On Saturday night, Notre Dame continued its hot start on the 2018 recruiting trail with the commitment of OL John Dirksen from Maria Stein, OH. Dirksen becomes the 12th overall commit and the 2nd OL commit, joining Cole Mabry.

Dirksen gave his verbal to the Irish at the conclusion of his unofficial visit this weekend in South Bend. Checking in at 6’5 305 lbs, he came to town looking terrific physically. In what turned out to be a big recruiting weekend for Notre Dame, Dirksen was one of three OL recruits on campus, along with Ryan Hayes and Nicholas Petit-Frere.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247 Composite: 4-star (.8974), #294 overall, #23 OT, #14 in Ohio

247Sports: 3-star, 87 ranking, #495 overall, #35 OT, #20 in Ohio

Rivals: 3-star, #35 in Ohio

Scout: 4-star, #190 overall, #9 OG, #1 OG in Ohio

ESPN: NR

Cohort

Dirksen holds offers from Notre Dame, Iowa State, Kentucky, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt.

Highlights

Dirksen plays in a smaller division in Ohio, and it is easy to see in his competition. Many of the opposing defensive linemen are, well, really small. With that being said, Dirksen dominates like he should. He is a giant body who plays big and takes care of his business. On multiple plays, he also gets downfield pretty well and shows some athleticism in staying out in front as a lead blocker.

Granted the film is from his sophomore year, Dirksen looks a little stiff in his stance and pass protection. There is not a ton of footage to go off of, but it would be interesting to compare this film to last year’s work.

At this point, Dirksen is still a possibility for either guard or tackle.

Impact

The ongoing trend for Coach Hiestand is to redshirt his freshmen linemen. It would be surprising to see anything different for John Dirksen. As a testament to past recruiting at OL, Dirksen should simply not be needed as a freshman and will have the opportunity to develop physically and mentally for a year or two before stepping into real action.

With Mabry and Dirksen now on board, the Irish are sitting in an advantageous position for their 2018 OL recruiting. Notre Dame would like to add Ryan Hayes and then catch a big fish to close the cycle.

Great job by HH and BK to land another high quality recruit early in the 2018 class.

Welcome to the Irish family, Mr. Dirksen!