Notre Dame’s 2019 recruiting class picked up its fourth commit and second blue-chip defensive lineman yesterday when Hunter Spears announced for the Irish. The 6’4″, 280-pound Texas monster visited for the USC game last season and again for the cycle’s first junior day a few weeks ago. Notably, he’s the fourth commit from that USC visitor list, joining Tariq Bracy, Tommy Tremble, and Paul Moala. The Irish could well pick up a fifth off that list too in elite OT Quinn Carroll, who seems to be leaning hard to Notre Dame. Good times!

Spears had originally planned to announce a commitment on his birthday in the fall, but decided not to hold off. Stanford could bear watching here, as he reportedly wanted an offer from them when he visited last summer. However, they wouldn’t offer without him camping, and he didn’t want to camp anywhere after tearing his ACL at an event last spring. The Tree’s reluctance didn’t sit well with him, but we’ve heard that story before, right? Mike Elston has done a great job here so far and no doubt will continue to do so. But it bears watching.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247 Sports Composite — 4 star (.9145), #242 overall, #14 DT, #30 in TX

247 Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #298 overall, #17 DT, #36 in TX

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #17 DT, #31 in TX

ESPN — 4 star (82 rating), #170 overall, #17 DE, #27 in TX

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Hunter Spears holds offers from Alabama, Cal, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, and TCU, among others. He has drawn interest from other schools but some are hesitant until he puts more on film after his injury.

Highlights

It’s hard to draw too many firm conclusions off this film, given that it’s his first action since the ACL injury. There’s some stiffness there but it could well just be the layoff, as he looks a bit more fluid in his sophomore film. What jumps out in a positive way is that he’s plenty powerful and he covers ground pretty well at his size. I don’t see natural pass-rushing ability, but he looks like he can be very effective at setting the edge and occasionally wreck a play through pure strength. Current Irish SDE Jay Hayes is probably a pretty good comparison.

Impact

I think Spears’s future is pretty clearly on the inside as a 3-tech DT. However, given his size and strength, he may be able to help plug hole on the 2019 SDE depth chart, which right now consists of just Khalid Kareem. The Elko/Lea defense has shown a heavy propensity for rotating DTs, and I definitely think Spears could be one of those rotation regulars down the road. I would guess he’ll play early in spots, and then by his junior year be a substantial contributor. That Notre Dame is suddenly operating from a position of strength on the interior will only help his development.

Welcome to the Irish family, Hunter!