Wow. Thanks for coming to Notre Dame, Mike Elko. After a huge pickup at cornerback in the morning from 4-star Kalon Gervin, the new Irish D Coordinator gained a commitment Monday night from safety Derrik Allen, a Georgia native with offers to every powerhouse in the nation.
Allen and his family have strong ties to Elko from his time at Wake Forest. Allen reportedly liked Elko’s scheme, and his addition to the ND coaching staff is a huge reason that he is now on board. At 6’1 205 lbs, Allen will step onto campus as a big, college-ready player. His talent, especially in the defensive backfield, is not something that comes around to South Bend every year.
🙏🙏COMMITTED ‼️‼️‼️‼️☘️ pic.twitter.com/15cX4wJnIE
— Derrik Allen (@DsmoothAllen) February 14, 2017
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite: 4-star (.9697), #52 overall, #5 S, #8 in GA
247Sports: 4-star, 93 ranking, #93 overall, #8 S, #11 in GA
Scout: 4-star, #129 overall, #11 S, #1 S in GA
Rivals: 4-star, #36 overall, #3 S, #4 in GA
ESPN: 4-star, 84 ranking, #48 overall, #5 S, #8 in GA
Allen’s commitment vaults Notre Dame up to the #2 ranked class in the nation, trailing only Penn State. He becomes the second highest ranked player in Notre Dame’s class, behind Phil Jurkovec.
Cohort
This list is long.
Allen chose Notre Dame over offers from Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, Auburn, Florida State, Florida, Duke, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wake Forest, and others.
Highlights
Allen plays offense, defense, and returns kicks in high school. He’s big, he’s fast, and he’s extremely instinctual. In his junior film, he plays a ton of cornerback. This was his first position in high school, and he is natural running out wide with receivers. Especially for his size, he shows loose hips and quick feet, which help him jump routes and get to the ball quickly. Allen drives through tackles with full momentum and is in control while doing so.
Notre Dame is getting a player with great versatility. Allen will play safety for the Irish, but he has the athleticism and size to move around and be an asset in both run support and in the passing game.
Impact
Derrik Allen will come in and play for the Irish right away. He’s too good of a player to not have on the field. He could easily make an impact on special teams as a freshman, and it would be no surprise to see him play important minutes as a safety.
Again, this is a giant win for Notre Dame recruiting. To pull a kid with every desired offer from an Atlanta suburb is a big deal. Coming off a 4-8 season, you could not dream up a better start to this 2018 class. From offense to defense, this is the most well-rounded staff that BK has put together recruiting-wise so far in his time at Notre Dame. It is paying off.
Welcome to the Irish family, Mr. Allen!
@ Great, with that offer list we now have 11 months of worry.@
^ That’s how we ND fans do it.^
By the way, I’m getting quite a kick out of the fact* that this is the most-liked comment in the relatively brief history of 18 Stripes. Well done, sir.
* I’m being somewhat generous here – it’s actually an assumption that I could check, but I don’t have the motivation to do so. So, it’s a fact.
I wish it was signing day 2018 already, so we could get this guy onboard. And, of course, celebrate our recent national championship.
What are the odds he can be a “double secret” early early enrollee? He can announce he is “going college”, drop a microphone he pulls from his bookbag, and just walk out of class. It worked for Neil Patrick Harris.
One thumb up??? I just don’t understand how a Doogie Howser M.D. reference doesn’t fly in 2017.
It is weird how many kick returns they show of him only returning the ball to the 40. That isn’t particularly impressive. Otherwise, kid looks like an awesome safety. Woooo
His high school must be a dirty corrupt disgusting place run by heathens.
With the school’s name, I was guessing either jewel thieves or with a heavy Pixar influence.
Ummmm. Kansas is currently #6 in Rivals 2018 rankings. They have 2 top 100 players. Wha?
FWIW, they’re high school teammates. Not sure if there’s some connection there with a new assistant at KU but it’s possible.
So maybe if Kelly gets fired we just hire Elko as the next head coach? Any objections?
This kind of recruiting definitely makes me hope that it works out well enough this year that we can reap the fruits of these guys WITH ELKO.
Think you were pretty tongue in cheek, but probably no route to Elko as HC unless the defense goes nuts and Kelly bails to another job after a good year. Hard to find a scenario where Elko’s first year as DC is so good that he could make a legit HC case and yet the team is bad enough Kelly is fired.
KG here’s evidence for the need of the sarcasm font.
Yea I wasn’t being serious with the first one. Just amazing that Elko is recruiting so well already and hopefully his track record continues that he can do well with lesser talent (what could he do with elite talent??).
Let’s just hope he doesn’t have a sister that he’s trying to get into ND as well.
Slightly OT, but figured you guys would like to know:
4-star WR/TE Micah Jones is deciding this Friday, and he is expected to choose ND.
Not to be a Debbie Downer but I expect to complain as well. I’ll wait for the 18S write up but it seems like a big WR/TE without plus speed is about the lowest roster priority I can think of.
Considering we will likely lose all 3 of Smythe, Weishar, and Luatua and we took a waiver on TEs in 2016, I’m ok with signing a Jumbo WR/TE in this class.
Smythe and Luatua are gone for sure as they’re out of eligibility after this year. I tend to think Weishar will be back barring a severe numbers crunch – otherwise in 2018 we’d have just Alize, Wright, Kmet, and a true freshman, in an offense that likes to use two-TE sets (theoretically, at least).
I’m not sure Jones profiles as a future TE, honestly. He’s 6’5″/195 right now, and he’s charitably maybe a 4.8 guy. I can’t see him adding 50-60 pounds and being a front-line player. I think more likely is adding 20-25 pounds and being a possession receiver type. The staff is after some pretty good TEs in the 2018 cycle, also, so they definitely see the same thing we do with the roster and they’re looking
Big, Big, BIG time get for this staff. This kid could have went anywhere. He is fast, physical and very talented. I love this kids potential. This new staff is putting in WORK! Keep it up!
Be nice if we can get M. Jones on this Friday when he announces!
Some would say ELITE
Lightskin? Is that you?
I believe it actually is! I, for one, am happy that he came back into the fold here at the new digs.
via GIPHY
Let’s try that again.
automatic rec for psych gif.
I don’t normally tune into podcasts or radio shows about ND football, but I saw a clip of Elko on the Jack Swarbrick show, though he was being interviewed by Jack Nolan.
Elko said straight-up that they’re a bit behind in 2018 recruiting.
If this is what Elko considers “behind,” then I can’t wait to see what happens when he, Lea, Polian, Long, and Alexander all get rolling.
All aboard the hype train!