It’s mid-August now and the Notre Dame football recruiting class of 2021 is getting closer and closer to filling up already. Sunday night, the Irish received more welcome recruiting news in a commitment from defensive end Will Schweitzer. The 6’4″/220-pounder out of Los Gatos, California is the 18th commitment in the class for the Fighting Irish — though that number will likely be dropping back down to 17 sometime soon.
Officially commited to the University of Notre Dame @NDFootball @CoachBrianKelly @CoachMikeElston @BrianPolian @Coach_Lea #goirish☘️ pic.twitter.com/hM8R99OJjE
— Will Schweitzer (@WillSchweitzer2) August 16, 2020
Will has always had heavy interest in Notre Dame — in fact, I had him as a name to watch in my way-too-early guess at how ND’s recruiting class of 2021 would end up. At the time of that post, it didn’t seem as though the Irish would end up having enough room for Will in this class as they seemed set to land both Jason Onye and David Abiara. Of course, the Irish did land both of those prospects and Will would commit to Nebraska in mid-June. But with Abiara’s commitment seeming as soft as warm butter at the moment, the Irish took it upon themselves to keep targeting Will Schweitzer in the hopes of getting him to flip. Those efforts have now succeeded.
Recruiting Service Rankings
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #26 WDE, #41 in CA
ESPN — 3 star (75 rating), NR overall, #88 OLB, #84 in CA
247Sports — 3 star (88 rating), NR overall, #31 OLB, #41 in CA
247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8713), #539 overall, #35 OLB, #48 in CA
Irish Sports Daily — 3 star LB (89 rating)
Cohort
In addition to his aforementioned Nebraska commitment, Will also held offers from Cal, Duke, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, TCU, Virginia, Syracuse, and others. His offer list currently totals 25 teams.
Highlights
As I do with every new commit, I’ll share Jamie at ISD’s film review for Will. It can be read here.
At this stage, Will is definitely more of a tweener. He plays tight end, linebacker, and some defensive end for his high school team. And I think in these clips he weighs somewhere between 200-210 pounds. So he’s a long, lanky prospect at this point. He’s got a lot of qualities to like, though. He has a good first step, and he already utilizes a couple of nifty pass-rushing moves despite the fact that he’s not even a full-time defensive end right now. His coverage abilities look solid, and he definitely possesses above-average athleticism for a defensive end. He should be able to handle all of the responsibilities that come with playing Vyper in the Notre Dame defense.
Impact
I mentioned earlier that David Abiara’s commitment to Notre Dame is extremely soft at this point, and that might even be an understatement. Here he is tweeting at Hayes Fawcett this Saturday night:
@Hayesfawcett3 let’s talk. 🤝
— HBO/D (@Dtx_Davidd) August 16, 2020
For those of you who don’t know, Hayes Fawcett is the guy for recruits to go to for top schools and commitment edits. Why does Abiara, a kid who is already committed, need to reach out to a guy who creates commitment edits? Not hard to connect the dots.
With Abiara likely gone, this is a good move by Mike Elston already landing another defensive end to take his place. I’m not going to pretend Will is considered the same level of a prospect as Abiara, but I think he is a good prospect and I do like that the Irish are adding a Vyper here rather than another strong-side end like Abiara is. This is definitely better than being left scrambling after losing a commit.
As far as a depth chart impact, Will definitely needs to put on more weight before being able to see the field for Notre Dame. If he can get up to around 250, that would be ideal. Notre Dame has good depth built up right now at defensive end, so there should not be any rush to get Will on the field early. A redshirt season is most likely in the cards for him in 2021, but I see no reason why he couldn’t end up being an eventual starter or contributor for Notre Dame.
Welcome to the Irish family, Will!
Oof, well at least they’ve been proactive enough to off-set the loss of Abiara before it officially happens..Even if based on the tea leaves it felt like this has been trending towards a decommit for many moons.
Seems like a lot of “project guys” on the DL as of late. I suppose the program that’s done well to develop Jones, Ogundeji, Okwara (in frame as a 6’4, 215 pound guy coming in, if not in stars) in recent years etc deserves a bit of faith. Just feels like put too many eggs in that basket and it’s bound to burst sooner or later. Almost to me seems like they’ve had so many hits that it’s about time for a course correction for the next batch of Wardlows and Jhonny Williams
Yeah, looks like 2021 is the year for raw DEs with upside (even if Abiara were to stay committed).
Landing Foskey, Nana, and Botelho in 2019/2020 make me less worried about that than I usually would be, though. Just need to make sure we land a guy or two like that in 2022.
Like Ty said – I like Abiara and I’d rather keep him in the class, but I think it’s worth remembering that he’s also an upside guy (currently at #335 overall in the 247 Composite). I think he has a higher floor than Schweitzer but Schweitzer, with his better burst and speed, has a higher ceiling.
Also, as Ty said in the article, I definitely Abiara and Onye are both going to be SDEs eventually, and IMO there was more of a need for a WDE in this class. Again, would rather have Abiara than not, but this is a nice recovery.
I don’t see anything wrong with taking kids who need a couple of years to develop. This is what programs with deep & talented depth charts where underclassmen rarely see the field can afford to do. It’s just that it’s been so long that ND has been in that position with this particular unit that we’re not accustomed to having that luxury.
It’s okay to have some guys who need time to develop, but let’s hope he’s another Ade and not a Kofi
Nothing wrong with development! It’s a fact of nature in that position that a lot of times kids are going to need to add 20-30 pounds and strength to be top-line DE’s.
But I’m aspiring to Clemson/Bama/tOSU. These guys aren’t just getting developmental prospects, they’re getting top-end players who turn into 1st/2nd round DL’s. I want ND to get the Hayes/Kareem level top HS players to go along with the upside takes. (And, to Brendan’s point Abiara was kind of more projection than high rating, though IMO he is a lot better than 335 just hasn’t been appropriately slotted yet).
Where is Abiara likely headed?
And when did WDE become Vyper? I don’t think I’ve heard that name used before.
Ha – understandable that you missed it, it was just this offseason. It was Shark briefly before that. Not really sure what’s going on there, lol.
At the moment, looks like the most probable destination for Abiara is SMU, believe it or not. I think he wants to stay close to home, but Oklahoma filled up while he ruminated and I don’t know how interested Texas really is.
Yeah, I would not be surprised to see him end up at SMU.
It’s only about a 45 minute drive from his hometown. They’re also coming after a friend of his pretty hard as well.
Texas I think is pretty interested, though.