One of the more interesting recruitments in recent memory drew to an exhilarating and merciful close today when top 50 tackle prospect Guerby Lambert put the cherry on the sundae of 2024 offensive line recruiting. Long rumored to be a heavy Irish lean, the 6’7”, 280 pound Bay Stater had sweat-inducing dalliances with Ohio State, Boston College, and Harvard and a decision timeline that bore much in common with the amoeba. Of course Notre Dame fans are a famously well-adjusted bunch, so none of this was any cause for concern.
The Harvard inclusion is more than a footnote – they received and official visit and in fact they may well have finished second for Lambert, who is as elite a student as he is an athlete. Shades of Jerry Tillery and his late official to Dartmouth… I think we’d all sign up for a Tillery-level contribution in South Bend, no?
One other background item worth noting: Lambert hails from the same high school as current Irish freshman Boubacar Traore. We don’t know that it was a deciding factor but it certainly helped.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9750 rating), #48 overall, #2 OT, #1 in MA
On3 Consensus — 4 star (94.70 rating), #54 overall, #4 OT, #1 in MA
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 4 star (92 rating), #117 overall, #8 OT, #2 in MA
On3 — 4 star (96 rating), #28 overall, #4 OT, #1 in IL
Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #63 overall, #4 OT, #1 in MA
ESPN — 4 star (85 rating), #59 overall, #4 OT, #1 in MA
Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s. So while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves.
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (93 rating)
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Ohio State, the legendary program from Boston, and BC, Lambert holds offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan (lol), Michigan State, Penn State, Stanford, and Wisconsin, among others.
Highlights
Athletic and super aggressive. Wow. I’m pretty sure Lambert has a QHOP* loyalty card, because he apparently has never met a defensive lineman he didn’t want to bury under the turf. As a run blocker he fires off the ball with impressive burst and when he gets into a guy it’s over. As a pass blocker I think he’s pretty raw, but his footwork and movement at his size are excellent. The physical tools are all there and all elite. I especially love when he gets downfield and sends some poor 150 pound defensive back into another dimension.
* Q’s House of Pancakes. Obviously.
Impact
I don’t know if Lambert will be an instant impact guy – that’s a tall order for and line prospect – but I do think he can be an elite left tackle for Notre Dame. That was a key need in this class as the staff signed a very good class last year but one without a true left tackle. Whether it’s right away or a bit after, I see the potential for a high level multi year starter in Lambert.
Welcome to the Irish family, Guerby!
This is freaking exciting. What a monstrous human!!!!
A year in the ND weight room and look out.
I would definitely watch a buddy cop show called “Guerby and the Deuce.”
Maybe he could be an elite RT to protect our elite southpaw QB?
MIT wasnt on the list only because they’re D3 and cant offer sports scholarships.
Oh no he’s way too big already, he can barely fit in the stadium.
Are there any other commits for the 2024 class that we should be watching out for?
The people paid to follow this stuff say the class is probably done apart from guys ND is secretly or not so secretly trying to flip. The main two ND seems to be pursuing are Carter Nelson, the TE committed to Nebraska, and Kaleb Beasley, the DB committed to Tennessee. (Justin Scott, too, but that’s viewed as a long shot at this point.)
Reports are more bullish on Nelson than Beasley, but ND appears to be on both.
I would think it would be possible to be looking for some late-risers during the season, no? I would think from a numbers stand-point there’s always room to take a few more (and we likely need to since it’s hard to take transfers).
i would think a late riser on the DL would be a good addition. Given how early recruiting is these days, most of the top recruits were big in 10th grade. A kid who is late growing is probably not on radar for most programs. Although, given the coverage of recruiting it is hard to imagine someone being missed.
Other than DL, I think recruiting and performance has improved overall. On DL, we seem to be making due with undersized, high motor types (Cross, Hinish, Onye) or converted LBs (Botelho, Burnham, Junior T). The guys with size (Mills, Rubio, AK) are servicable but not stars. We need a couple of stars. Maybe there are some that haven’t played their way into rotation. However, the FR that we did recruit and Tyson Ford, all were smaller and gaining weight.
All that said, if we were to take a chance on a late rising 3*, the boards would blow up about having to take projects.
Agree with what Andy said, and just to add on one tidbit – I don’t think this really qualifies as premium info because it’s not specific and all the sites know about it – there’s a mystery visitor and potential flip coming in this weekend. Lots of conjecture about who it might be; my guess would be not a marquee name, but clearly someone the staff really likes. Word is we’ll find out Saturday when he shows up on campus.
Also seconded that there’s buzz ND is working hard off the grid on guys who are committed elsewhere. We’ll see if anything comes of that. Beating OSU this weekend would for sure set the buzz dial to 11.