When Minnesota’s Joe Alt committed to the Irish early last month, many wondered why the Irish had just taken yet another tight end. Well, that wasn’t really the case as Brian Kelly recruited the 6-foot-7-inch and 260-pound Alt as a tackle. The problem was that many recruiting services had Alt listed as a tight end, which is why his ranking is so low.
Rivals looked into Alt and his rating, due to the fact that they have had issues rating him. Josh Helmholdt, one of their recruiting analysts, said that “we initially rated Alt as a tight end because he is difficult to project to tackle without more information. Alt’s offer list suggests that, by in large, college coaches had difficulty projecting him as well, with several strong regional offers but a total offer list that numbers in the single digits.”
Helmholdt wonders “how much athleticism and foot speed does he lose when he adds the 70-plus pounds he needs to play tackle at Notre Dame, thought?” With the state of Minnesota pushing their season to the spring, we will have to wait and see how Alt’s continues his body transformation to a full-time offensive tackle.
It is something that isn’t overtly concerning to Kelly and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, as a project like Alt is worth looking into. With most of Alt’s experience at tight end, don’t be surprised to see Alt take a redshirt as he learns the technique in his new position. It would be even less surprising to see Alt continue his progression and not make an impact for a few years as a member of the Irish. He is looked at as a high ceiling but low floor player, however the effort for the Irish is worth it to see if Alt can become the next star Notre Dame offensive tackle.