Notre Dame added another big, athletic defensive end to its 2022 class today when Darren Agu announced for the Irish. The 6’6″, 225-pound Georgia resident has had quite a fascinating journey to where he is now. Born in Ireland, Agu moved to London as a child. He played six-man football there and made a name for himself among the handful of people who are aware of European prep prospects, then moved last year to, and I swear I’m not making this up, Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. It’s an international boarding school in the mountains of Georgia that seems to somewhat resemble Notre Dame in its mission – and their head football coach is a former IMG assistant, which should give you some idea of how much weight they place on the program.

 

Given his arrival in the midst of the pandemic, Agu has had all of seven games stateside playing 11-man football. Still, his athleticism is glaringly obvious on tape – and at the recent VTO Sports regional camp, where he was named camp MVP and invited to their All-American camp at IMG next January. That performance prompted both Alabama and Notre Dame to offer a week ago, with the Irish apparently in the driver’s seat immediately given the speed of his commitment.

What this means for the DE numbers in this class is anyone’s guess. The overall class number seems to be extremely fluid; I think it’ll end up around 25, but I wouldn’t bet on it and there are all kinds of ways to get to that number. Agu is the third defensive lineman in the class, joining ends Tyson Ford and Aiden Gobaira; I think the staff wants at least one tackle, preferably Anthony Lucas, and after that I have no idea how it will go. They really like Donovan Hinish, who looks like Kurt turned up to 11 (which is a scary thought). They’re very much in it for weakside ends Cyrus Moss and DJ Wesolak and strongside end/3-tech Ernest Cooper too. I can’t see them turning away any of those guys but there’s obviously no way they’ll take eight defensive linemen either. Your guess is as good as mine.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8789 rating), #461 overall, #28 WDE, #40 in GA

247Sports — 3 star (88 rating), NR overall, #22 WDE, #36 in GA

Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #27 ATH, #47 in GA

ESPN — Not evaluated

Irish Sports Daily — 3 star (88 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame and Alabama, Agu holds offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia, plus a few G5 schools. Not a three-star offer list.

Highlights

He’s. So. Fast. Agu spent his day at that camp abusing kids – the Rivals ND beat guy, Mike Singer, described him as “unblockable” – and it doesn’t look like his competition here fared much better. In passing situations he looks like a mismatch against anybody despite having very little technique; he’s just too much to handle athletically. He shows outstanding burst and speed for his position, and violence when he gets to the ball carrier. He’s pretty inconsistent with his arms; at times he uses them very well to maintain leverage, at times he seems to kind of forget about it and let blockers get into his body. This is especially notable on a couple of run plays here where he’s actually driven down the field a bit. To his credit he stays in there and eventually makes the play, but it’s something he’ll have to clean up.

On the other hand, again, the physical tools and the frame just scream potential. Tom Loy at 247 said the other day that the Irish staff sees Agu as a future first-rounder if he’s developed correctly, and physically, I can see it. There’s a reason Alabama offered after that camp performance, and it’s not that they were just being nice.

Impact

Kind of hinted at this above, but he’s still very raw and absent a monster jump in technique during his senior year he’s going to need a little time. He reportedly has an exemplary work ethic, though, so I don’t think it’ll be long before he sees the field for the Irish. I think he could possibly follow a similar path to Isaiah Foskey, where he gets a cup of coffee early, gets in the rotation as a sophomore, and potentially takes on a starting role as an upperclassman. If it all comes together for him, he could stamp his name in the archives a couple of times before he’s done.

Céad Míle Fáilte, Darren!