BREAKING | 2021 WR Jayden Thomas Commits To Notre Dame

Even before Jayden Thomas‍ took his first recruiting visit to South Bend last fall, his coach told ISD the 2021 Georgia wide receiver was the kind of kid who would fit Notre Dame on and off the field.

11 months to the day of that trip, for the Irish’s game against Virginia Tech, Thomas has come to the same conclusion, announcing his verbal commitment to Notre Dame.

“It’s definitely because of the culture and it’s the best fit for me academically,” Thomas told Irish Sports Daily earlier in the week.

The Pace Academy star feels like it’ll be an easy transition for him.

“It’s that private school vibe that I get and everybody knows each other on campus,” he said. “It’s just a great fan base culture-wise and tradition.”

Thomas is the second Georgia receiver to commit to Notre Dame this week, joining his friend, Deion Colzie‍, who made his announcement on Monday. Thomas and Colzie join Lorenzo Styles Jr.‍ to give the Irish a trio of receiver commits in the class and 19 overall pledges in the group.

While Irish receivers coach Del Alexander clearly played a big role in those recruitments, it’s worth noting that Notre Dame assistant Terry Joseph was also instrumental with both Thomas and Colzie.

Pace Academy head coach Chris Slade has been very impressed with the Irish in his years of dealing with the staff through recruiting. In general, Notre Dame would interest the typical Pace Academy student, but Slade felt that was especially so with Thomas from the start.

“The first thing about JT is his character,” Slade told ISD in the past. “He’s a great kid…When your best player allows you to coach him, it makes it so much easier for the other guys to see the example he sets.

“He takes scout team reps, he punts for us if we need him to. He never tries to big-time any of the coaches or any of the players. You just don’t see that all of the time in high school because kids only want to do what they want to do because they know they can get away with it.”

Slade said Thomas is “the total opposite.”

“He’s all about the team,” he continued. “His athletic ability obviously speaks for itself, but his character ranks him above a lot of kids that I coached. Not that I coached a lot of bad kids, but his character really stands out.”

In addition to football, Thomas expects to suit up for the Irish baseball team as well, either as a centerfielder or middle infielder.

“They’ve offered me the chance to play both sports,” he said,

“It’s just great knowing that I’m able to do both in college and that they’re just giving me the opportunity there.”

Thomas possesses the kind of athleticism that could offer position flexibility on the football field down the road as well.