BREAKING: 2018 Four-Star Speedster Braden Lenzy Commits To Notre Dame

Whoosh.

2018 Tigard (Ore.) receiver Braden Lenzy‍ is headed to Notre Dame…again, as the four-star prospect announced his commitment on Friday via The Players Tribune. Lenzy also signed with the Irish to make his pledge set in stone. 

The Oregon speedster committed to the Irish on February 22nd after a visit to South Bend for Junior Day, but Lenzy backed off his pledge in June and committed to Oregon. 

Lenzy decommitted from the Ducks on December 5th and was in South Bend on December 9th for The Echoes football banquet. 

It was Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick that made a huge impression, as the Lenzy and his family sat with him at dinner. The message was insightful but also impactful as it showed Lenzy the opportunities at Notre Dame, but also why the program needed him. 

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly conducted an in-home visit one week ago to the surprise of some, but it was to put a stamp on the recruitment the most talented prospect Tigard coaching legend Craig Ruecker has ever coached. 

“I just finished my 46th year coaching high school football,” Ruecker said. “In my 46 years of coaching, I’ve had kids who have had as much talent as Braden has, but did not have a work ethic, didn’t have study habits that were conducive to going to college.

“Then we’ve had other kids who have a great work ethic, great academics, but they don’t have the talent. Braden is blessed to have both of those things.”

It’s no secret Notre Dame was looking for speed in the class, and they have landed one of the fastest players in the country. Lenzy ran a 10.62, a personal record, this spring in the 100m. 

“You don’t teach a kid 4.4-speed, so he has that that he’s blessed with,” stated Ruecker. “He’s also been blessed to have a wonderful family to grow up in with great role models. Both his mom and dad graduated from Purdue. He has been given the mentoring to work hard and to achieve as a young man, as an athlete, and in the classroom. Those are some things that make him, outside of playing the game of football, a pretty special kid.”

As for the Notre Dame staff, they had let Lenzy know their plan for him in the spring. 

"Speed,” he said when asked what the staff was excited about with him coming onboard. “Fly sweeps, deep balls, posts, all of it.”

While it seemed Notre Dame might have been out of it, Lenzy had always thought highly of the people he encountered around the Irish program from the moment he stepped on campus. 

“The one thing Notre Dame did better than anyone was just that everyone there knew who I was,” said Lenzy. “Whether it was the person opening a door, recruiting coordinator, a recruit or current player, basically everyone knew who I was. I felt that was pretty special.” 

Lenzy joins Notre Dame signees Micah Jones and Kevin Austin Jr. at the receiver position in the 2018 recruiting class.