Notre Dame added its second 2022 commitment today when TE Jack Nickel announced for the Irish. The 6’4″, 230-pound Georgian recently made an independent visit to campus, like recent 2021 commit Chance Tucker, which no doubt was a key factor in his decision. Prospects can’t interact with anyone acting in an official capacity for the school on these visits, and typically can’t even go into any buildings, but it seems that they’re at least getting a feel for what campus is like and a chance to visualize themselves as part of it.

Jack’s father Paul played at Stanford, but as noted in a recent ISD piece, always wanted to play at Notre Dame. Unfortunately for him, while he did hold an Irish offer Lou Holtz prioritized Irv Smith ahead of him (I mean, not the worse decision). Paul, despite the recruiting snub and despite being on the field for the Cardinal’s earth-shaking 1990 upset in South Bend, never lost his love for Notre Dame. Apparently he passed that on to his son, who wasted little time in seizing the opportunity he never got; Notre Dame offered in early May and was rumored to be the immediate leader.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8902), #276 overall, #12 TE, #25 in GA

247Sports — 3 star (87 rating), NR overall, #24 TE, #31 in GA

Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, NR TE, NR in GA

ESPN — 4 star (81 rating), #269 overall, #6 TE, #26 in GA

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating), TE

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Nickel holds offers from Florida State, Iowa, LSU, Miami, Oregon, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others, and had drawn interest from Ohio State.

Highlights

It’s always worth remembering what class kids are in – like in this case, keep in mind that Nickel is a sophomore in this video. His receiving skills are pretty good, and I’ll get to them in a minute, but what I want to focus on first is his blocking. He’s a sophomore and he’s bullying defensive ends, linebackers, and defensive backs in the run game. He’s a mobile, aggressive, and angry blocker, and boy is it fun to watch. Check the play at the 3:02 mark. He lines up in an H-back position, and immediately on the snap you can see the wheels turning. He sees the blitzing linebacker is handled and slides to the outside of that blocker. He sees the safety coming downhill and take a false step inside, so he lets him go. Then, seven yards downfield, he engages a linebacker or nickel (hard to tell) and drives him from the hash almost to the sideline before unceremoniously dumping him on his kiester. Like I said, fun.

As a receiver, his speed isn’t going to blow anyone away, and I doubt it’ll improve that much as he gets older. His routes also need a lot more polish, which is completely unsurprising given his age. However, he shows excellent hands and an impressive fearlessness in traffic. And, in keeping with his film as a blocker, he shows outstanding toughness as a ball carrier. Again, it’s important to keep in mind that he’s just a sophomore here when he’s running over and through people. His junior film (if we get any) should be fun, and by the time he’s a senior… Look out.

Impact

The 2022 season will likely feature juniors Michael Mayer and Kevin Baumann as the primary options at tight end, with sophomore Cane Berrong (and perhaps another 2021 signee) providing depth. I doubt Nickel will be needed immediately, which is a positive for his development. By 2023, though, I could him working his way into the depth chart, especially if Mayer does as well as we all think he will and jumps to the League after his junior season. I believe Nickel projects very well to a traditional combo TE role, along the lines of Troy Niklas (hmm – coincidence?), and will be able to find his way onto the field as a plus blocker and red zone/short yardage target. If he can improve athletically as he develops, his ceiling could be even higher than that.

Welcome to the Irish family, Jack!