is not to far up the road from CJ Prosise’s hometown too, Prosise always gives back to the community and runs a camp every summer, I don’t know if Tyree was ever involved at all…But it’s a little type of thing like that surely can’t hurt knowing in the back of your mind someone from a nearby community at the same position made it to the NFL from the Notre Dame path).
Very thrilling to get this commit, though Taylor is getting a lot of praise it sounds like more should go to Long and Kelly for laying the groundwork and showing a ton of interest and making a lot of efforts to travel and out in face time. It paid off!
This is a huge get!
.
And yet, Clemson already has 5(!) guys committed that rank higher than him. It’s so tough to compete in the top 2-4.
https://247sports.com/college/clemson/Season/2020-Football/Commits/
Whoa.
I’ve read that Clemson may be recruiting the highest ranked class ever.
They’re in such a sweet spot now with facilities upgraded, prime geographic location, on-field success, pro potential, charismatic coach in his prime, national success and recognition. So much going for them, just turning into a monstrous program. Perfect timing to have the three big Florida schools being all in a rut or downswing at the moment too, so much right has come together for them.
Luckily Notre Dame plays them 3 times in 4 years starting just next year. That should be so much fun.
If Clemson stopped recruiting RIGHT NOW and didn’t add another player to their class, they’d likely still have a top 5 finish for 247 Composite team rankings. In the last 10 years, the class they have committed CURRENTLY would have averaged a rank of 4.2 (they would have had finishes of 3rd, 5th, 7th, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 4th). And we still have over 8 months or recruiting left!
And they’re in good position with a couple of other 5-stars, too. Clemson is on one heck of a roll
Look at about the 1:35 minute mark in the video. 6 defenders fall down trying to tackle him. Hillarious. OH, THE HUMANITY!