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 the lesser known of the 2022 linebackers to sign with Notre Dame.

LB Nolan Ziegler

Hometown: Caledonia, Michigan
Height: 6-3
Weight: 220

247Sports Composite Ranking: 4-star, No. 29 LB, No. 7 MI, No. 293 National, 0.9021 score

18 Stripes Grade: 87.3

Murtaugh’s Blurb from the Class Grade:

Smooth athlete with an impressive burst. Extremely physical. Plays well beyond his listed weight in terms of tackling and is bringing the hammer at the line of scrimmage against ball-carriers. Until he bulks up and adds more size he’s likely a developmental Rover-type. I actually like him more inside as a faster Mike linebacker if his strength is as good as I think it will be. He’ll be one of the guys from this class that absolutely needs to find the right position and stay there and not bounce all over the place.

I don’t think we can criticize Ziegler’s love for Notre Dame. Although, you never know in this era of college football so please don’t transfer right after we publish this! Ziegler picked up an offer from the Irish really early in the cycle back in August 2020 and we committed just over 2 weeks later. With Joey Tanona medically retired, Ziegler remains the earliest commit from the class on the roster.

You can see a picture HERE of his father carrying him at a tailgate next to Chris Zorich. During his commitment ceremony dad was wearing the amazing Notre Dame helmet with Guinness pint inside the facemask hoodie. I think we have a really good culture fit, or at least dad is locked in for the Irish.

Need at Position: Low-to-Medium

Zielger ended up being a low 4-star recruit and given he committed 31 months ago it’s understandable that he’s someone completely off the radar for Notre Dame fans. I wouldn’t think that will change until 2024 when some more space on the depth chart opens up.

Expected Spot on the 2023 Depth Chart: 3rd String

As you can tell from my evaluation write up, I wasn’t expecting Ziegler to be 220 pounds as a true freshman. I would think his days of being a Rover are over, if they even truly ever began. In fact, his whole frame is a lot larger than I thought.

Long-term I can see Ziegler being in contention at Mike linebacker. That’s where I envisioned him later in his career and hoped that it didn’t mean he was moved there later in his career. It’ll be a good sign for his development, I think, if he’s running with the Mike linebackers this spring and learning under JD Bertrand.