Film Room: Notre Dame DE Commit David Abiara
Notre Dame dipped into Texas for another defensive lineman when it landed Mansfield (Texas) Legacy standout David Abiara. There is a lot of room for him game to grow, but Abiara has all the traits defensive line coach Mike Elston desires at the position.
DAVID ABIARA, DEFENSIVE END, MANSFIELD (TEXAS) LEGACY
Height: 6-4
Weight: 240
IB Grade: 4.0
Upside Grade: 4.5 (See Grade Key below)
Offers: Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Colorado, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Kansas
SIZE-FRAME — Notre Dame loves length on defense, and Elston has made a living landing ends with strong frames. Abiara’s traits are top notch in both areas, with the Legacy standout possessing a thick, athletic frame (240 pounds) with extremely long arms. He already has a thick lower half, but there is plenty of room for him to continue adding size and mass to his upper body, and the more he physically matures and adds that to his game you will see him possess the body type to play either end position in the Notre Dame defense.
STRENGTH-POWER — Abiara is a power player at this point. He shows a strong lower body on film, but his hand strength is what truly stands out. On film it appears Abiara has incredibly powerful hands, and they are fast. His initial punch is top notch, which allows him to blow blockers back when he uses them properly. That strength allows him to anchor effectively against the run and gives him the potential for top-level block destruction.
TECHNIQUE/INSTINCTS — Right now, Abiara is more about power and potential than he is about proven production. His game needs a lot of technical work, and that’s a great sign. The Legacy edge player shows impressive instincts, but how to properly turn his recognition into making plays is limited at times by an overall lack of technique.
Abiara has a clear understanding of how important his length and power is to his success. He does a good job locking out blockers once engaged, and occasionally you’ll see him flash those fast and powerful hands into a blocker at the snap, and when he does that he dominates. As I alluded to above, he has elite block destruction potential, but right now he relies on strength. The more he learns the necessary technique needed to get off blocks, and the more he advances his overall repertoire from an attacking standpoint his game will take off.
One area where Abiara must show improvement at the next level is being more consistent with his pad level. When he comes off the line with a flat back and gets vertical he can blow past defenders. When he comes off the line and rises up before getting vertical he makes himself easier to block. His talent allows him to still win in those situations, but in college he’ll need to play with consistently better pad level and advanced moves.
ATHLETIC SKILLS — Abiara is a quality athlete that shows an outstanding initial burst when his technique is right. He wins off the line with quickness, and it makes him especially effective in the run game. Abiara shows the ability to win with speed on the edge, and his acceleration/closing speed is impressive. When Abiara knows where he is going you can see the speed and explosiveness that give him a lot of upside.
Abiara shows relatively fluid hips, which allows him to flash strong change of direction skills when he keeps his base. I like how light he stays on his feet when he’s attacking up field. It allows him to change direction with ease, which in time should allow him to have an advanced pass rushing repertoire.
Those traits project well to coverage, although we don’t see a high number of coverage snaps from him. When he does, however, his fluidity and foot quickness show the traits are there for him to thrive in a way we saw from Julian Okwara and Jamir Jones the last two seasons.
PASS RUSH — Right now, Abiara isn’t a dominant pass rusher, but the tools are there for this to become a strength of his game. Abiara is an efficient defender that plays under control, but at times he needs to ramp things up a bit. He doesn’t always show ideal run-pass recognition and is a bit late to respond to play-action throws.
What makes me think he could show a lot of improvement with this part of his game is the natural tools. His length and powerful hands are a major weapon as a pass rusher; just think what you saw from Khalid Kareem the last three years. Elston should be able to get Abiara to develop an array of power moves where his burst and powerful hands are major assets. You will see snaps from him at the prep level where Abiara will get his hands inside of a tackle, lock him out and then just ride the tackle into the quarterback.
The key for Abiara will be developing a few athletic and speed moves, and a counter move or two, to go with his power moves. There is no physical trait lacking with Abiara that should prevent this from happening, which is why his upside grade is so much higher than his current grade. He might not be a dominant push rusher now, but the tools are certainly there.
RUN DEFENSE — This is the best part of his game right now. Even though he doesn’t always play with ideal pad level, Abiara is an outstanding prep run defender due to his combination of size, power and quickness. When Abiara shoots gaps he’s almost impossible to block at the high school level. Not just with his quickness, but his lower body is so powerful that he doesn’t get knocked off track, and he can power through double teams.
He is so strong that even when blockers win at the snap, Abiara is able to lock them out with his long and powerful hands, and then use his strength to push them back. Once he learns to better get off to the ball at that point his game will explode. He’s a dominant prep run defender, and he has the tools to one day develop into a truly elite run defender at the college level. He’ll need work to get there, but the traits are certainly there.
INTANGIBLES — Abiara has’t been an incredibly productive player yet at the prep level. He has to stay healthy as a senior and up his playmaking ability. There are tools, but his grade is 3.5-star right now partly due to his lack of prep production. His intangible grade is aided by the fact he could play either end spot in the Irish defense. I like his toughness and competitiveness, but he’ll need to be a bit more decisive.
FINAL ANALYSIS
This was a projection pickup for Elston, who has shown a knack for identifying upside in players. Abiara has all the traits Elston wants; size, strength, length, athleticism, character makeup. If he’s willing to put in the work he has a chance to be a difference maker in the Irish defense. At the very least I expect him to become a key rotation player before his career is over.
GRADE KEY
5.0 - Elite player
4.5 - All-American caliber player
4.0 - Multi-year starter
3.5 - Key role player
3.0 - Backup
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