Stephon Tuitt Headlines List of Notre Dame Football Commits

Brian Kelly’s introductory season as Notre Dame head football coach hasn’t gone exactly the way he planned early on.

The coach’s Fighting Irish squad now sits with just a 1-2 record after last-second, heartbreaking losses to Michigan and Michigan State in consecutive weeks.

But that doesn’t mean the coach and his program haven’t been experiencing great success on the recruiting trail. Kelly has already won his fair share of high-profile recruiting wars in just his first season on the job.

The Irish have already racked up 19 highly-regarded commits for their 2011 class, and that group received a major boost this past week when a trio of talented young prospects all pledged their services to Notre Dame. It gave the team their first batch of in-season commitments after a very successful summer.

Defensive end Stephon Tuitt, out of Monroe High School in Georgia, is the headliner of the bunch. Tuitt is a 6-5, 260-pound pass rusher, who is rated as the 14th best defensive end in the country by Scout, and the top strongside defensive end by Rivals.

What Tuitt lacks in overall body strength, he certainly makes up for with size, speed, and athleticism.

The four-star prospect liked the game-day atmosphere he experienced when he visited South Bend for the Michigan game so much that he gave the Notre Dame coaching staff his verbal commitment just a few days later.

Tuitt was also being pursued by schools such as Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, LSU, and South Carolina, all of which offered him a scholarship.

Notre Dame’s other two recent commitments are the Atkinson twins, Josh and George, out of Granada High School in California. The two brothers are a talented duo that have some intriguing potential.

Josh, the smaller of the two at 6-0, 180 pounds, will likely play cornerback for the Irish while George, who is the bigger and more highly-regarded prospect, could play any of a variety of positions, including wide receiver, safety, or running back.

George is rated as a four-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout, and is considered to be one of the best athletes in the country. He finished his junior season with nearly 1,000 yards rushing and 10 TDs.

The 6-2, 200-pound Atkinson’s great speed made him a valuable commodity around the nation.

George was also recruited by the likes of Alabama, Nebraska, USC, Oregon, and Miami, but decided Notre Dame was simply the place for him after taking an official visit for the Michigan game.

The three recent commitments solidify a very strong class for the Irish that is shaping up to be a great building block for the future.

Kelly has already secured commitments from top prospects such as TE Ben Koyack (Oil City HS, Pennsylvania), OL Matt Hegarty (Aztec HS, New Mexico), and RB Justice Hayes (Grand Blanc HS, Michigan).

The coach is definitely building a strong foundation through recruiting, and with the addition of Tuitt and the Atkinsons, Kelly’s 2011 class should be one of the top rated in the country when all is said and done.