Paulson Adebo to Stanford: Cardinal Land 4-Star ATH Prospect

Stanford significantly enhanced its versatility Monday after securing a commitment from highly regarded athlete Paulson Adebo.  

Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports noted Adebo confirmed the commitment in his Twitter profile.

According to Scout, Adebo is a 4-star prospect who rates as the No. 213 overall recruit, No. 16 player at his position and No. 4 athlete from the state of Texas.

After initially committing to Notre Dame, Adebo withdrew on Jan. 9 and reopened the recruiting process, per Tom Loy of 247Sports.

Adebo is a unique player in that he excelled at both cornerback and wide receiver at Mansfield High School (Texas), which has created some questions as to whether he will be a defensive or offensive player at the collegiate level.

The 6'1", 180-pound athlete has been recruited mostly as a corner, although he did play wide receiver recently in the Under Armour All-America Game.

Assuming he goes on to play cornerback, Mansfield head coach Daniel Maberry believes he has a skill set that will make him an immediate asset, according to David McKinney of Rivals.com:

"

He's going to make any team better immediately just by stepping on the field. He's going to bring a lot, just because of his work ethic, his size, his speed and his agility.

[...]

Paulson is an exceptional player. He's got great size, great speed and great ball skills. He's an incredibly smart ball player. You tell him something one time, and he retains it.

His work ethic is exceptional. He's the hardest-working kid you have. There's so many things that he brings to a team. He's just an all-around good player.

"

With so many top programs leaning on high-volume passing offenses, players of Adebo's caliber are highly sought after.

He has a rare combination of size and speed at the cornerback position that should allow him to go up against some of the nation's best pass-catchers once he fully develops.

While Adebo may be somewhat raw, all signs point toward his becoming a shutdown corner in the near future.

Additionally, if Stanford wants to get creative, Adebo could have a ceiling close to USC's Adoree' Jackson in terms of contributing as a cornerback, pass-catcher and return man when called upon.

The Cardinal have hovered inside or around the Associated Press Top 10 for the past seven years, and recruiting successfully in places like Texas is a big reason for that.

Head coach David Shaw scored a major coup by landing Adebo, and it is the type of commitment that should allow Shaw to keep Stanford near the top of the Pac-12 for years to come.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.