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 position groups with a look at the offensive skill positions, then moved on to the offensive line, then the defensive line (plus the punter, because he has to go somewhere). Today we’re looking at the crown jewel of the class, the linebackers. The Irish may well have signed the best linebacker group in the country in this cycle. All four Notre Dame signees were among the 16 semi-finalists for the Butkus Award this year, and two – Jaylen Sneed and Josh Burnham – made the final group of six. The award eventually went to Alabama signee Shawn Murphy, but still, such a strong Irish presence is very notable.

If you want to engage in some follow-the-tail-numbers style fun, there’s a chance Notre Dame could retroactively add another semifinalist. Notre Dame just hired running back coach Deland McCullough away from Indiana. Deland’s son Dasan just signed with Indiana, but rumor has it that the family might want to stick together. If you’re curious about numbers, Dasan profiles more as an edge player at this point than an off-ball linebacker. Dasan is #75 overall in the 247 Composite rankings, which makes him the highest ranked recruit Indiana has ever signed.

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
0.9836 96 Jaylen Sneed Hilton Head Island, SC 6-2/210 LB * * * * *
0.9551 93 Joshua Burnham Traverse City, MI 6-4/225 LB * * * *
0.9377 86 Niuafe Tuihalamaka Misson Hills, CA 6-2/235 LB * * * *
0.8984 87 Nolan Ziegler Grand Rapids, MI 6-4/210 LB * * * *

LB Jaylen Sneed

18S Average: 96.3

Brendan: 96

Is it possible for a consensus five star to be underrated? The 247 Composite has Sneed at #33 overall and the #3 LB; the #1 LB is Ohio State commit CJ Hicks, who is #7 overall, and who was also outperformed by Sneed at common events. Well, whatever the case there, Sneed is Notre Dame’s first defensive consensus five-star since Jaylon Smith and Max Redfield in the 2013 class. He shows outstanding burst and long speed for his position, covers downfield with ease, finds gaps to shoot through as a blitzer, shows good block destruction ability… He’s an elite all-around talent, and it’s going to be a lot of fun watching him rack up havoc plays for a few years.

Eric: 97

A terrific mix of speed and strength. Excellent footwork and burst. Not quite as twitchy as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah but in the same mold as a lean and explosive outside linebacker you’ll never want to take off the field. Big developed shoulders and muscular legs sit between a skinnier midsection that could add some weight, but not too much. If he’s at Rover the position has so many responsibilities but it wouldn’t be shocking if he’s a part-time starter as a true freshman. Sneed has a ridiculously high ceiling.

Tyler: 96

Notre Dame has landed elite Rover/Buck prospects in consecutive recruiting cycles in Prince Kollie and Jaylen Sneed — with Sneed looking like the better prospect coming out of high school. Can you imagine seeing both of them on the field at the same time? You may not have to for long.

LB Josh Burnham

18S Average: 93.0

Brendan: 95

Burnham is properly considered a blue chip linebacker now, but when you look at his tape it’s hard not to see him growing into a defensive end or, perhaps, a 3-4 outside linebacker. Burnham covers a lot of ground at his size and comes downhill hard. I also really like that he was a credible high school quarterback; I don’t know that he’ll ever take a snap on offense for the Irish, but it speaks to his athleticism and versatility. A very good athlete who should be able to see the field sooner rather than later.

Eric: 91

Long legs make him look all of 6’3” with a rangy body. A very good overall athlete with good sideline to sideline speed. A perfect fit at Mike linebacker for the Irish. Burnham has good instincts from the middle of the field and flashes tremendous blitzing ability. There are some Luke Kuechely vibes about him. He looks nimble enough to make plays in coverage. I don’t think he’s an elite athlete overall but for a middle linebacker he should have a fruitful career for Notre Dame.

Tyler: 93

More than athletic enough to play linebacker at a high level, but it’s not out of the question for him to grow enough to play defensive end. We’ll just have to see how his body fills out. He’s an extremely effective blitzer at the high school level and should prove to be an asset rushing the passer even at linebacker.

LB Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka

18S Average: 86.0

Brendan: 87

The knock, such as it was, on Junior was that he was too much of an old-school middle linebacker, not fit for the modern sideline-to-sideline game. He heard it too and he dedicated himself to improving that part of his game, with solid results. One of the most steadfast rules of recruiting: Sign as many talented, hard-working Polynesian kids as you can get, and your program will be better for it. Oh, and his father and uncle are elite rugby players who have been schooling him in that game practically since he could walk. I would bet that Tuihalamaka’s movement will surprise some people.

Eric: 86

Powerful and long athlete who looks extremely comfortable playing middle linebacker. Nice burst as a blitzer, although he may struggle a lot more at the next level being as disruptive as he is in high school where seemingly no offensive linemen are touching him. I think he’ll be a solid player at Notre Dame, but maybe not sold on his ceiling as much as the recruiting world.

Tyler: 85

Slimmed down about ten pounds since his junior season of high school and it definitely helped him add some more range to his game. He’s a Mike linebacker all the way — a really physical player with more range now than you might expect given his size.

LB Nolan Ziegler

18S Average: 87.3

Brendan: 89

Ziegler is another tremendous athlete in this linebacker group. He was dominant both ways last season – if you want to talk about stuffing the stat sheet, look no further than this kid. In his senior season he logged 120 tackles, six forced fumbles, and nine sacks on defense plus over 1,400 yards from scrimmage and 25 touchdowns on offense – all en route to his third straight state title. Dude can play. He’s the definition of a hybrid player, playing all over the back seven for his high school team and even working with the linebackers and safeties at the All-American Bowl. It’ll be interesting to see which one of he and Sneed end up at Rover and Buck, or whatever they end up being called.

Eric: 86

Smooth athlete with an impressive burst. Extremely physical. Plays well beyond his listed weight in terms of tackling and is bringing the hammer at the line of scrimmage against ball-carriers. Until he bulks up and adds more size he’s likely a developmental Rover-type. I actually like him more inside as a faster Mike linebacker if his strength is as good as I think it will be. He’ll be one of the guys from this class that absolutely needs to find the right position and stay there and not bounce all over the place.

Tyler: 87

Basically the next Drue Tranquill. Looks like a bit of a safety/linebacker tweener right now, but he’ll eventually bulk up and end up as a linebacker with plus-athleticism. He could play rover, but I think his highest upside may be at Buck.