Harry Heistand has his first verbal since arriving back at Notre Dame. On Monday night, 2023 interior offensive lineman Sam Pendleton committed to the Fighting Irish during a ceremony at his high school.
He was offered only 5 weeks ago and becomes the first offensive lineman to join the class.
I am committed to @NDFootball‼️ #goirish #herecometheIrish pic.twitter.com/8GzoN72VdO
— Sam Pendleton (@SamPendleton7) April 25, 2022
Notre Dame originally wasn’t in Pendleton’s top 5 but he ended up re-thinking things this spring. He would take a visit in early April after which momentum began to build that the Irish were the favorite.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8922 rating), #342 overall, #19 IOL, #12 in NC
247Sports — 4 star (88 rating), NR overall, #27 IOL, #13 in NC
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #239 overall, #21 OT, #5 in NC
ESPN — Not Rated
Irish Sports Daily — 91 grade
Cohort
Pendleton’s top 5 prior to announcing were Notre Dame, Florida, Michigan, Clemson, and NC State. He also carried offers from Stanford, Penn State, Tennessee, North Carolina, and several other programs.
Highlights
Sam fits the mold of many Heistand recruits who excel at playing tackle in high school but have the power and nastiness to project to excellent guards in college. He’s a real beefy kid already and should have no problem getting well over 300 pounds by the time he’s ready to fight for playing time for the Irish.
Pendleton actually moves really well, too. There’s a level of athleticism and footwork mixed with his ability to dominate physically that surely has Heistand smiling. He’s probably an inch or two away from having elite size and really being an unquestioned blue-chip prospect but already has skills that should see him rise another 80 to 100 spots in the national rankings.
Impact
Notre Dame for years seemed to recruit tackles only who would eventually move to guard if it didn’t work out on the edge. Technically, Pendleton plays a lot of tackle in high school but everyone at Notre Dame sees him as a guard. He’d join Rocco Spindler (2021) and Billy Schrauth (2022) as unquestioned physical guards ready to start for the Irish.
I don’t think Pendleton will rise quite to the level of those recruiting stars, though. We knew Notre Dame needed to start making some moves in putting together this offensive line class and did a nice job bringing in Pendleton as an early anchor.
Welcome to the Irish family, Sam!
I always wonder about the E$PN ratings. I don’t really think they do it for any other reason than getting more clicks. I also think they only rate those who they can attract attention to their products.
If Heistand wants him, I’m good with taking him, no matter his rating.
ESPN is such trash. Having unranked 2023 top 500 players is pathetic.
It feels like they are going to be exiting the recruiting game at some point.
To me, ESPN rankings seem like a slow witted momentum investor chasing the professionals. Getting into recruits way too late and being useless because of that.
I mean that’s ESPN’s business model, fire everyone who actually puts in reporting work and keep the hot take artists.
I hate ESPN more than anyone. But in their defense, that is the entire world’s business model at this point.
Was once a serious Michigan lean and chose ND. Had Stanford offer – opened the mail, read it, ignored it, found it a few weeks later, re-read it, crumpled it up, and threw it in the trash (at least in my head canon). I like this kid, whether he is the next Quentin Nelson or Nelson Muntz, I like him a lot.
The sound of choosing between 3 (or more) young 6’4″ 300-lb+ guards for years to come also makes me happy.
Welcome to the team
I know I shouldn’t have looked, but hoo buddy are the Michigan folk mad about the state of recruiting right now. ND and MSU are eating their lunch and it’s Harbaugh’s fault for flirting with the Vikings (which may actually be sort of true).
Guilty treat that I can again enjoy now that Lent is done…looking at UM sites just for the schadenfreude.
I doubt it could ever happen, but the double barrel of getting Moore and Carr would turn every one of their servers into a pile of corium slag.
I had to google corium and took a very nice trip down an internet rabbit hole learning science facts. Thanks!
If anybody else likes reading about nuclear disasters, in reading Ukraine news recently, I read that Chernobyl is *not* the most radiologically polluted site on earth, so then I had to go read about that, which led to reading the Lake Karachay story. Fascinating.
Didn’t help that their OC left for Miami and implicitly torched Michigan in the process by saying he was going somewhere he was wanted.
Shared this in the 18S writers room earlier today… 247C ranking noted, commits are in italics.
Michigan commits/leans with ND offers:
ND commits/leans with Michigan offers:
Plus a bunch of other guys – S Caleb Downs, WR Carnell Tate, LB Jaiden Ausberry, ATH Dalton Brooks, CB Caleb Presley, WR Rodney Gallagher, WR Jaden Greathouse, ATH Micah Tease, etc. – who are by no means ND leans but are way more on our radar than theirs. Four of their six commits are ranked lower than Pendleton, who is our lowest ranked.
ATH Nyckoles Harbor, #12, just named a top two of USC and Michigan, but he’s an elite sprinter – 10.32 100M elite – and I’d be stunned if he doesn’t end up at a strong track school. Whether it’s USC or Florida, Auburn, Miami, etc., I don’t see him ending up going north for anyone.