Notre Dame added its first defensive secondary commitment from the 2022 class today when cornerback Jaden Mickey verbally committed to the Fighting Irish. The 5’11″/175-pounder out of Corona, CA is the tenth player to commit to Notre Dame for the class — the fourth on the defensive side of the ball. Notre Dame’s class currently ranks #4 in the country right now, sandwiched in between Georgia at 3 and Texas A&M at 5.

This recruitment is one that moved pretty quickly over the last week or so. Jaden announced a Top 4 just five days ago on March 9th, stating at the time that he would have liked to come to a decision and make an announcement within the next couple of weeks. At the time, it wasn’t immediately apparent who he had tabbed as his leader. Personally, I assumed that he’d be more likely to stay out west, as the Irish had only just offered about a month prior on February 4th and we hadn’t heard a ton about where Notre Dame stood with him yet. About a day after his Top 4 was released, word started to spread that Brian Polian, Mike Mickens, and Marcus Freeman had the Irish in great position with Jaden. The expectation from there was that he would be committing to Notre Dame within the next week, and here we are.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #35 CB, #20 in CA

ESPN — 4 star (81 rating), #256 overall, #27 CB, #19 in CA

247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #220 overall, #27 CB, #17 in CA

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9088), #261 overall, #30 CB, #17 in CA

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

Cohort

Jaden chose the Irish over other offers from Oregon, Cal, Northwestern, USC, Georgia, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and others. His offer list totaled 19 schools, including the Irish. The other teams in his Top 4 that he released last week were Oregon, Cal, and Northwestern.

Highlights

Jaden is clearly a physically gifted athlete, but the thing that sticks out the most to me from his highlights is an impressive level of play recognition — both pre-snap and post-snap. There’s a clip beginning around the 1:50 mark where he realized pre-snap where the ball was going based on the motion, called it out, and then made a big hit on the receiver to force an incompletion. On the final clip starting at around the 6:20 mark, he immediately recognizes the play as a bubble screen and shoots into the backfield to break up the pass — nearly taking it for a pick-six in the process. This level of intuition in a high school sophomore is impressive, and it’s the kind of thing that gets guys on the field early at the next level.

Impact

Right now the Notre Dame cornerbacks room is mostly raw and unproven, but physically gifted young guys. With that in mind, it’s tough to project what the depth chart will look like for 2022. Does Clarence Lewis continue to impress? What about Caleb Offord and the incoming freshmen? Do Ramon Henderson and Ryan Barnes stay at corner or move to safety? It’s a lot of questions and a lot of unknowns. Give me all the consensus 4-stars at DB you can, though. If his current rating holds, Mickey will end up a higher rated prospect than any of the corners that will be on campus for the 2021 season.

Welcome to the Irish family, Jaden!