Tag: Niuafe Tuihalamaka

Thoughts on Notre Dame’s depth chart ahead of Ohio State

Plenty of take aways from the seasons first depth chart

As in each year of college football, a new group of stars emerge from one season to another. This season will be no different and for Notre Dame, there are more then a few players who could make a significant leap in the eyes of college football fans everywhere. Here are a few observations on Marcus Freeman’s first regular season depth chart.

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ESPN names this group as Notre Dame’s biggest strength heading into ‘22

Depth is abundant

The season is still about eight months away but that won’t keep anyone from dreaming about what is to come this fall. Recently, ESPN looked at each of their projected Top-25 teams and named their biggest strength (insider).

For the Irish, who were ranked No. 6, Bill Connelly named the starting front seven of the defense as the biggest strength. He sees defensive linemen Isaiah Foskey and the Ademilola twins, Jayson and Justin, as major factors.

Depth is a big reason as well, as Connelly mentions “of the 10 linemen who played at least 100 snaps in 2021, eight currently return.” Another reason he’s bullish on this unit.

Next were the linebackers, JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser, getting singled out for their impressive past performances. Another interesting point was Connelly mentioning two players who have yet to officially suit-up for the Irish, linebackers Jaylen Sneed and Niuafe Tuihalamaka. He failed to mention rising sophomore Prince Kollie as a potential impact at the position as well. I think it’s safe to say the Irish defense will be a strong point during Marcus Freeman’s first season as the head coach.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Four Notre Dame commits to play in Polynesian Bowl

Want to watch the future of the football program?

Want to catch a glimpse at some of the Notre Dame stars of tomorrow? Was the All-American Bowl not enough for you? You’re in luck if you’re able to stay up late. The Polynesian Bowl will be played at 11:30 p.m. EST Saturday on the CBS Sports Network, and four recruits who have committed to Notre Dame are on the roster.

The four players to look out for are as follows:

  • Receiver Tobias Merriweather of Camas, Washington
  • Tight end Holden Staes of Atlanta
  • Linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka of Mission Hills, California
  • Offensive tackle Aamil Wagner of Dayton, Ohio

Notre Dame commits who previously have played in this game include Chris Tyree, Marist Liufau, Jayson Ademilola, Braden Lenzy and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. While making this game obviously is not a reflection of how they’ll play in college, it does make people excited about what the future of the program could be. If you’re curious about that or you simply want to watch more football, this is the game to tune into.

Notre Dame in the mix for California 2023 wide receiver

This would be a big time recruiting win

The Irish seem to always have a very good presence in California and it does not seem like that will change with Marcus Freeman now running the program. In the current recruiting cycle, Notre Dame has signed linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka and cornerback Jaden Mickey.

They are once again trying to dip into the talent rich state, this time with wide receiver Rico Flores. Today, Flores dropped his top-10 schools, with the Irish making the cut along with Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Texas, USC, Georgia and a few others. The six-foot-two-inch and 190-pound receiver is viewed as one of the best in the country and if Freeman can pull this one off, it would be a huge feather in his cap.

Where Notre Dame commits landed on ESPN’s updated recruit rankings

There’s a lot of names on this list

The summer camp circuit is pretty much over and it has given plenty of new eyes on players. Recently, ESPN has updated their recruiting rankings for the top-300 players in the country. Find out below where the 2022 Notre Dame commits landed in their newest rankings update.

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Notre Dame’s 2022 class is stupid-good at linebacker

Move over @nittanylionswire, there’s a new Linebacker U.

How long until the football program already known as “O-Line U” and “Tight End U” starts going by “Linebacker U”.

I’d say that with apologies to our friends at Nittany Lions Wire but my mother told me long ago that apologies are supposed to be sincere and mine certainly wouldn’t be.

In all seriousness though, few have even been in the conversation for linebacker production with Notre Dame the last decade, who is the only program to turn out three Butkus Award winners in that time.

The Irish also just welcomed 2021 High School Butkus Award winner Prince Kollie in their latest recruiting class while the 2022 class is absolutely loaded at the position.

Four-star linebackers Niuafe (Junior) Tuihalamaka, Joshua Burnham, and Nolan Ziegler had each already committed before the highest rated of them all (according to 247Sports), Jaylen Sneed, announced his decision to attend Notre Dame on Monday.

The Fighting Irish class is currently ranked behind only Ohio State according to 247Sports with linebackers obviously being its strength and a place they’d appear done recruiting for the class.

Here is a little on each of the four-headed monster Notre Dame is set to bring in with the 2022 class:

Related:

Notre Dame lands yet another big-time defensive prospect

Notre Dame’s loaded 2022 recruiting class

Prized linebacker recruit, former USC commit, picks Notre Dame

Huge recruiting win for the Irish on Saturday!

Notre Dame received a huge commitment on Saturday as one of the top linebackers in the 2022 recruiting class and a former USC commitment made a verbal commitment to Brian Kelly, Marcus Freeman, and the Fighting Irish.

Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka, a 6-3, 230 pound inside linebacker from Bishop Alemany in Mission Hills, California, announced his decision to commit to the Irish on Saturday as they beat out Texas.

Tuihalamaka is considered one of the best linebackers in the 2022 recruiting class as Notre Dame has put together a haul at the position in this cycle as he joins Joshua Burnham, another four-star linebacker, in the class.

Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class now sits at 15 pledges with perhaps the two biggest talents in it both playing linebacker.

Related:

Notre Dame’s 2022 Recruiting Class

Notre Dame target de-commits from USC

Four-star LB Niuafe Tuihalamaka commits to Notre Dame over Arizona State, Stanford, and Texas

Niuafe Tuihalamaka announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Saturday. A four-star prospect, he chose over Arizona State, Stanford, and UT.

The last two weekends have been successful for Steve Sarkisian. He has landed four players after making visits. Three 2022 commits and running back Keilan Robinson from the transfer portal.

Sadly, not everything can go in favor of Texas, as a top priority defensive prospect went a different direction.

Linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. A four-star prospect, the California native chose the Fighting Irish over Arizona State, Stanford, and Texas.

Tuihalamaka was in Austin on an official visit the first weekend of June. He said Austin “felt like home” and wanted to eventually come back. The Longhorns seemed to have made up ground for the linebacker, but a trip to South Bend sealed the deal for Notre Dame.

On the 247Sports composite, Tuihalamaka ranks as the No. 11 linebacker in the country. He will play middle linebacker for newly hired defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. The four-star is the No. 10 player from his home state of California and No. 102 in the country.

For Texas, the key remaining linebacker target is Sebastian Cheeks. Notre Dame was thought to be a player for Cheeks but with the commitment of Tuihalamaka, there will be no room.

Jeff Choate has already taken a commitment from three-star Trevell Johnson as well. Landing him and Cheeks would be a successful cycle for Texas’ linebacking core.

The Athletic thinks Notre Dame’s ‘22 recruiting class ranking will drop

The Athletic is iffy on the Irish’s finish for their 2022 recruiting class

Recruiting for the 2022 class is about to take a turn, with the dead period being lifted after the conclusion of this month, expect a whole lot more action. For Notre Dame, so far it’s been a great start on the recruiting trail, with 13 commits and a top 4 ranking according to the 247Sports composite.

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With the early success of the class, The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman (subscription required) was asked in his mailbag if the Irish could keep their high ranking and finish inside the top 5. Well, Wasserman wasn’t very high on that projection.

Right now, Notre Dame has a top-five class, yes, but some of that is due to the fact that the Irish already have 13 commitments. The way you can see if a particular class is actually built to finish in the top five is by counting how many top-100 players it has. Right now, Notre Dame’s class doesn’t have a single one.

It’s easy to discount the Irish as this moment if you look at it the way Wasserman has, but there are certainly some big fish still out there to be caught. Virginia offensive tackle Zach Rice, a top-10 player, is highly considering the Irish. South Carolina linebacker Jaylen Sneed, California linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka, and instate defensive tackle Caden Curry are just a few names that seen as top-100 players who could end up in the Irish’s class.

Don’t forget about the always underrated prospects that Brian Kelly seems to find or ones that could have big senior years and make a recruiting ranking leap.

In all reality, although it would be nice to see the Irish finish with a top-5 class, it really doesn’t matter. Was does is the development of the classes and the results on the field. Kelly has shown over the last three years, that Notre Dame is among the best schools in the country at racking up wins and making it to the playoff field.

Star linebacker sets Notre Dame visit date

A potentially great class of linebackers is developing

The recruiting world of college sports has been an even stranger one the past year as recruits have not been allowed to make official visits to college campuses due to the pandemic.  That will all finally change as last week the NCAA announced the recruiting dead period was coming to an end.

Several prospects have since made plans to officially visit Notre Dame and the coaching staff, but one of the biggest targets on Brian Kelly and the company’s board announced his plans on Tuesday.

Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka, a former USC commitment and four-star linebacker in the 2022 recruiting class plans to make the trip to northern Indiana this June.

Tuihalamaka listed his five finalists back in early March as Notre Dame was joined by Texas, Oregon, Stanford, and Arizona State.

The Irish have an already strong linebacker class coming in 2022 that could easily be viewed as the nation’s best if they’re able to land Tuihalamaka.

Related:

Notre Dame football’s 2022 recruiting class commitments