Notre Dame added another quality tight end to its 2022 class today when Holden Staes announced for the Irish. The 6’5″, 230 pound Georgian committed to Penn State last summer but re-opened his recruitment in February. This wasn’t a case of second thoughts after his recruitment blew up, as he already had almost all his major offers before he backed away from his pledge to the Happy Valley Weirdos Nittany Lions. The one he didn’t have was Notre Dame; that one came five days after he decommitted. Coincidence? I tend to think not.

Given his size, position, athleticism, and point of origin, Staes will draw inevitable comparisons to Tommy Tremble. I think Tremble was a bit more of an athletic prospect though, while Staes has more of a frame to grow into an inline threat. Staes is a great complement to Eli Raridon, who I think projects as more of a move tight end than an inline guy. That’s not to sell Staes short as a receiver by any means – we’ll get into it more below, but he shows plenty of promise in that part of his game too.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9036 rating), #268 overall, #10 TE, #25 in GA

247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), NR overall, #15 TE, #28 in GA

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #14 TE, #32 in GA

ESPN — 4 star (81 rating), #268 overall, #6 TE, #27 in GA

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (91 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame and Penn State, Staes holds offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, USC, and Wisconsin, among many others.

Highlights

As a receiver Staes reminds me a bit of my old college roommate; even when he was covered, he was open. Those are the guys who know how to get that tiny bit of space at the last second, or to shield you off the ball, or to time the jump just right, and it’s so frustrating to defend them. There is clearly no amount of traffic that concerns Staes as not only is he fearless over the middle, he’s actually aggressive. He shows exceptional hands, catching everything smoothly and away from his body; he has to be an absolute nightmare to cover in short areas. I don’t think he’s going to take the top off the defense, but he’s fast enough to cause some real damage if you don’t give him enough attention.

As a blocker, the spirit is clearly willing but the technique needs some work. Staes moves really well and definitely tries to deliver a big blow in the run game. He seems unsure what to do with his hands sometimes; I saw a couple of blocks that were at least borderline holds. He can lose leverage sometimes too and win by overpowering, especially on the move, which is pretty common at this stage of a prospect’s development. The key thing here is that he likes to hit people, as is also evidenced by his defensive highlights. An affinity for blocking is an enormous part of getting good at it, so I have no doubt Staes will work it all out at the next level.

Impact

Staes and Raridon will be freshmen in what will very likely be Michael Mayer’s last year (booooo). George Takacs, in line to be TE2 this season, could be a fifth year then. Mayer’s classmate Kevin Bauman will be a junior. Cane Berrong and Mitchell Evans, who both flashed in the Blue-Gold Game, will be sophomores. I see almost no way that either of them will make an impact as a freshman, not because of shortcomings on their part but just because of how healthy the position is. Fast forward to 2023, though, and it’s a different story. Mayer and Takacs will both be gone, and there will be rotation minutes available for at least one of the 2022 tight ends. Who gets on the field more may depend on which profile the staff needs more. I think ultimately both could be front-line players as upperclassmen. Tight End U just keeps rolling right along.

Welcome to the Irish family, Holden!