Welcome back to the 18S Big Board for Fighting Irish football. Today we’re taking a look at Notre Dame’s targets along the offensive line — a position where it just might be time to find new prospects.

Score Name State Ht./Wt. Temperature
.994 Foster Sarell WA 6-6/320 Mild
.985 Austin Jackson AZ 6-5/260 Cold
.978 Jedrick Wills KY 6-5/315 Mild
.973 Trey Smith TN 6-5/300 Mild
.930 Aaron Banks CA 6-7/345 Cool

Entering the Field

Massive OT Aaron Banks added his offer a little over a month ago, possibly signaling that Harry Hiestand hasn’t been too confident in where he’s at with most of his targets. Things have been pretty quiet concerning Aaron and the Irish lately, but he did recently put Notre Dame in his Top 16 (for whatever that’s worth).

In Play

Foster Sarell is now officially the #1 OT in the 247 Composite, and 247 Sports has him rated as the #1 overall player in the class after his dominant performance at The Opening. He continues to be really impressed by Notre Dame and Harry Hiestand, but distance concerns could play a factor here. If that is the case, look for Stanford or Washington to earn his pledge. Otherwise, there’s a good chance he ends up in South Bend.

Austin Jackson is still not a realistic option for Notre Dame at this point in time. USC continues to look good for him, with Arizona State, Texas A&M, and Oregon also in the mix.

Notre Dame was probably in the lead for Jedrick Wills heading into his recent visit to Alabama, but reports are that the Tide made a huge move on him. The Irish may not be in the driver’s seat anymore.

Trey Smith is looking more and more like a long shot as the days go by. Things could definitely turn around for the Irish, but it’s not looking too good right now. Even the ever-optimistic Tom Loy recently changed his crystal ball from Notre Dame to Tennessee.

Off the Board

Robert Hainsey committed to Notre Dame at the Opening.

Andrew Thomas committed to Georgia at the Opening.

Wyatt Davis committed to Ohio State.

This wraps up the offensive line. As you can see, pickings might be getting slim from the current crop of targets. Right now it looks unlikely that the Irish land any of their top targets along the offensive line. Of course, this could change, but it’s safer not to bet on that happening. Hiestand is likely in the process of evaluating new talent right now, and I expect a couple more names to be on this list when we get to the next Big Board update. We do have a decent haul now already — Robert Hainsey, Josh Lugg, and Dillan Gibbons make up a pretty good class. But the staff is looking to land at least one more, preferably two more guys. A wider net may be required for that to happen.

________________________________________________________________

p.s. — The tight end Big Board would normally be included in this update as well. However, I didn’t see the point in adding an empty table as I did for the QB position. As many of you are aware, the Irish only offered two tight ends this cycle and ended up landing them both. Brock Wright and Cole Kmet are both composite 4-stars and will likely end up giving Notre Dame the best duo of tight ends in the country for the Class of 2017.