Notre Dame picked up its fifth 2023 commitment today when Florida running back Sedrick Irvin Jr. committed to Notre Dame. The 5’10”, 190-pound Floridian is in fact the son of that Sedrick Irvin, who fans of the late-90s Irish will remember running very well for Nick Saban’s Michigan State, and the cousin of Michael Irvin. Pops played a big part in the 1998 42-23 upset of then-#10 Notre Dame that was nowhere near as close as the final; he ran for 119 yards on 24 carries as Saban built a 42-3 lead by halftime. That was the game that set off some very loud alarms about Bob Davie, who famously (infamously?) said he was unaware of the megaphone rivalry trophy because he went 0-5 against the Spartans. Good times. Interestingly, Senior and Lance Taylor were grad assistants on Saban’s 2008 Alabama staff. Hmm.
Where were we? Right, talking about Junior, who is a pretty good player himself. Irvin visited Notre Dame in June, in the middle of a whirlwind nationwide tour, and was at the season opener in Tallahassee. 247’s Sunshine State insider Andrew Ivins said Notre Dame is getting a “program fit” (free) in Irvin, which carries a little extra weight given that Ivins was the Rivals Notre Dame recruiting analyst back when Rivals still had some credibility left. We believe Irvin can be a front line player on the field, which we’ll get into below, and he has wasted no time showing that he could be a factor off the field too. This quote is from his announcement this morning:
Obviously I’m going to be in Jalen Brown’s ear every day. He probably knows that. As far as recruiting guys outside of my team and just bringing in guys, I’m going to be hitting up guys, especially on social media. I’m going to try and be as loud and as active as I can to get people to build a great class here.
Jalen Brown is Irvin’s current teammate at Gulliver Prep; he visited Notre Dame this summer separately from Irvin. He’s also a five-star receiver in the 2023 class who has drawn comparisons to Will Fuller. You know who else went to Gulliver Prep? Notre Dame basketball sophomore Tony Sanders, who knows Irvin and Brown. Hmm (again).
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9339 rating), #177 overall, #8 RB, #40 in FL
247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #205 overall, #9 RB, #42 in FL
Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #81 overall, #4 RB, #14 in FL
ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), #253 overall, #17 RB, #60 in FL
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Irvin holds offers from Alabama, Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Penn State, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia, among many others.
Highlights
Some have noted that the long speed isn’t there. My initial response to that would be to remember that this is his sophomore film – he’s 15 here, he has plenty of growing to do. I think Irvin’s best trait (heh) is his vision, which is outstanding – he sees the field very well and has a great feel for when and where to cut back. He also shows excellent agility and acceleration and is an effective receiver on screens. I was really impressed with how physical he is too; given his size, he’s surprisingly effective at running through arm tackles and moving the pile. I’d like to see more of his receiving ability beyond screens, and despite the physicality I definitely think he’ll need to bulk up to be an every-down back at the next level. The tools are there though, including vision that you just can’t teach. He’s a very good prospect with some space yet until he hits his ceiling.
Impact
By the time Irvin gets to campus Chris Tyree may be gone, which is crazy because it feels like we’ve barely been introduced to Tyree. The 2023 depth chart should include junior Logan Diggs, junior Audric Estime, and sophomore JD Price at least, plus perhaps another sophomore back if the Irish want to take one more in 2022. That’s going to be a tough depth chart for anyone to break into, and with the aforementioned need to add some weight I don’t know that Irvin will get more than a cup of coffee as a freshman. I do think he has a ceiling of a Theo Riddick type player though, maybe a touch faster, so if all goes well I could definitely see him starting and playing at a high level later in his career.
Welcome to the Irish family, Sedrick!
Perhaps neither here nor there, but: Dad is an absolute unit. In college he was listed at 6’0″ and 223 pounds, in the NFL at 5’11” and 226. He’s also the head coach at Gulliver Prep.
2 things about the photo:
#1 – That’s exactly what my biceps look like in a polo shirt
#2 – Who is the other kid in the photo?
I don’t know for sure but I believe that’s his younger brother. His pass says “Amare” in large font and I could talk myself into it saying “Irvin” in smaller font under that.
Nice write-up — I can get behind this with a comparison being made to Theo!
Jamie Uyeyama at ISD pulled Devin Singletary as a comp, which is also pretty nice – Singletary is an NFL starter now and ran for over 4,000 yards in college. I don’t watch anywhere near as much football as Jamie so I tend to be limited to ND guys when I make comparisons.
Watching his film, I think this kid knows where he’s going well before the defense does. That’s a good thing. His 20-30 yd. speed is really good, 50-60 maybe not quite so much.
I agree with all of that. I think his short area quickness and his acceleration are really good. His long speed is less so – had a few apparently sure TDs where he was caught inside the 5 – but I’m willing to see how he develops there.
Yep. Maybe an excuse, but I wonder how many of the dudes who caught him may have been 2 years older. Something that probably needs to be taken into consideration now that we are getting commitments from kids who aren’t even old enough to legally drive.