On Sunday Notre Dame picked up its 12th commitment of the 2012 class.
Romeo Okwara, a defensive end out of Charlotte, North Carolina (Ardrey Kell H.S.) has given his verbal pledge to the Fighting Irish.
At 6'4" 240 pounds, Okwara will play outside linebacker at Notre Dame.
Not only does Okwara have a sweet name, he is also a member of the "cool name club" with current Irish OLB Prince Shembo, who also attended Ardrey Kelly High School.
Okwara is very much under the radar as a prospect, not being rated by Scout yet and receiving middle of the road 3-star ratings from ESPN and Rivals. However, he does sport a 4-star rating and 90 grade from 247 Sports.
Despite his seemingly unimpressive scouting reports thus far, Romeo did hold some nice offers from a collection of schools including: Clemson, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pitt, South Florida, Virginia Tech, and more.
Two pieces of news that are noteworthy about Okwara are that he still only 16 years old, and despite that young age his strength is apparently out of this world.
Rivals lists him with a 330 pound bench press and 605 pound squat.
He has all the makings of yet another diamond in the rough found by Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame coaching staff. Okwara will likely shoot up the recruiting boards once the services get more film on him and as he plays out his senior season.
According to Okwara, the Irish will be taking three outside linebackers in this class so there is only one more spot to fill there with David Perkins already on board.
What do you think?
Is Okwara the early leader for the Sneaky Good Recruit of the Class Award so far?