Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1515937
32 MARCH 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2024 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE WIDE RECEIVER Signees: Four-star Cam Williams of Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South, four- star Micah Gilbert of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian and four-star Logan Saldate of Salinas (Calif.) Palma Synopsis: Williams nearly became the first five-star wide receiver signee for Notre Dame since Michael Floyd in 2008 before a late change by On3 dropped him to four-star status. None- theless, what the Irish accomplished with this trio of pass catchers warrants an A. Notre Dame has been void of elite speed at the position for a while, and Williams has it. Gilbert and Saldate aren't quite as fast, but they're pro- ductive players who will help make up for the losses of Rico Flores Jr., Tobias Merriweather and Braylon James to the transfer portal. With help from three incoming trans- fer portal players in Florida Interna- tional's Kris Mitchell, Clemson's Beaux Collins and Marshall's Jayden Harrison, Notre Dame suddenly has depth at wide receiver. If the returning players stay healthy — senior Deion Colzie and Jayden Thomas and sophomores Jaden Greathouse and KK Smith all battled their own ailments in 2023 — it won't be imperative for the freshmen to contribute right away. Wil- liams has the ability to do so, however, and Gilbert and Saldate are surely going to want to follow his lead. It's going to be fun following this trio's development with the guidance of new Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown. It's Williams who will nat- urally draw the most attention. Wideouts are game-wreckers across college football. Think Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), Rome Odunze (Wash- ington), Malik Nabers (LSU), Xavier Worthy (Texas) or Luther Burden III (Missouri). Notre Dame might finally have someone like that. On Paper Grade: A TIGHT END Signee: Three-star Jack Larsen of Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic Synopsis: This isn't a Michael Mayer-like signee, and Larsen might not ever even reach Mitchell Evans heights in his college career, but the Irish couldn't go empty-handed at a po- sition that's been so good for them over the years. Larsen is a nice depth pickup, similar to Cooper Flanagan last year. Flanagan was a special teams staple and he looks like he could be in for a break- out sophomore season, so Larsen has a path to follow as someone who isn't go- ing to immediately crack the two-deep but can still be useful on a weekly basis in the fall. Injuries have obviously plagued Notre Dame at tight end in recent years with graduate student Kevin Bauman, Evans and junior Eli Raridon all tearing their ACLs. You'd think luck corrects itself and that trio stays healthy, but there isn't anything they can do but stay the course and do the right things to get back on track. If they fall again, Larsen could be there to soak up some reps early in his career. On Paper Grade: B OFFENSIVE LINE Signees: Five-star Guerby Lam- bert of West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial, four-star Styles Prescod of Fishers (Ind.) Hamilton Southeastern, four-star Anthonie Knapp of Roswell (Ga.) High, three-star Peter Jones of Malvern (Pa.) Prep Synopsis: Lambert is a consensus top-100 talent overall and a consensus top-10 talent at his position. He will start at tackle for Notre Dame at some point. The question is how soon. The Irish broke in two new offen- sive line starters in the Sun Bowl with Charles Jagusah in the final game of his true freshman season and Tosh Baker in the final game of his senior season. It's possible those two stay put for the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M. But it's also possible Lambert follows the lead of Blake Fisher and eventually Joe Alt and carves out a role as a starting tackle in Year 1. The other offensive line signees are less surefire, so the grade comes down a bit. It's commonplace to sign projects at offensive line. Not all of them can start right away. It took rising seniors Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler until their junior seasons to earn starting status at the two guard spots, for instance. Any one of Prescod, Knapp or Jones could be a surprise, too. Alt was never supposed to be the best tackle in college football. Lambert has such potential from the start, though, so in and of himself, he is an A+ get. On Paper Grade: B+ DEFENSIVE LINE Signees: Four-star edge Bryce Young of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian, four-star edge Loghan Thomas of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward, three-star defensive tackle Sean Sevillano Jr. of Clearwater (Fla.) Academy International and three- star edge Cole Mullins of Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek Synopsis: This group isn't an A be- cause Notre Dame did not do much to address the interior of the defensive line, but Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills returning in 2024 surely helps with that. You can afford to go light in a certain area in one class if you know that area is going to be stout the next year with who you already have on the depth chart. Young and Thomas are talented edge rushers, too, and Notre Dame could use as many of those as it can get right now. If there was a glaring weakness for a Notre Dame defense that was one of the best in the country in 2023, it was the inability to bring the quarterback down from the vyper position. Young's got the name and lineage. He's also got the pass-rush tools coveted by the best pro- grams in the country. Sevillano, mean- while, arrived at Notre Dame in January at 339 pounds. If you're only going to get one tackle in the class, might as well make it a teenager with NFL size. This is a solid quartet of trench war- riors on defense. On Paper Grade: B+ LINEBACKER Signees: Four-star Kyngstonn Vil- iamu-Asa of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, three-star Bodie Kahoun of Roa- noke (Va.) Patrick Henry and three-star Teddy Rezac of Omaha (Neb.) Westside Synopsis: Viliamu-Asa is an A+++. Freeman said he's the most college- ready of any of Notre Dame's signees. Fair warning: he also said the same of Junior Tuihalamaka a couple years ago, who's been invisible at times early in his Notre Dame career. It just goes to show that even if you're highly heralded