Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season project meant to resurrect discussion about the 2022 Notre Dame freshmen who retained a year of eligibility and discuss their possible impact in 2023 and beyond. The Fighting Irish were able to redshirt 17 players this past season while 1 player medically retired (Joey Tanona) and another player has transferred already to Syracuse (Jayden Bellamy).

Today we’ll take a look at a player looking to live up to the family name following his older brother’s career at Notre Dame.

DT Donovan Hinish

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Height: 6-1 5/8
Weight: 280

247Sports Composite Ranking: 3-star, No. 67 DL, No. 15 PA, No. 502 National, 0.8837 score

18 Stripes Grade: 83.7

Murtaugh’s Blurb from the Class Grade:

Tremendous burst out of his stance with an ability to crush most high school competition by getting past linemen using his speed. Highly aggressive and looks like he plays severely pissed off. Appears a good deal shorter than his brother Kurt. Size in general is pretty underwhelming and likely lowers his ceiling at the next level. Attitude and background should raise his floor as a prospect. I think he’s a possible good pass-rushing interior prospect earlier in his career and in general I’m buying into the family DNA. How well rounded he’ll become at his size, I’m not sure.

In the past we’ve talked about the declining Midwest recruiting base and in particular the state of Pennsylvania. Donovan Hinish was the 15th best recruit from this state in 2022 and if that’s in Florida you’re typically a top 100 recruit. Instead, Hinish finished just outside the top 500 in the Composite.

Of course, he’s drawn lots of comparisons to his brother Kurt Hinish who was the 10th best recruit from Pennsylvania in the 2017 class and was even 17 spots lower than little brother Donovan in the national Composite rankings.

Need at Position: High

Notre Dame has played the last several seasons with under-sized nose guards, stretching back to those Kurt Hinish days and his 300 pound frame. For what it’s worth, the Texans have Hinish weighing 296 pounds and playing defensive tackle.

We’ve heard the Irish would like to continue adding size along the defensive line, in which case Donovan Hinish should remain at defensive tackle. He’s right around the same height as his brother (seems confirmed so I was off!) and will have a difficult time staying in playing shape if he’s ballooning up to 320 pounds.

Expected Spot on the 2023 Depth Chart: 3rd String

Hinish definitely fits in the mold of teammate Howard Cross as a good-sized defensive tackle with impressive burst and ability to make havoc plays. At least, that’s what we thought of him coming out of high school. For the future, we hope Notre Dame will have enough depth at nose guard so that Hinish doesn’t have to spend time at that position playing under-sized and muting his potential.

Will that happen?

Quite often the younger brother gets a lot of talk as being the better of the siblings. Donovan Hinish’s grades from our writers were pretty solid set against his rankings throughout the recruiting sites. His brother came in played right away on his way to the most games played in Notre Dame history. I imagine Donovan will be extremely driven to see the field in 2023.