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Wide Receiver/Athlete Isaiah McKenzie Verbally Commits to Notre Dame!

Notre Dame received another verbal commitment for the 2014 class on Friday night, this time from an explosive playmaker from Florida.

By Jim Miesle
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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Coach Brian Kelly received his 17th verbal commitment for the 2014 class Friday night (in surprise fashion) from Isaiah McKenzie (Fort Lauderdale, FL - American Heritage).  He is listed at 5'9"/172 lbs.

McKenzie committed Friday night prior to his football game and news broke via Twitter.

He had been considered a strong Irish lean for some time, and follows former teammate Michael Deeb to South Bend.  He also holds offers from Kentucky, Rutgers, West Virginia, South Florida and Michigan.  He celebrated the announcement with the following in-game performace:

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Recruiting Service Rankings:

ESPN - 3 star (#55 ATH, #90 FL), 79 Grade

Rivals - 3 star (#73 WR, #77 FL), 5.6 Grade

Scout - 2 star (#144 RB)

247Sports - 4 star (#31 WR, #28 FL), 91 Grade (#242 Overall)

247Sports Composite Score - 3 star (0.8683), #490 Overall (#64 WR, #68 FL)

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Highlights:



Impact:

Immediate Future:

McKenzie will be a special teams contributor from Day One.  Notre Dame hasn't had a punt returner with his skill set since Golden Tate.  He should also be returning kickoffs, whether alongside or in place of GAIII.  He is electric with the ball in his hands.

Long Term/Career:

The special teams contributions are obvious, but he is a similar player to Davonte Neal was coming out of high school and the staff struggled figuring out a way to get him involved in the offense.  At the high school level, he gets separation easily and is a threat to spread the field horizontally and stretch the field vertically.  Some have made comparisons to Tavon Austin.  He projects to be a true slot receiver for the Irish over his career.  Assuming the staff finds a way to get him the football, he doesn't need a lot of space to be effective and explosive.

Welcome to Notre Dame Isaiah!

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