Solid Commit

Taylor Dever made Irish fans extremely happy when he pledged to Notre Dame in December. They’ll be even happier when he arrives on campus. The offensive lineman from Nevada Union High School (Grass Valley, Calif.) might turn out to be the most pleasant surprise of the recruiting class.

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DEVER PROFILE

NFL showing interest in Victor Abiamiri

Seattle coaches and scouts are in Mobile, along with every other staff in the league, and they were seen observing Notre Dame DE Victor Abiamiri who has been one of the standouts in practices so far this week. Here’s a quick breakdown of Abiamiri and where he projects in the draft.

Rest of the story from Scout.com insider

As a defender, Abiamiri is excellent when rushing the passer. That’s his forte and it showed up in the stat column as he posted 30.5 sacks in his four years in South Bend.

Abiamiri also posted 126 tackles and 40 tackles for loss.

NFL Comparison: Adewale Ogunleye, Chicago Bears

Strengths: Abiamiri runs very well for a man his size and he’s got the frame to add 10 to 15 pounds to become a solid weakside defensive end. He pursues well, has a great motor and he already has developed some solid pass-rush moves to get to the quarterback. He is still improving and he’s an excellent tackler as well.

Weaknesses: He doesn’t hold up well when teams run directly at him. He also has a tendency to play too high, allowing blockers to get into his chest, nullifying his outstanding athleticism. He’s still developing as a football player and doesn’t possess the instincts right now to diagnose plays quickly. If he doesn’t gain some weight and strength, he will get pushed around by physical tackles. Struggles to disengage when a blocker gets their hands on him.

Roster Impact for Seattle: With the possibility that DE Grant Wistrom may be cut this June to save some money, Seattle may be in the market for a solid young defensive end to come in and take over the reigns at the right defensive end position. Fisher and second-year player Darryl Tapp are sure-things to return, but they fit better on the left (strong) side. Even if Wistrom does come back, Abiamiri would be a solid addition to the roster and add excellent depth as he develops his skills.

Draft Projection: On most draft boards, Abiamiri is slotted as a top five defensive end in what is a weak class this year. At this point he’s considered a lock for the second round, but he could sneak into the first round with good workouts leading up to the draft.

**Note: Keep an eye out for more of these updates as we find out who the Seahawks are looking at over the next few weeks.

Robert Hughes

Chicago Sports

Watch the announcement.

Great kid, well spoken, good choice Robert.

Robert Hughes

Williams Stock Increases

Notre Dame and Charlie Weis have made some inroads to a better Defense. In Our opinion A DL is where it will all start. Two commits that were projected at OL will now play DL. We discussed this in prior postings. Now Ian Williams speaks about the chance to play, what he is expecting and the ND team of 2007.

As national signing day approaches Ian Williams’ value to the Notre Dame football program increases. The standout from Lyman High School is the lone commitment the Irish have from an interior defensive lineman in the 2007 recruiting class.

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Everyone else, Read On!

Is there any prospect in the Notre Dame recruiting class that is more important than Ian Williams? The big defensive lineman committed to Notre Dame in December, sending a wave of relief to Irish recruiting fans. Since that time Notre Dame has seen it’s other options along the defensive front disappear.

“I saw that [Will] Blackwell committed to LSU today. We could still get Jason Peters, but I’m doubting that,” Williams responded when asked about Notre Dame’s defensive line recruiting. “It isn’t a big concern. I know that I’ll have to step up a lot more, but it is kind of a concern.

“I look at it like an opportunity, but I also I want to have guys to compete with. I do want to come in and start, but I want to have a team atmosphere. I don’t want to be the only guy. I want to go two and three deep so that we’ll be able to rotate guys in. I know in the college game that nobody is able to play the whole game. If anything happens to me, we’ll have to have someone to step in.”

Notre Dame still has time to add players to this recruiting class, and Williams still has six months until he reports to Notre Dame. His life hasn’t change much since he committed to the Irish, but he doesn’t miss the recruiting calls.

“Right now I’m just enjoying life, and relaxing,” Williams said. “I finally have my nights back. It’s become a lot less hectic. I don’t get all the calls from all the recruiters any more and I don’t get all the calls from Scout and Rivals. I got use to it but I don’t miss it.

“I’m basically lifting and get ready to go to Notre Dame in June. I work out with my teammate; he’s always in the weight room so I just work on with him. I need to work on getting faster and stronger. It’s going to be a different speed in college so I want to improve that. I have a lot that I need to work on, my strength and my agility, but I’m not worried about it. When I get up there they’ll put me in their strength and conditioning program and I’ll get much better.”

The Notre Dame coaches expect Williams to help improve their defense. He has stayed in touch with his recruiting coach and Ian has discussed the changes with the Irish coaching staff.

“Yesterday I spoke with coach Parmalee,” Williams explained. “We talked about getting Corwin Brown as the defensive coordinator. He seems like a hard-nosed guy so I think we’ll be all right. II think he’ll turn the defense around.

“Coach Parmalee is just introducing me to what is going on at Notre Dame and what I should expect. I’m getting to know him a lot better. He doesn’t really preach to me about recruiting since I’ve already committed. He’s just become a real good friend and I think the next couple years that we’ll become really close.”