Notre Dame finished its Early Signing Period off strong on Friday. After Khari Gee announced he had flipped from his LSU commitment and signed with Notre Dame at noon, running back Audric Estime followed it up later in the afternoon with a flip of his own. The 6’1″/215 pound running back out of New Jersey was previously committed to Michigan State, but today became the 26th recruit to sign with Notre Dame during the early signing period.

Audric received his offer from Notre Dame earlier this week on Monday after having contact with the Notre Dame staff for the past couple of months. We knew going into this week that an offer from Notre Dame would mean a lot to Audric and his family. Once he finally got it, it was only a matter of time before the Spartans would lose the the top offensive player in their class.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #132 overall, #7 RB, #3 in NJ

ESPN — 3 star (79 rating), NR overall, #29 RB, #4 in NJ

247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), NR overall, #17 RB, #4 in NJ

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9095), #244 overall, #12 RB, #3 in NJ

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

Cohort

In addition to his offer from Michigan State, Audric also held offers from Texas A&M,  Louisville, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and others. His full offer list was comprised of 18 schools in total.

Highlights

His senior year film is quite good. He’s physical kid and quite a load to bring down. There’s one clip where he first makes contact with a defender at around the 20 yard line and ends up dragging multiple guys until finally getting taken down inside the 5. He’s not content with making contact and being tackled while falling forward — he wants to drive through tacklers every time he touches the ball. He’s definitely not a speed back, but I was very impressed with his speed and agility for a guy of his size. Overall, a ton of physical tools for Lance Taylor to work with.

Impact

The Notre Dame running back room should be pretty deep next year, but I think there’s a good chance Audric earns himself a few carries here and there. There aren’t any other backs on the Notre Dame roster currently who are built like him, so he could create a niche role in the Irish offense for himself pretty early on. Ultimately he has starter traits and potential, so I really like this pickup for Notre Dame.

I still think Notre Dame will eventually land the signature of Logan Diggs, and if that ends up being the case, the Irish will have landed a solid pair of running backs that complement each other really well. The future at the position is looking pretty bright.

Welcome to the Irish family, Audric!