Ja’mion Franklin became the 12th Notre Dame commit of the 2018 cycle when he announced for the Irish at his school today; the 6’3″, 306-pound Maryland bull originally planned to announce in July, but after he earned an invite to the Opening Finals he decided to move his announcement up. Despite a lack of love for Franklin from the recruiting services, Irish defensive coordinator Mike Elko had him on the radar at Wake Forest and identified him early as a top-of-the-board target for Notre Dame. Elko likely has visions of sugar plums dancing in his head, as Franklin and fellow Irish commit Jayson Ademilola could become a game-wrecking interior tandem of the sort Notre Dame hasn’t had in a very long time.
In addition to what he adds to the roster himself, Ja’mion could represent an Irish movement to turn the Old Line State into the New Pipeline State – he knows 2017 signee Kofi Wardlow, and he’s good friends and former teammates with 2018 defensive line target Thomas Booker and elite 2019 linebacker target Shane Lee. Should the Irish also land Booker later this summer you have to like their chances to be a legitimate player for Lee, who happens to be Wardlow’s current teammate.
Got it? Good. We’ll have a quiz later.
Couple of other recruiting minutiae notes… Part of the early book on Ja’mion was that he lacks prototypical height for a defensive tackle; as of a couple of months ago, he was listed at 6’1″ by the various recruiting services. However, he was just measured at a verified 6’3″ at the Opening regional in DC, which you may remember is the same height as Louis Nix (if you’re as obsessive as we are, anyway). It’s inches! Hooray, inches! Also, while his offer list might seem a bit thin, keep in mind that he transferred from powerhouse prep school Gilman to public school North Caroline, which lowered his profile, and aside from the Opening he really hasn’t done the camp circuit.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Sports — 3 star (87 rating), #477 overall, #40 DT, #14 in MD
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #28 DT, #11 in MD
Scout — 3 star, NR overall, #43 DT, #15 in MD
ESPN — 3 star (78 rating), NR overall, #47 DT, #13 in MD
247 Composite — 3 star (.8603), #572 overall, #41 DT, #13 in MD
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Franklin also holds offers from Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Northwestern, Pitt, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others. He had drawn some interest from presumed favorite Clemson but no offer, as they’re in good shape with other guys who are higher on their board. There was some thought he would try to get that offer, but he ended up cancelling plans to camp there. If they offer late they could be a risk, but that doesn’t seem likely at this point.
Highlights
Two things about Ja’mion Franklin stand out on this highlight reel: (1) He’s built like a fire hydrant. (2) He’s quick. So, so quick. My goodness. I had to remind myself repeatedly that he weighs 300 pounds. He’s the first kid off the snap over and over again, even beating the offensive linemen who theoretically have a timing advantage, and once he’s in the backfield he closes frighteningly well. I lost count of how many times I winced when he hit a kid; I picture opposing quarterbacks looking across the line and seeing post-wrecked-car Jefferson from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I also love his motor and his tenacity – he plays to the whistle every time, and he fights through every double and triple team. This kid comes to play.
If I had to pick something to work on, I don’t think he’s real active with his hands at this point – compare him to Ademilola and you’ll see what I mean. Blockers get into his body pretty easily when he doesn’t crease a gap immediately, which could be an issue at the next level if he doesn’t address it. He showed some improvement on this front at the DC Opening regional, though, and it will be interesting to see if he shows further improvement at the Finals next month. He’s a very mature kid who has handled the recruiting process very well and has the right frame of mind about how he approaches the game, so I’m sure he’ll put in the work necessary to get to where he needs to be.
Impact
It’s too much to ask Franklin to contribute immediately, as with any true freshman defensive lineman, and thankfully Notre Dame won’t be in a position to need that contribution in 2018. With Jerry Tillery, Elijah Taylor, Pete Mokwuah, Micah Dew-Treadway, Brandon Tiassum, Darnell Ewell, Kurt Hinish, and Myron Tagavailoa-Amosa already on campus at that point, both Franklin and Ademilola will get the chance to develop if they need it. If pressed I would guess that Ademilola might be able to force his way into the rotation in 2018, but Franklin is a likely redshirt while he hones his technique. Down the road, I think both 2018 guys will be starters and contribute at a high level.
Welcome to the Irish family, Ja’mion!
Sounds like high praise. Always good to add a big guy on the d-line and if Elko likes him, well good enough for me. Now…some progress at cornerback, plz?
I don’t think his height itself is a big issue. Knowing that virtually everyone inflates their heights he’s probably around 6’2″ which isn’t a big deal.
Here’s Franklin next to Jacob Lacey (listed at 6’2″ by most places). Note the shoulders, heads, and eyes are roughly pretty similar.
However, look at Franklin’s hip height. Look how lower the pants logos are too. Even more pronounced, look at where his knees are in comparison to Lacey. He has an average to longer back and rumored to have shorter arms but he really has short legs.
This has led me to affectionately call him the Kool-Aid Man. 🙂
Since he’s about speed I think he’ll perform pretty well at The Opening. I’m interested to see how he performs at the college level with all the pads on and holding up physically. Leverage could be an issue.
It’s a little tough to project based on his film because the competition North Caroline faces is, charitably, poor, but I think he’s pretty powerful. I wouldn’t worry too much about leverage, especially going up against offensive linemen who are probably going to be at least even and more likely a little taller than him.
I do worry a bit about the arms – as I noted above, he does let guys get into his body right now and that needs to get corrected. One of the smarter football dudes here can confirm, but I think he can do a lot with technique to work around that. He ***needs*** to develop active hands for sure.
i hear you on the competition level, but seeing a giant run over boys made me think of this pic from another of our favorite giant humans:
I was curious about the competition he was facing. I watch the officials in these recruiting videos, and these guys looked awful. Im wondering is this a small classification and division he’s playing in? It doesnt appear his games get the best officials.
Also, I dont remember seeing cell phone numbers on a HUDL video before. That seems like not so smart a thing to do.
It’s a public school league, and of course like most metro areas the prep leagues are much stronger. The cell phones on the Hudl videos are usually the coach’s. I don’t know if they generally use burners but they would be smart to do so.
What does this mean as it relates to Mustipher? Are we done at DT, or is he an automatic take regardless?
I say take lil mus and if the DL is too crowded, move one of them to CB.
I think the staff will take him if he wants in but they’re not going to push for him. Franklin is a much better fit for Elko’s scheme than Mustipher, who naturally is more of a two-gap player; the main thing that’s hindering Mustipher though is that many programs, including Notre Dame, consider his real upside to be on the other side of the ball but he’s set on playing defense. I think that’s why Ohio State hasn’t really pushed for him either; I think they at least want him to be open to switching to offense later, but he isn’t open to it as of right now.
I’m fine with sitting on who we have, honestly. We took two DTs and a probable 3-tech last year and it looks like we have one excellent and one very good DT this year. We need I’d much rather take three ends – like Justin Ademilola, Booker, and Oweh, say – than three DTs, and of course we need DBs too, probably at least three more and likely four more if we can get legit guys.