Braden Lenzy returned to the fold when he signed with Notre Dame today, during the first-ever early signing window for football. Lenzy first committed to the Irish almost ten months ago, shortly after visiting for the first junior day of the 2018 cycle. He flipped to Oregon in June, reportedly due to confusion about how his track exploits would fit into his Irish football career. After Willie Taggart left Eugene for his “dream job” in Tallahassee, Lenzy decommited from the Ducks and immediately scheduled an official visit for Notre Dame’s football banquet. It would seem that the chance to re-bond with the Irish commits reminded him of the reasons he liked Notre Dame in the first place; the miscommunication about track was reportedly cleared up as well, and it was full speed ahead.
The Irish staff fended off a late push from UCLA and Chip Kelly, as well as Oregon’s attempt to get him back. Yet another dogfight won on the recruiting trail by the overhauled Notre Dame staff. Not surprisingly, Brian Polian was once again a key player in a successful West Coast recruitment. Kudos also go to Brian Kelly, Chip Long, and Del Alexander, who each worked hard to bring Lenzy back home.
Updated Highlights
Speaking of full speed… Lenzy’s junior film blew away the 18 Stripes recruiting crew. His game needed some polish, but his speed, agility, and toughness were already on full display. I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it myself, but his senior film is a couple of levels higher in every way. He added some of that polish, and all the same physical skills are there but now they’re turned up to 11. His movements without the ball are more precise and, to steal a Kelly favorite, intentional. He blends phone-booth moves with exceptional acceleration and balance, which makes him a nightmare to bring down no matter where he is on the field. You better bring more than an arm tackle against him, too. And once he gets the tiniest sliver of daylight, forget it. He’s playing a different game than the other kids on the field.
Look at the first two plays on this video. LOOK AT THEM. And then go lie down and recover.
Updated Track Times
In his original commit post back in February, right before his junior track season started, we mentioned Lenzy’s track times. His sophomore numbers were already excellent: 10.86 in the 100M, 21.88 in the 200M (4th at state), 48.38 in the 400M (won state), and a 4.47 40 at a Nike camp. Not surprisingly, his junior times were even better: a PR of 10.62 in the 100M and 4th at state with a 10.76, a PR of 21.34 in the 200M and 2nd at state with a 21.73, and won the state 400M again with a PR of 47.92. His 200M PR is just 0.21 off the Oregon state record. The opportunity he has to set more school and state marks is a big reason why he’s not an early enrollee – he considered it, but it’s understandable that he wants to take a shot at history. And be a kid for a few more months, I get that too.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 4Â star (.9185), #211 overall, #10 ATH, #3 in OR
247 Sports — 4 star (93 rating), #144 overall, #4 ATH, #4 in OR
Rivals — 4Â star (5.8 rating), Â NR overall (???), #13 ATH, #3 in OR
ESPN —Â 4 star (81 rating), #261 overall, #23 ATH, #2 in OR
Lenzy moved up in the 247 and ESPN rankings, and somehow dropped out of Rivals’ top 250. Why? Well, if I was a cynic, I might suggest that it’s because he didn’t attend any Rivals camps. Good thing I’m not a cynic.
Impact
In the original commitment article, I said:
I think Lenzy could appear on kick returns immediately, and could potentially work his way onto the field on offense as well if he adjusts quickly to the Notre Dame offense. I would expect him to get at least a cup of coffee in 2018 to get him acclimated and then become a significant contributor in 2019.
Given Notre Dame’s return game last season and Lenzy’s continued development, I’m going to amend that to say that he’ll definitely return kicks in 2018. I’ll stick with spot duty on offense, and then a bigger role in 2019 after Equanimeous St. Brown moves on and unclogs the depth chart a bit. Can you imagine Lenzy on one side of the formation and Stepherson on the other? We would only get it for one season, but… Visions of sugarplums dancing in my head.
Welcome (back) to the Irish family, Braden!
This is a big get.
“Can you imagine Lenzy on one side of the formation and Stepherson on the other? ”
Too bad there’s no chance of that happening. Stepherson was also charged now with possession of marijuana. He’s gone.
What are the chances that Lenzy could step up for more PT with that opening? Or could Austin step I to that role? We could be hurting big time at WR if someone doesn’t step up to take Stepherson’s big plays.
You beat me to it, man!
With Cam Smith gone (he was a go-deep guy early in ’17, IIRC), Stepherson likely on the way out, and CJ Sanders not earning a bigger role I gotta believe the staff will give Lenzy ample opportunities to compete & get on the field.
I’m happy to have this guy back, especially since he’s not only crazy-fast but totally down with some hitting; check out the defensive plays on his reel. Bodes well for his run-blocking want-to.
Finally, if you’re interested, Lenzy’s Player’s Tribune article announcing his commitment & reflecting on the recruiting process is worth a read — https://www.theplayerstribune.com/braden-lenzy-college-announcement/
Yeah, clearly I wrote this a while ago and forgot to edit out KJ. He’s done. In addition to possession, he was cited for speeding and driving without a license. And he’s still on probation – like, legal, not ND – from the incident last year.
Can’t fix stupid.
I forgot that Lenzy was announcing today. When I got another “breaking news Notre Dame” pop up in my inbox I thought what now? Great get and great news for the Irish moving forward. He clearly fills a huge need with the news that broke today. What I like the most about Lenzy is that he isn’t just a burner. He has turned himself into a good route runner. If you look at his tape this year he has the ability to run any route. He lacked that ability until his senior season. Lenzy and Austin could be great together
I’m overly thrilled about this pickup. Seems like a pretty unique kid and should return punts/kicks from Day 1. I’m interested to see if we take Keys with Stepherson out the door. I’d take him for sure.
“Can you imagine Lenzy on one side of the formation and Stepherson on the other?”
Uh, not really.
Whoops, somehow I just got the comments to load – I see that point has been made elsewhere 🙂
But, relatedly: how bad is the offense going to be next year? Yikes. As noted in the comments above, it is definitely a good thing we got Lenzy, because he probably needs to play some next year (in the Golden Tate 2007/Chris Brown 2012 Memorial f-it-run-a-go-route role if nothing else).
Haha, yeah…
Lots of questions, especially if ESB jumps. I don’t know about Brown, but I think Lenzy is farther along as a receiver than Tate was – Tate was purely a RB in high school. So there’s that, anyway… No idea what’s going to happen at WR next year, even if everyone returns.
With KJ (probably) out, there’s (probably) room to take Lawrence Keys too. Not sure he’ll be an instant contributor, but he’s a dynamic slot prospect.
Do you really think St. Brown is ready for the NFL and makes that leap? I think he is crazy if he declares considering the season he is coming off.
Apparently his dad recommends he go pro but is leaving it up to his son. I can’t imagine he’s ready because he wasn’t even very good for us. He certainly has some tools but not ready. I did see one mock draft have him in the 2nd round but that seems high given his current production. Maybe if he ran really well at his size that could boost his stock but he doesn’t quite seem like a burner.
His production would be better if the QB threw him more catchable passes.
Absolutely but I don’t think St. Brown did himself any favors by his play.
Do I think he’s ready? No. Do I think he’ll jump? Maybe. His return is probably 50/50 at best given the way Pops talked about Wimbush.
EDIT: As for why I don’t think he’s ready… Wimbush’s inaccuracy certainly hurt his production, but he put some unfortunate stuff on tape this year that he needs to prove was a blip. Multiple ND analysts – and Herbie, FWIW – pointed out his propensity for stopping his route the first time he faced contact. It’s sort of weird for a guy who’s such a solid run blocker, but he Roberto Duran-ed a bunch of routes this year against physical coverage. That was Georgia’s entire gameplan on him, in fact. He also had lapses in concentration that resulted in sloppy routes; the endline throw against MSU should’ve been a TD if he paid any attention at all to his footwork.
Was he disengaged because of Wimbush’s issues? Possibly. That’s hardly an excuse that’ll play well with NFL scouts, though, so I think he needs to come back and answer all those questions. I have a hard time seeing him going above the fourth round right now. There’s not much place in the NFL for a 6’4″ receiver who checks out against press coverage.
I’m not a recruiting guru, and I rarely watch these recruiting videos (usually, it’s men playing against boys, and when some of these guys get to college, they’re playing against people their own size), but on this guy’s videos, multiple times people had great angles on him, and he just outran them. I know that in college that won’t happen as frequently, but this guy could be like Lou Holtz said about a certain ND player; “the only way he doesn’t get the ball is if someone intercepts the snap.”
i remember the comment, but not the player he was referring to…was it Bettis?
Tim Brown
Thanks! That makes even more sense than Bettis
Tim Prister called Lenzy the best offensive player in the entire class. That really caught my attention earlier.
Yeah on the Irish Illustrated podcast this year after he decommitted, they were all really bummed out. Typically, they do the “eh, it’s a loss, but replaceable” thing, but not with Lenzy. I think the only guys they really did that with since I started listening were Beal, Adebo, and Lenzy. So, just based on that if nothing else, I’m inclined to think he’s pretty big get-back.
I was moderately bummed when he decommitted – he was always fast, but I figured, well, we’ll get someone else who can run. I can’t emphasize enough the jump from his junior tape to his senior tape. I didn’t check it out until he got serious with again, and holy cow, did he make an enormous leap as a football player. I think he has the potential to be a gamebreaker now. He’s that good.
This is a really good read, Lenzy wrote an article (though most of the ones on this website are ghost-written) about the recruiting process. Sadly he got some verbal abuse on twitter after he decommited from ND which is so disheartening, but sadly where we are in 2017. Anyways, cool to see the perspective and remember these are kids trying to figure out their next steps. Can’t be easy in the social media age.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/braden-lenzy-college-announcement/
There really is almost no reason for high profile players to ever be on social media. There’s like 1 good thing and about 20 awful things that can come from having twitter. If I have a son that gets close to this level of a profile, I’m going to strongly encourage him to stay off it for good.
He seems like a promising player and with a skillset we don’t really have at WR.
Speaking of WR depth for 2018, has there been any word on McKinley or the freshmen?
I agree cwod, we don’t have enough guys who can write.
Probably not a great sign for McKinley that there was absolutely no thought of playing him over Smith or (especially) Canteen.
McKinley was still behind in fall camp due to his recovery from the broken leg last season; once he didn’t really break out, the staff decided the smarter move was not to push him and let him recover and learn at a reasonable pace.
Now, if he’s invisible during spring ball, that would be really not a great sign.
This article speculates that ND offered a couple DTs because Tillery is going pro – http://irish.nbcsports.com/2017/12/23/with-four-spots-remaining-what-recruits-is-notre-dame-still-chasing/
I’ve seen that thought a lot of places but I don’t think there’s a there there. Tillery has just 2018 left no matter what, and nobody among these late offers is going to be remotely ready to contribute in 2018. Taylor’s return is uncertain, granted, but he has eligibility through 2019, and a coin flip on him is a little more weighted toward success than a coin flip on a diamond-in-the-rough recruit. We’ve taken five DTs over the last two cycles (Ewell, MTA, Hinish, Ademilola, and Franklin) with another really good one committed in 2019 (Lacey) and a bunch more considering us highly.
I just don’t see the point of replacing Tillery with an extra warm body for practice purposes and tying up a scholarhip. They’d be better off trying to retain one of the buried guys currently here for a season and taking an extra DT in 2019. I think the more likely scenario is that these offers are independent of Tillery’s NFL decision, but related to impending transfers that the staff knows about. If I were a betting man, I’d lay money on Tiassum and Dew-Treadway potentially looking for greener pastures.
Guessing it comes from just speculation since Tillery was asked to confirm he was returning for a senior year and he dodged the question. I’d think for a personality like Jerry, staying in school getting that degree and having one more year to embrace life outside of football would be way better than going pro where things become nothing but football. We’ll see I guess what grade he gets from the draft board, but then again staying in college until they drag you out would be my advice to 99% of people 🙂
Agree on your points that this is probably more forward-reaching. I also saw something where Ewell recently welcomed a baby daughter. Hope it all works out for him (and by all accounts he’s planning on staying at ND for now), but I’d guess a 19-year old father far from home is a situation to consider if you’re in charge of stocking a big-time college roster for the future as well.
I’m not sure that makes sense, though – it’s not like Tiassum or Dew-Treadway have more than 1 year at ND; they’re not going to get a 5th year. Tillery needs some production replacement, whereas one would think the coaches wouldn’t/shouldn’t be expecting anything out of Tiassum or Dew-Treadway going forward regardless. And Tiassum/Dew-Treadway are both a season away from a degree from Notre Dame with the ability to transfer scot-free thereafter, so why transfer right now (unless grades etc.)? They’d only get one season of playing either way.
Overall, it seems like the “we might be losing Ewell” theory probably makes more sense than both Tillery or Tiassum/Dew-Treadway roster-wise if we’re scrambling for another freshman DT.