Notre Dame, Al Washington Impress 2024 DL Hank Weber at Irish Invasion

2024 Brentwood Academy (Tenn.) defensive lineman Hank Weber‍ made the trip to Notre Dame for Irish Invasion on Sunday and left impressed with just about everything he experienced. 

The highlight for the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder was getting to learn from Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington. 

"It was great,” Weber told ISD. “It was great work and I loved Coach Washington. He really got down in there with us. He showed us how every drill should be done and coached really well. It was a fun camp.

"The competitions at the end like 1-on-1s were fun and how they did the fastest man for the big men was awesome." 

Weber also quickly came to appreciated Washington’s coaching style as it was hard and genuine while also encouraging each player to hold each other accountable. 

"He doesn't say you did good if you didn't do good,” explained Weber. “He'll tell it how it is. He doesn't want him to just be the coach, but he wants the players to help coach and give tips to other players if you saw something." 

In fact, Washington reminded the Brentwood Academy standout of a former Notre Dame graduate assistant and current Vanderbilt defensive line coach Larry Black, who offered Weber in May.

"Him and Coach Washington have a similar coaching style,” stated Weber. “Coach Black sweats with his guys and he's super nice. He's such a good coach. 

"When I came to their spring practice, Coach Black was literally doing every single drill with them. He was sweating as much as the guys, so it was fun to see." 

Weber knows Black and Washington’s coaching style is rare, which is why he appreciates it even more. 

"I get it if you don't do that, but I like seeing how a drill is worked before I do it,” Weber stated. “Having a coach that does it for you at full speed is a huge difference for me."

The Tennessee native will continue his busy summer as he plans to visit multiple schools before the dead period later this month. 

"I have Tennessee on Thursday and Vanderbilt on June 12th,” said Weber. “I'll be at Northwestern on June 14th and I think I'm going to Ohio State on June 21st. I think I'm going to Virginia Tech at the end of the summer."

Offers: Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Michigan State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt

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