Notre Dame Football Recruiting
Film Don't Lie: Jack Lamb
Momentum wasn't supposed to be going Notre Dame's way in recruiting while schools like Michigan, Ohio State, and others were holding big summer events. Normally it would be all quiet on the recruiting front, but that's not been the case.
Here come the Irish and here comes Clark Lea and Mike Elko with a couple of big wins on the trail with a couple of stud linebackers. 4 star Rover Shayne Simon was the first to strike on Tuesday and now it's inside linebacker Jack Lamb (Temecula, California).
Lamb competed at The Opening Finals and was recently selected to the Under Armour All-American game. I didn't watch enough of him for me to justify bumping up his ranking after The Opening, but did so after seeing more 7 on 7 footage of him from earlier this off-season.
He's one of the best coverage linebackers in the nation and is a terrific pickup for the Irish.
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 220
Projected Position: Mike linebacker with the potential to play Buck
ISD Grade: 92
National Average Grade: 92.3
Let's start with the fact that he is a really good athlete. He ran a 4.7 and had a 33.6 inch vertical at The Opening Los Angeles and it's not just a testing thing. That athleticism shines on the field. He can run with running backs in man coverage like he did here at the Pylon 7 on 7 tournament in Las Vegas. He does a great job of waiting until he gets in position to make a play before turning back for the football as well.
Here you see change of direction and loose hips adjusting to the route from a receiver.
He is an elite coverage linebacker. That can't be said about many players who are projected to play Mike at the next level. His athleticism plays a big part of it, but he is so long too and that length matters in coverage like it does with this pass breakup.
His ability to read and react combined with his ball skills make him special. This play checks off a few boxes for me when you see him start his initial drop, adjust to what he sees from the quarterback, flip his hips the other way, and then finish with an interception.
Normally when someone thinks of a coverage linebacker, they think other parts of a linebacker's game may be lacking. I don't see that much with Lamb. He can play downhill too.
The read and then speed to shoot the gap vacated by the pulling guard to make this tackle for loss is awesome.
There are a lot of plays on his film where I see Lamb pursue with a lot of freedom, but he'll work through the trash versus the inside run as well. He's got a nose for the football and is also not someone who is trying to avoid blocks.
This is straight up force with him blowing back the blocker so his teammate can make the initial hit. Lamb gets involved with the tackle as well.
His acceleration when blitzing from depth is also something that jumped out to me. He made several plays doing it and should be able to excel when asked to do it at the next level too. I wouldn't be surprised to see him do really well when assigned to Green Dog (blitz when his man coverage responsibility is blocking) too.
He's a strong tackler, he's strong in coverage, and he shows really good recognition skills versus the run. Lamb is simply an all-around linebacker that not only can play small ball (so to speak) as an athlete, but he is violent and physical enough to play a power game as well.
I would like to see him be more of a consistent knock-back tackler, but he certainly doesn't catch on contact. I mentioned that he can bring violence, and that's a very good thing in a Mike linebacker, but I do think he needs to improve in attacking blocks.
He needs to be better with his hands in striking and not getting caught up. Like on this play, it's not a bad job at all and he continues to work up the field before making the tackle. But I could easily see him not getting off this block quick enough at the college level and that's why he needs to use his length better to create space and disengage from blocks quicker.
Other than that, there are things I didn't see like him beating running backs when picked up as a blitzer. I'm not surprised by that because it's a highlight tape, but it's rare that someone his age is great as pass rusher when picked up by either a lineman or back.
He has the physical tools to be a great pass rusher when asked to do so and I assume he'll have some work to do when he gets to Notre Dame in that area. On the other hand, he is so strong in coverage that I doubt he will be asked to rush the passer as much as some others would.
I think Lamb is only going to get better and better because he still has a lot of physical development to do. He has the frame to put on another 20 pounds without that having much of an effect on his speed. That should add a bit more thump to his game and he's already got a good amount of that.
Because he's 6'4" and has great length, it adds more of a dynamic to the inside linebacker spot for the Irish. Jamir Jones is really the only linebacker they have with similar size and Lamb is much further along as a prospect than Jones was heading into his senior season in high school.
I see a lot of similarities to current USC linebacker Cameron Smith and former Florida linebacker Alex Anzalone in terms of frame and athleticism. Lamb could end up being as good as they have been at the college level and if that ends up being the case, it means the Irish are going to have a really good inside linebacker that has the talent to be a multi-year starter at Mike or at Buck.
Here come the Irish and here comes Clark Lea and Mike Elko with a couple of big wins on the trail with a couple of stud linebackers. 4 star Rover Shayne Simon was the first to strike on Tuesday and now it's inside linebacker Jack Lamb (Temecula, California).
Lamb competed at The Opening Finals and was recently selected to the Under Armour All-American game. I didn't watch enough of him for me to justify bumping up his ranking after The Opening, but did so after seeing more 7 on 7 footage of him from earlier this off-season.
He's one of the best coverage linebackers in the nation and is a terrific pickup for the Irish.
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 220
Projected Position: Mike linebacker with the potential to play Buck
ISD Grade: 92
National Average Grade: 92.3
What he does best:
Let's start with the fact that he is a really good athlete. He ran a 4.7 and had a 33.6 inch vertical at The Opening Los Angeles and it's not just a testing thing. That athleticism shines on the field. He can run with running backs in man coverage like he did here at the Pylon 7 on 7 tournament in Las Vegas. He does a great job of waiting until he gets in position to make a play before turning back for the football as well.
Here you see change of direction and loose hips adjusting to the route from a receiver.
He is an elite coverage linebacker. That can't be said about many players who are projected to play Mike at the next level. His athleticism plays a big part of it, but he is so long too and that length matters in coverage like it does with this pass breakup.
His ability to read and react combined with his ball skills make him special. This play checks off a few boxes for me when you see him start his initial drop, adjust to what he sees from the quarterback, flip his hips the other way, and then finish with an interception.
Normally when someone thinks of a coverage linebacker, they think other parts of a linebacker's game may be lacking. I don't see that much with Lamb. He can play downhill too.
The read and then speed to shoot the gap vacated by the pulling guard to make this tackle for loss is awesome.
There are a lot of plays on his film where I see Lamb pursue with a lot of freedom, but he'll work through the trash versus the inside run as well. He's got a nose for the football and is also not someone who is trying to avoid blocks.
This is straight up force with him blowing back the blocker so his teammate can make the initial hit. Lamb gets involved with the tackle as well.
His acceleration when blitzing from depth is also something that jumped out to me. He made several plays doing it and should be able to excel when asked to do it at the next level too. I wouldn't be surprised to see him do really well when assigned to Green Dog (blitz when his man coverage responsibility is blocking) too.
He's a strong tackler, he's strong in coverage, and he shows really good recognition skills versus the run. Lamb is simply an all-around linebacker that not only can play small ball (so to speak) as an athlete, but he is violent and physical enough to play a power game as well.
What he needs to improve:
I would like to see him be more of a consistent knock-back tackler, but he certainly doesn't catch on contact. I mentioned that he can bring violence, and that's a very good thing in a Mike linebacker, but I do think he needs to improve in attacking blocks.
He needs to be better with his hands in striking and not getting caught up. Like on this play, it's not a bad job at all and he continues to work up the field before making the tackle. But I could easily see him not getting off this block quick enough at the college level and that's why he needs to use his length better to create space and disengage from blocks quicker.
Other than that, there are things I didn't see like him beating running backs when picked up as a blitzer. I'm not surprised by that because it's a highlight tape, but it's rare that someone his age is great as pass rusher when picked up by either a lineman or back.
He has the physical tools to be a great pass rusher when asked to do so and I assume he'll have some work to do when he gets to Notre Dame in that area. On the other hand, he is so strong in coverage that I doubt he will be asked to rush the passer as much as some others would.
What's his ceiling:
I think Lamb is only going to get better and better because he still has a lot of physical development to do. He has the frame to put on another 20 pounds without that having much of an effect on his speed. That should add a bit more thump to his game and he's already got a good amount of that.
Because he's 6'4" and has great length, it adds more of a dynamic to the inside linebacker spot for the Irish. Jamir Jones is really the only linebacker they have with similar size and Lamb is much further along as a prospect than Jones was heading into his senior season in high school.
I see a lot of similarities to current USC linebacker Cameron Smith and former Florida linebacker Alex Anzalone in terms of frame and athleticism. Lamb could end up being as good as they have been at the college level and if that ends up being the case, it means the Irish are going to have a really good inside linebacker that has the talent to be a multi-year starter at Mike or at Buck.
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