Coach | Notre Dame Commit Taebron Bennie-Powell Will Be "Big-Time Safety"

Tom Bolden had something to say, so the head coach of Lakota West (Ohio) High School said it.

After Notre Dame extended a scholarship offer to his 2024 safety, Taebron Bennie-Powell‍, Bolden took to Twitter.

Bennie-Powell announced his commitment to the Irish on Wednesday afternoon and we caught up with Bolden to let him expand further.

“We're an odd front defense,” Bolden told Irish Sports Daily. “We're a 3-4 defense. My two returning safeties, one was Ben Minich, who was a senior and is actually there at Notre Dame after graduating early. The other safety was an All-American Malik Hartford, who's at Ohio State early.

“It wasn't anything against Taebron's ability, it was the fact that I had two returning starters at that position who were really freaking good.”

But Bennie-Powell was too good to keep off the field, so they found another role for him.

“We knew he was a tough, long athletic physical kid, so he actually played our Vyper position, which is like our field/outside guy,” the coach said. “It's a hybrid between a safety and an outside backer.

“He played that position for us last year also played wide receiver. He didn't scoff, didn't blink an eye. He went down on the box, did everything we asked of him and had a tremendous year.”

Bennie-Powell also had offers from schools like Duke, Pitt, West Virginia, Kentucky and UMass among others, but Bolden is convinced he would have been a higher-rated recruit had he played his natural position of safety.

“Most of his tape looks more at a linebacker position and when you look at his build physically, he's almost 6-2, he's closing in on 190 pounds, he has a size 15 shoe,” said Bolden. “It was one of those things where we thought, 'Maybe he grows into a linebacker type.'

“But he is a safety. He is long and fast and that's why that is more of his natural position. He's going to be a big-time safety.”

Bolden calls Bennie-Powell a “highly-intelligent football player” who understands concepts well and can see the field from playing multiple positions on both sides of the ball. He’s convinced Bennie-Powell’s senior film will showcase his true potential.

“The amount of ground that he can cover, how well he can play in space, how physical he is at the point of contact,” Bolden says of what to expect from Bennie-Powell’s film this upcoming season.

“It's going to be 190-pound athletic, long guy back there who you're going to have to try to catch a pass on. It's going to be a tough task.”

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