Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Ranked by Rivals as the nation's No. 4 inside linebacker and No. 100 overall prospect, Adams gave a verbal pledge to play for the Irish March 20. While the commitment at the time looked to be a direct prod- uct of Notre Dame's huge Junior Day weekend, it was actually one that had been long in the making. Early in the recruiting cycle, Notre Dame identified Adams as one of the nation's top inside linebacker pros- pects in the class, and after the Irish missed out on a number of top 2016 targets down the stretch like five-star linebackers Caleb Kelly and Ben Da- vis, he became even more of a priority for the staff. "I thought it was odd," Totten said when asked what he thought of Ad- am's commitment to the out-of-state program. "Notre Dame really hasn't been around here much." FILM ANALYSIS Strengths A well-built defender at 6-2 and 225 pounds with a powerful lower half and plenty of room for growth … A strong in-the-box athlete, showing off impressive agility, quickness and short-area speed … Instinctive player that makes good reads and closes quickly on ball carriers … Makes quick run-pass decisions and gets good depth in zone coverage, but he does his best work as a run defender … Arrives at the ball with a great deal of force and energy. Areas For Improvement Like all young linebackers, must continue developing his strength, especially in the up- per body … Has fast hands but his disengaging technique does need some work … Has some hip tightness, which slows down his transitions a bit in coverage and limits his lateral quick- ness … Lacks sideline-to-sideline speed, but does have room for improvement in this area. — Bryan Driskell