Notre Dame has welcomed new offensive line coach Joe Rudolph from Virginia Tech this off-season and he sets out to recruit on his own terms for 2024 and beyond. But first, we will recap the last class to sign with the retiring Harry Hiestand.

If you missed our 2023 recruiting class overview, click HERE.

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

OT Charles Jagusah

18S Average: 93.3

Brendan: 95

Jagusah is pretty raw and, with all apologies to his teammates, played for a terrible team against so-so competition. That’s where the negatives end though. He’s absolutely massive and stupidly athletic for his size AND has a mean streak a mile and a half wide. Oh, and he capped off his senior season as a wrestler with the Illinois state title, putting a cherry on his perfect 41-0 record. He’ll need some time to learn the finer points of offensive line play, but he has high first round potential.

Eric: 93

Jagusah is a bruising offensive lineman. He has a really large lower half of his body and flashes tremendous strength with his upper body. I think most are expecting him more at right tackle. His face and body kind of remind me of Aaron Taylor, to be honest. I could see him being a really dominant guard in college. He also gets after it on defense in high school. He moves so well for his size. His floor has to be about as high as anyone in this class.

Tyler: 92

He’s big, he’s physical, he moves well, and blocks with a tenacious effort. You can tell he just has that mentality of wanting to dominate the guy in front of him. Rare combination of both length and bulk that could allow him to play either at tackle or the interior at Notre Dame.

OT Sullivan Absher

18S Average: 85.7

Brendan: 86

Absher is an absolute behemoth of a specimen, listed at 6’7″ and 305 pounds. He can definitely move at that size too, and seems to take exceptional delight in burying people. He had a little bit of a rough time in 1-on-1’s at the All American Bowl, but that’s hardly surprising as his high school offense was extremely run heavy. While his all-star game struggles don’t concern me, the development he’ll need as a pass blocker – he’s almost as raw as you can be in that respect – lends a fair amount of uncertainty to his projection. I don’t think there’s any doubt he can be an effective run blocker though. I would guess he’ll end up on the inside for the Irish, with long-term prognosis positive but a little hard to pin down.

Eric: 87

That’s a big wrecking ball in a high school offense. Absher has a huge frame and can move well while getting out of his stance quickly. He clearly relishes putting people in the dirt. We don’t have a ton of pass blocking from his highlights. I have no doubt he’ll excel in the run game where his quickness and size will allow him to flourish. If he can put it together protecting the quarterback he’s a multi-year starter at either tackle position. Although, it’s possible he becomes an excellent guard, too.

Tyler: 84

He should have no problems in the run game for Notre Dame, but he’s going to need a lot of work in pass protection. It’s not his fault — he just hasn’t really had to do it at the high school level. Just based on that statement you have to wonder if he’ll end up at guard for Notre Dame, His frame could be ideal at tackle as well, though.

IOL Joe Otting

18S Average: 80.3

Brendan: 82

Otting is almost certainly destined for center, although he has uncommon athleticism for the interior – he was an all-county basketball player as a junior as well as a state qualifier in the javelin and district qualifier in shotput and discus. I think he has potential but he needs to add at least 30 pounds before he’ll have a realistic chance to see the field, which makes it hard to judge when he’ll have an impact and how significant it will be.

Eric: 78

This guy loves pulling across the line of scrimmage and hitting defenders right in the face. Otting can move very quickly and gets out of his stance up to the next level extremely well. My big concern is a lack of size. He’s listed anywhere from 6-3 to 6-4 but looks more in the 6-2 range. Plus, he’ll have to put on quite a bit of weight to see the field at Notre Dame. I think he’ll be a bit of a project.

Tyler: 81

He looks very athletic for an offensive lineman, but at his current size he probably needs to put on a good 40-50 pounds to play on the interior for Notre Dame. That will undoubtedly take time. Love his mobility and physicality, hopefully his body catches up to that quickly.

IOL Sam Pendleton

18S Average: 85.7

Brendan: 85

I definitely see Pendleton as an interior guy as well. His footwork is reasonably good but I don’t see the flexibility and agility to feel comfortable projecting him on the edge. He has some technique work to do, particularly with his hands, but he’s mean as hell and he moves well in space. I see him as a potential starter down the road after a couple of years of technical development.

Eric: 86

Pendleton is one of the most well rounded players in this class. He’s got the size and physicality. He’s a menace in high school at tackle or at guard. Pendleton carries his weight well and is able to dish out a lot of pancakes in high school. I could see him developing into a good right tackle. But, his future likely is more tailored to being a very mobile guard at his size.

Tyler: 86

He’s already got the size to play at the college level. Let Balis work on him and we could soon see him sitting at 315-320 pounds. I initially planned on grading him a bit lower before taking a look at his senior film. I like the work that he’s put in between his junior and senior years, should be a good one at guard for the Irish.

OT Christopher Terek

18S Average: 80.3

Brendan: 82

I’m always on board for stealing an offensive line recruit from Wisconsin. That said… I know Harry Hiestand liked Terek a lot, and he forgot more about line play while he slept last night than I’ll ever know, but I have a hard time projecting Terek. I think he shows some traits but he has a ways to go in reshaping his physique, and that makes it very difficult to know what impact he’ll have or how long it will take to materialize.

Eric: 79

Maybe the least discussed commit of the class and maybe stretching back to last year’s class, or longer. Terek has surprisingly good footwork and has nice burst coming out his stance. Size doesn’t look like it’ll be an issue. I don’t love his lower-half body, though. It looks like he’ll have to re-shape his body a little bit and his legs look like he’ll struggle to be overly athletic in college.

Tyler: 80

I admit I almost forgot Terek was committed for a moment. His flip from Wisconsin happened at a time when there was so much other drama going on for Notre Dame with the Peyton Bowen saga that it probably didn’t receive the attention it deserved. He possesses the prerequisite size but is probably the least athletic of the OL signees, which limits his ranking a bit for me.