Hopefully you enjoyed our overview of the 2022 Notre Dame recruiting class with recruit grades and some thoughts on the class. We started a deeper dive into the class by position group with a look at the offensive skill positions, then moved on to the offensive line. Today we’re going to look at the defensive line and the punter. Why is the punter with the defensive line, you ask? Two reasons:
- The numbers work out nicely that way, as this and the next two posts will each include four players, and
- I thought it was funny.
As a reminder, here’s our standard grading scale for this exercise:
95-100: Truly elite prospect with All-American potential
90-94: Multi-year starter with All-conference level potential
85-89: Eventual starter with chance to play as underclassman
80-84: Raw prospect with decent potential but a couple years away from impact
75-79: Likely a backup
70-74: Reach by the coaching staff
Signees
| 247C | 18S Grade | Player | City/State | Ht/Wt | Position | Stars | ||||
| 0.9520 | 94 | Tyson Ford | St. Louis, MO | 6-5/260 | DL | * | * | * | * | * |
| 0.9293 | 93 | Aiden Gobaira | Chantilly, VA | 6-4.5/230 | DL | * | * | * | * | |
| 0.8796 | 84 | Donovan Hinish | Pittsburgh, PA | 6-2/275 | DL | * | * | * | ||
| 0.8041 | 88 | Bryce McFerson | Indian Trail, NC | 6-1/185 | P | * | * | * | ||
DL Tyson FordÂ
18S Average: 94.0
Brendan: 94
I liked Ford quite a bit already, but he earned a couple more points on his grade with how he did at the All-American Bowl. He held his own in drills, which is what I might have expected, but then he was all over the place in team activities. I think he’s a kid who practices hard and practices well, but there’s just another gear that kicks in when the lights come on at game time. He’s going to have a chance to push for playing time this year, and if he gets it I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him make some noise.
Eric: 96
His explosion off the ball is tantalizing. His frame looks like he’ll have plenty of room to add size and be effective as an interior player but still be a potent pass-rusher. He reminds me of Khalid Kareem with maybe a higher ceiling. At times, he’s laughably unblockable against high school competition. Packs a big punch when he arrives at the ball carrier. His feet are so quick. I really have a hard time seeing Ford not being a great player for the Irish.
Tyler: 92
Really nice blend of size, power, and athleticism. Looks like he really put a lot of work into developing some explosiveness over the past year, because I do not remember seeing that burst on his junior film. Arrived on campus at a really good size of about 270 pounds, so he may be seeing the field early.
DL Aiden GobairaÂ
18S Average: 92.7
Brendan: 91
Woo, his highlights are fun. I think he mostly went against mid-level competition in Virginia, but even allowing for that he did some frightening things to opponents. His high school played him at middle linebacker often, and to great effect, to prevent teams from just running away from him. His frame is absurdly long and his first step is outstanding. He has all the physical tools to be an excellent edge rusher, and he maximizes them through a relentless motor and exemplary work ethic. It’ll be fun to watch him grow for the Irish.
Eric: 95
Near prototypical defensive end size for college, just missing a bit of height. Looks taller than his listed size with really long arms. His frame is getting bigger but still lean. Excellent burst out of his stance. Mixes tremendous speed with surprising strength. He reminds me a lot of the throwback players Notre Dame would sign in the 1960’s and 1970’s with a big motor and mean streak. Massive upside. A less raw version of Isaiah Foskey coming out of high school which I think bodes really well for Notre Dame.
Tyler: 92
Gobaira was near-unblockable his senior year of high school, and then followed that up with a strong week at the All American Bowl. He’s really explosive off the line, he plays with a high motor, and loves getting after the quarterback. He’ll be a key part of the Notre Dame defensive line in a few years.
DL Donovan Hinish
18S Average: 83.7
Brendan: 83
He’s a lot like Kurt, except a bit more athletic and a bit meaner. Which, yikes… As my colleagues note, size is the big question with him. Everything else is there – motor, power, quickness, attitude. Would he have a Notre Dame offer if Kurt hadn’t picked the Irish too? Probably not, but now from experience the staff knows that landing a Hinish means landing a hard-nosed, hard-working tone-setter. The standard Kurt set on and off the field will be sorely missed; adding Mini Kurt isn’t the worst idea to replace some of that influence. Kurt far outplayed his recruiting rankings and I wouldn’t be surprised if Donovan eventually does the same thing.
Eric: 86
Tremendous burst out of his stance with an ability to crush most high school competition by getting past linemen using his speed. Highly aggressive and looks like he plays severely pissed off. Appears a good deal shorter than his brother Kurt. Size in general is pretty underwhelming and likely lowers his ceiling at the next level. Attitude and background should raise his floor as a prospect. I think he’s a possible good pass-rushing interior prospect earlier in his career and in general I’m buying into the family DNA. How well rounded he’ll become at his size, I’m not sure.
Tyler: 82
He’s tough as nails and has a hell of a motor (sound familiar?) but he has one huge knock on him — his size. He might ultimately end up being as good as his brother, but he might take a bit more time. I’m fully prepared for him to eventually outplay this ranking.
P Bryce McFerson
18S Average: 87.7
Brendan: 90
Boom, I guess. Leg draws rave reviews, who am I to argue. Probably a four-year starter.
Eric: 85
He kicks that things real high.
Tyler: 88
Nice leg.
Fun reminder in how far defensive line recruiting and development has come (will miss ya Elston). But man 5 years ago all of these guys would HAVE to be ready as freshman and definitely rushed into action. Now if any crack the two deep it’s because they’re too good to be kept off the field. I mean it took him a decade but credit to kelly as well
True, this is a great timing and development cycle for this position. After this year Foskey and the Ademilola’s will be gone and possibly some of Nana, Lacey and Cross could depart as well given typical senior graduate turnover.
But there’s really no cause for concern with this class getting a year to get up to speed and probably start making a real impact in 2023. If they hold with Keeley’s recruitment then DL is probably now in it’s best spot moving forward, could it be the best position set up for 2023 and 2024 when the team could/should be peaking?
I guess one could rightfully say OL might rival or exceed the DL outlook with Alt, Fisher and a host of highly ranked players (who are unproven now, though), but it’s a great sign when the big guys are in place for future success.
The punter is the number two punter in the country, right? 5 star rating? I know it’s easy to make light of that, but here’s an interesting listen on the importance of long snappers and by extension special teams.
Made me think about how much more common botched snaps used to be when I started watching ND football in the 1980s, and how they’ve almost disappeared. Given that a punt is the far and away the highest average yardage play from scrimmage, it’ll be great if we can lock down the punting game for 3-4 years. And he’s a 4.5 star kicker, never hurts to have a backup there.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-does-the-most-monotonous-job-in-the-world-pay-1-million/
Well said. Love this thread, good organization, Brendan — ‘cuz as Lou Holtz always said, when you go on the road, you better bring your defense and your kicking game !
It’s super weird to me that the punters/kickers are always the lowest-ranked players in the class, both in terms of star rankings and how the team experts on 247 etc. rank them. It’s almost a guarantee that they are going to be more important to the team than half the class at least! If you don’t think so, that’s probably a bad sign. Therefore they should be higher in the rankings, no?
For stars and stuff I would guess because no one really knows or cares on how to project or recognize their unique skillsets.
For this, above 90 is “all conference” level and 95+ is All American, which I mean how can you know or compare to the punters around? I think for this article, 88 is a fine ranking for a punter projected to be good enough to start as a freshman with a lot of upside, but not wanting to risk crowning him a future NFL caliber leg as such a young player.
This was not a criticism of 18S – they’re doing it more or less correctly, in fact! It’s all the other recruiting sites that all have him as our lowest-value recruit, which is almost certainly not going to be the case.
I didn’t take your comment to be critical about for how specialists are ranked here. The punter will def be more useful than maybe 20-30% of the class, but it’s just tough to project specifically where the busts will be, so they’re kinda cast to the side. In that way, the 18S grades make a lot of sense with how futures are projected.
Really great article. As a great man once said (I think it was originally Steenalized), YCNHTMKLSLSTQ.
PS: I stand with my team, team ketchup. Fries are merely a vehicle to get ketchup to my mouth. Hot dogs are disgusting and barely made tolerable, with ketchup.
Not my creation though I will repeat it when we continue to sign those guys
The mockery of You Can Never Have Too Many Offensive Linemen did originally start with me. Since then, it’s taken on a life of its own.