Notre Dame picked up its 5th commitment of the year over the weekend when New Jersey defensive end recruit Andrew Trumbetti committed to the Irish on the first Junior Day of the year. Trumbetti, a 4-star prospect, picked Notre Dame over Clemson, Florida,Florida State, Penn State, and Stanford.
Trumbetti is the second defensive linemen to join this year’s class joining fellow northeast region defensive end Jay Hayes – a Brooklyn native. Like Hayes, Trumbetti projects as a defensive end on the college level after dominating his opposition with speed and power.
Unlike the last two seasons when Notre Dame has had some scholarships to spare after Signing Day, this year the Irish are likely to face a numbers crunch like we haven’t seen at Notre Dame in a while thanks to years of smaller classes and missed targets. Three strong years of recruiting, however, has Notre Dame in a great position to be somewhat selective this year – a great indication of how highly the staff views the Garden State native considering how early in the recruiting cycle they accept his commitment.
Trumbetti grew up a Notre Dame and even after briefly looking at the likes of Florida, Penn State, and Stanford, he went with his childhood favorite by committing to Brian Kelly and Notre Dame this passed weekend.
With Trumbetti on board, Notre Dame is off to an excellent start along the defensive line with the duo of Trumbetti and Hayes – two players who both have the potential to be very, very good players for the Irish over the next several years. See Trumbetti’s film below to get an idea of the impact he could make.
Trumbetti is currently listed in the 250 lbs range depending on what site you look at so he will need some work in the weight room before he is ready to see the field. Thanks to strong recruiting along the defensive line over the last few years, Trumbetti and Hayes will be afforded the luxury of developing physically before being forced into action too early unlike many defensive linemen have been at Notre Dame before the current coaching staff’s recent string of success recruiting the position.
Bulking up shouldn’t be a problem for the strong side defensive end, either. Trumbetti is tall and lean for a 250 lber right now – pretty much the exact profile that Kelly and Bob Diaco are looking for out of their defensive ends.
Brian Kelly and his staff saw first hand the benefits of stock piling talent along the defensive line in the BCS Championship game and they have certainly tried their best to mimic that blueprint since then closing out last year’s class with 5-star defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes and now picking up tow 4-star defensive ends before the calendar says April.
This is an outstanding get. Trumbetti will probably dress out at 285-290
and will increase the depth on the DL. He has enough quickness and intensity as evidenced by his film.
It’s March and we already have 2 DL in the bag. He also fits the height profile. Someday we will all look back on 2012 and realize how “short” the team was.