In less than a month, the new Notre Dame defense coordinator has added some 6-foot-6 defense commitments. The get may not be so good for Marcus Freeman, but with consensus three-star defensive end Aiden Gobaira (Chantilly High School; Va.) On Saturday afternoon, the honeymoon period will last at least longer.
After a visit to campus last week, although he did not meet with any coaches or visit any facilities due to the ongoing recruitment period caused by the coronavirus, Gobaira preferred the Irish over forward Penn State, both Virginia and Virginia Tech, half of the Big Ten, Arizona state. representing the West Coast, and Vanderbilt as an SEC representative and perhaps as a challenge to recruit Notre Dame to watch the next cycle or two.
“Why is Notre Dame not the question,” Gobaira tells Blue and gold illustrated. ‘You have an excellent academic school that is in the top 20 in the country, you have a football program that was only in the College Football Playoff. It’s just the best of both worlds. ”
The length of Gobaira alone makes him an interesting prospect, the number 26 defensive finish in the class, per rivals.com. He has yet to play a junior season – Virginia may be able to fit in another shortened scheme in the spring – but his second film showed Gobaira is already strong enough to handle a blocker while passing a suit. If he adds a little more muscle to his 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame, Gobaira will be the physical prototype of a Power Five defensive end.
Despite its length, Gobaira is agile enough to get around the edge of the line, not to mention fast enough to locate plays on the other side of the field.
Both the Gobaira and consensus four-star Tyson Ford (John Burroughs School; St. Louis) may be ideal. Vyper ends up defending Freeman, a position the defensive coordinator said will remain unchanged as he tries to adapt more to his players than to force them. to bend to his previous lexicon. (Past Vypers: Daelin Hayes, Julian Okwara.)
Defensive coach Mike Elston further suggested that the role of the Vyper under Freeman would remain unchanged.
“The Vyper position will always be in a two-point position,” Elston said on Wednesday as the Irish completed the 2021 recruitment cycle. ‘They will be involved maybe 15 to 20 percent of the match in the coverage where they will cover a man-to-man tight end or a running rugby. We will sometimes move them again from the ball to the second level and flash them from there and hit in B-gap or do different things with it. We’re playing for the third time with more Vypers in the game than (Great) defensive ends, because there are some cover components and stuff like that.
“The Vyper, we want them to be a little more athletic in space and coverage (than the big defensive goals), but both have to be elite-pass rushers.”
Upon joining Ford, Gobaira is the sixth commitment in the 2022 class, a recruitment cycle that will be marked by a possible nationwide shortage of scholarships, as schools face the consequences of the blanket release during the pandemic and the expected approval of a one-time transfer allowance for each player without setting aside a season.