Notre Dame football fans received their second dose of excellent news this Saturday afternoon, when offensive lineman Blake Fisher decided to verbally commit to the Fighting Irish. The 6’6″/330-pounder out of Avon, Indiana is the second class of 2021 recruit to verbal to the Fighting Irish today, and the 4th overall to join Notre Dame’s recruiting class of 2021.

Blake had long been considered a heavy Notre Dame lean, and many had him on commit watch heading into his visit this weekend. So for those of you who closely follow recruiting this likely comes as no big surprise. But this is welcome news nonetheless.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — Not Yet Rated

ESPN — Not Yet Rated

247Sports — 4 star (94 rating), #90 overall, #15 OT, #2 in IN

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9643), #90 overall, #16 OT, #2 in IN

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (95 rating)

Cohort

Blake chose the Irish over other offers from Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, and many others. This is clearly a guy with an elite, national offer list.

Highlights

Just briefly watching his highlights. t’s pretty easy to see why so many big-time programs have been recruiting Blake. He moves VERY well here for a 300+ pound high school sophomore. And he will only move better once he gets into a college weight program and trades some of his bad weight with muscle. He’s a powerful kid who dominates the run game, but he’s also comfortable in pass protection. He has excellent length, which he uses to his advantage in pass protection.

Impact

Jeff Quinn continues to prove he can recruit elite OL with the best of them. And this is one heck of an early pickup.

Fisher will need a little bit of time to reshape his body, but I don’t think it will take too long for Balis to get him in playing shape. Fisher has a ton of potential at offensive tackle, but the cupboards are obviously going to be pretty full with guys who have a ton of potential by the time he makes it to campus. So it will be interesting to see how quickly he will be able to see the field.

O-line recruiting for the class of 2021 is definitely something to keep an eye on in the future, though. Blake Fisher is not the only elite talent the Irish were looking good for heading into this weekend. And with blue-chipper Greg Crippen already in the fold, Notre Dame might end up with a VERY good haul along the offensive line.

 

Welcome to the Irish family, Blake!