What was already a strong week of defensive recruiting for Notre Dame became even stronger on Friday evening when defensive back Jayden Bellamy verbally committed to the Fighting Irish. The 5’11″/170-pounder out of Oradell, NJ is the 17th player to join the Irish recruiting class of 2022 — a class which currently ranks 2nd in the nation behind Ohio State.

Jayden currently attends Bergen Catholic High School along with another 2022 commit — quarterback Steve Angeli. The two officially visited Notre Dame on the same weekend of June 18th. This recruitment came down to a battle between Notre Dame and Penn State, with the Nittany Lions believing themselves to have the edge after his official visit to Happy Valley on the weekend on June 11th. But if Penn State ever did have a lead in the final month of Jayden’s recruitment, it was quickly wiped away by his visit to South Bend the following weekend.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #59 CB, #9 in NJ

ESPN — 3 star (79 rating), NR overall, #40 CB, #8 in NJ

247Sports — 3 star (89 rating), NR overall, #34 CB, #3 in NJ

247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8839), #442 overall, #41 CB, #6 in NJ

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Penn State, Jayden holds other Power 5 offers from Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan, Louisville, Rutgers, Duke, Boston College, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Quite the Power 5 offer sheet. Including the Irish, his offer list currently totals 23 schools.

Highlights

You might wonder why his first clip is highlight-film worthy, but I think it’s a good indicator of the kind of speed that he possesses. There are rumors that he runs in the 4.4s and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is true. His second clip is a good indicator of his instincts (or maybe his preparation). The slot receiver runs a 5-yard out pattern and Jayden reads it like a book, taking it the other way for an easy pick-six.

Jayden primarily plays safety for Bergen Catholic. While he probably could play safety at the college level, his size and athletic profile are better suited to play corner. He’s a willing tackler who understands pursuit angles from the free safety position. He also tackles with pretty good form. With a lot of young corner prospects the willingness to be an asset in the run game just isn’t there, but I don’t think that will be a problem with Jayden.

Some of the evaluators at 247 think Jayden could push for the the highest-ranking spot among New Jersey players in 2022, so this is a better pickup than most people would probably assume just based off rankings. For reference, 247 has Jayden as the 3rd best player in New Jersey behind USC commit CB Jaeden Gould (#130 overall via 247Sports) and Rutgers commit OT Jacob Allen (#138 overall). How much of that would be based on the other two guys falling in the rankings vs. Jayden rising, I’m not sure. But Jayden’s offer list is legit, and coaches at Ohio State, Clemson, and LSU tend to know what to look for in defensive backs, so I do think there is a pretty good chance we see Jayden rise into 4-star territory once his measurables can get verified.

Impact

Jayden is the second defensive back to join Notre Dame this cycle — the first being cornerback Jaden Mickey out of California. There are either two or three spots left at defensive back, and the Irish are in the top 2 at worst for all of safety Jake Pope (who should be deciding soon), corner Benjamin Morrison, corner/safety Devin Moore, and safety Xavier Nwankpa. Not a bad spot for Mike Mickens and Chris O’Leary to be in.

If we’re viewing Jayden as strictly a corner, that’s a position where the Irish have a lot of young, promising guys — but not a whole lot of proven talent. It’s going to be interesting to see how the depth chart shakes out once the 2022 class arrives on campus. I’m not saying Jayden’s a kid that is definitely going to push for immediate playing time, but nothing would surprise me.

Welcome to the Irish family, Jayden!