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Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Film Don't Lie | Blake Fisher

June 14, 2019
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The number of elite in-state talent that Notre Dame is able to recruit every year is small, but sometimes, a special prospect from Indiana comes along and is a top of the board target. It happened in 2013 with Jaylon Smith and over a handful of years later it happened again with Blake Fisher‍ in 2021.

Fisher might not be considered on the Smith level quite yet. That could easily change over the course of the next year and a bit, though. This is a tremendous get for Jeff Quinn and the coaching staff. I believe Fisher is a special talent and not only can be a foundational piece for Notre Dame’s 2021 class, but the kind of player that other great players are going to want to play with.

Height: 6’6”

Weight: 336

Projected Position: Offensive tackle

ISD Grade: 95 (4-star)

National Average Grade: 94.8 (4-star)

What he does best:

All you need to do is check the program to know what a monster Fisher is with his size. He plays up to that size and shows the potential to be a mauler in the run game. Just watch him drive on contact on this play and put his man onto his back.

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Big can sometimes just mean big, but Fisher is long as well and uses his length to his advantage in pass protection. Check out the punch here that completely eliminates the pass rusher from getting anywhere close to Fisher’s frame.

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At that point Fisher is basically toying with him, which is exactly why long arms are such a big advantage.

He moves incredibly well for his size too. Fisher gets out to the second level in complete control of his body and plants this poor linebacker.

via GIPHY

I was so impressed seeing Fisher work in person too. He’s light on his feet and shows great balance like on this rep against Braiden McGregor. Look at how calm Fisher is with his lower body when sliding out to stop McGregor from getting around the edge and then resetting back inside when McGregor attempts to counter.

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Other tackles struggled blocking McGregor at The Opening regional in Canton. Fisher made it look much easier than it was when he beat McGregor a couple of times in the Final 5 one on ones.

Fisher is an easy mover with natural knee bend. That’s not a sentence that I can write very often when referring to a player who weighs over 330 pounds.

What he needs to improve:

Hand placement is something he needs to work on. He’ll find his hands outside of the frame and he’ll lose blocks because of that. He needs to be able to not only get a better initial fit on those, but be able to readjust his hands to recover quickly.

He’s capable of being a dominating run blocker, but I’d like to see more consistent finish from him. What made someone like Quenton Nelson special is that it was an all the time thing for him. Fisher isn’t there yet, but we’ll see how he looks in that area as a junior and senior in high school.

What’s his ceiling?

It is crazy to think that he just finished his sophomore year because he already displays so much potential and has two more years of football to go before he gets to Notre Dame. It’s precisely why I’m not sure I can quantify what his ceiling might be because he is only going to get better than where he is now and I’m already all in on him as a prospect.

He looked like he weighed a lot less than his listed weight when getting a chance to see him up close. He carries it pretty well. Obviously he is going to have to keep that weight down over the coming years, but it shouldn’t be something to worry about if he works diligently at it while at Notre Dame.

If he keeps his weight in check, then I think he can compete for playing time from the jump in college either at tackle or guard. He has the talent to not only develop into a multi-year starter, but an All-American candidate.

BREAKING | Notre Dame Lands 2021 Four-Star OL Blake Fisher

 
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