Signing Day Capsule: OL John Dirksen

JOHN DIRKSEN - OFFENSIVE LINE

ISD: 3-star

Composite: 3-star

Maria Stein, OH (Marion Local HS)

6-foot-5, 305 pounds

Recruitment Rundown: There are certainly some lowkey members of Notre Dame’s 2018 recruiting class, but none match Dirksen, who probably gave fewer interviews than 99 percent of the prospects across the country during the process. He was offered a scholarship by the Irish back in February. He already had Michigan State, Northwestern, Kentucky and Iowa State offers at the time. He visited South Bend a few weeks later and quietly gave his verbal commitment to the Irish before leaving campus.

Recruiter: Mike Elston/Harry Hiestand

Marion Local head coach Tim Goodwin: “He was just born to be a Division-I college football player. He’s been abnormally large his entire life. He just has the physical gifts that he was born with to play at that kind of level.

“He’s very athletic for his size. He’s got good feet. He’s very strong, but he’s also a farm kid, so he’s farm strong, which is a different kind of strength. He’s got very strong hands.”

ISD expert Jamie Uyeyama: Physically, I don’t think there is another person in the entire class that I’m more excited to see progress in the weight room than Dirksen. He is already a massive young man and he looks like he has the frame to be gigantic. That part should take care of itself, but it’s his technical development that will determine when he earns playing time on the field. Dirksen has the potential to be an athletic mauler either at guard or right tackle if he refines his game under Harry Hiestand.

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