Notre Dame After Elite 2023 DE Lebbeus Overton

Looking ahead to the 2020 season, Milton (Ga.) High School football coach Adam Clack wasn’t sure what he was going to do to test Jack Nickel‍, a top tight end prospect in the Class of 2022, who is now committed to Notre Dame.

“I remember coming into season just kind of projecting and worrying, 'How am I'm going to be able to push him?'” Clack remembers.

When Lebbeus Overton‍ moved to Georgia from Alabama, Clack had his answer in the form of an elite defensive end prospect in the Class of 2023.

“Sure enough here comes LT and now they're dueling each other in practice,” Clack says. “It's a very healthy, healthy competition. You can definitely see they ramp it up against one another and pull for one another. It's great to have that and that ability to challenge both of those elite athletes who are so unique.”

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Overton has emerged as one of the elite prospects in the entire country for his class.

“Obviously, you've got to have the DNA to get in the conversation,” says Clack. “But what separates him is the intangibles. He's extremely humble and dedicated to improving his craft.

“A lot of times, those elite athletes think they already have the answers and this and that. He wants to be coached. He has that rare discipline to day in and day out, do the little things that are that separate him. Taking care of his body, getting his his work in, getting his schoolwork, taken care of, doing all those little things. I think that's what really separates him.”

Overton is self-motivated to be the best he can be.

“He's a kid you'll never have to count a rep,” says Clack. “He's going to do everything you ask. Honestly, you've got to tell him to back off.”

Also a standout basketball player, Clack and his staff sometimes have to remind Overton it’s OK to dial down the football workouts during hoops season.

“We've got to tell him to back it down a little bit, 'You've got to take care of yourself,'” Clack says “You never have to never have to worry about him getting his work in.”

And Overton understands he needs to take care of his responsibilities off the field in order to prepare himself to perform on it.

“He was taking a summer class, you've got six weeks to finish it and he finished it in two,” Clack says as an example. “So, he's going to get his stuff done. He's going to do what we like to talk about, he's going to remove the clutter so that he can attack what he wants to attack and that'd be him being the best type of ball player he could be.”

Notre Dame extended an offer to Overton on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Every offer he is appreciative of and he's very respectful and I think honored, even though he's got enough to go around. I'm sure a Notre Dame offer with the history and legacy of it and just what that brings, I'm sure he's very honored by it.”