George Takacs became the 12th Notre Dame commit of the 2018 cycle when he announced for the Irish today. The 6’7″, 236-pound Florida standout opened a lot of eyes at the Nike Opening Regional in Miami recently; he impressed both attached and in the passing game, and in the process earned an invite to the finals in Oregon this summer. After the event Takacs named a top group without Notre Dame, but when he picked up his Irish offer a few days later everything changed. He actually hails from Indiana originally and his mother is an Irish alumna, so it was easier to for Notre Dame to make a quick impression here than it would be with a lot of kids. Takacs hit Indianapolis for the Rivals five-star challenge this weekend, then swung by Notre Dame to check in with the staff and offer his pledge.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Sports — 3 star (89 rating), #310 overall, #14 TE, #48 in FL
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #234 overall, #10 TE, #46 in FL
Scout — 4 star, NR overall, #14 TE, #47 in FL
ESPN — 4 star (82 rating), #176 overall, #5 TE, #43 in FL
247 Composite — 4 star (.8617), #258 overall, #11 TE, #46 in FL
Cohort
Takacs also holds offers from Arkansas, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin, among others. Florida, Wisconsin, and Georgia were his leaders before he received his Notre Dame offer.
Highlights
Let’s get this out of the way first: Takacs recorded a 4.87 40 at the Opening regional, and from his tape that looks about right. He isn’t going to run past anyone. That’s fine, though, because there’s plenty to like about other parts of his game that have nothing to do with speed. I usually hate to do the comparison thing, but when I watched this junior highlight reel I couldn’t help but think of Troy Niklas. Takacs is raw as a blocker – he needs to work on sinking his backside on run blocks in particular – but he’s fierce and he loves to bury people, even bigger guys on occasion. Sound familiar?
He’s also adept at finding soft spots in coverage and making himself available to the quarterback, he’s fearless in traffic, and once he turns upfield he’s a load to bring down. I could’ve written the same thing about Troy a few years ago. One big difference between them is that Takacs displays much more natural receiving ability than Niklas, which is not surprising given that Niklas was a converted defensive end. Takacs does a good job of snatching the ball out of the air and shows nice soft hands.
Impact
From his performance at the Opening event some fans might get the impression that Takacs is a jumbo receiver, but I think he’s a legitimate combo tight end who will find a very nice home in Chip Long’s offense. With Notre Dame’s glut of talent at the tight end position, one might tend to think that he’ll have a chance to redshirt. I think he might be called on as a true freshman though, given Long’s predilection for two tight end sets.
The Irish will lose Durham Smythe after this season, which will send them into 2018 with fifth-year Nic Weishar, senior Alize Jones, sophomore Brock Wright, sophomore Cole Kmet, and Takacs. It’s slightly possible that Alize Jones could put enough on tape this season to enter the 2018 draft. That scenario would then leave Notre Dame with an exact two-deep at tight end for Long, and would nearly guarantee that Takacs would play as a freshman. I think he’d be physically capable if needed in 2018, but whether he is or not, he definitely has the look of a potential starter down the road and is a great addition to the 2018 recruiting class.
Welcome to the Irish family, George!
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Great news to end an otherwise rough day for ND recruiting. You have to wonder if Takacs planned on publicly announcing this day (even if he had likely been silent) or if he pulled the trigger to give ND a positive lift after the Lenzy decommitment. It’d be kind of cool if it was the latter.
Word is he’ll early enroll, which will help his chance to play early.
Boy, those are high expectations for a guy who you note isn’t fast and isn’t a good blocker. If the 4th best TE on the roster next year turns into a Troy Nicklas, that’s going to be one hell of a TE group. Especially if Alize does stick around another year (although I’m really not counting on it if he has a healthy 2017).
When I say he isn’t fast, I mean he isn’t Alize Mack; for a guy who’s a legit 6’7″ and will likely play around 260 pounds, 4.87 is fast enough. And while I think he needs work on his blocking technique, he’s fierce as hell so I expect big things from him there. Which is actually very similar to Niklas, who was considered by NFL scouts to be a work in progress as a blocker. Takacs has a big jump on Niklas as a receiver, of course, since he already plays offense and looks much more natural downfield than Niklas did.
The physical similarity between Takacs and Niklas becomes more appropriate the more detailed you get – I just checked Takacs’s SPARQ numbers against Niklas’s NFL Combine numbers:
Height/weight – Takacs 6-7/236, Niklas 6-6/270 (listed at 240 as a recruit)
40 yard dash – Takacs 4.87, Niklas 4.84
Shuttle – Takacs 4.47, Niklas 4.55
Vertical – Takacs 33-1/4″, Niklas 32″
Not saying Takacs will be Niklas, of course, just that the similarity is striking. I think he fits a similar mold of a physical tight end who can hurt you as a receiver.
I am astounded that 4.87 is considered slow for a gigantic tight end.
Great write up Brendan. I’m excited about our tight ends. I also want to acknowledge that someone on here, I think it was Eric, mentioned that Hoge could end up being a victim of circumstance on the O-line. Very observant on their part.
I see USC had a QB decommit.
Fire Kelly!
Heh… Yeah, 5* Matt Corral decommitted and is expected to flip to Georgia. They’re pulling in QBs like crazy lately.
Could be good for our chances with Amon-Ra: