Notre Dame Lineman Blake Fisher Is Poised For A Breakout Season
Notre Dame heads into the 2023 season with a chance to have the nation's best offensive tackle tandems, but that only happens if rising junior Blake Fisher takes a step forward as a player.
We continue our player profile features with a look at the talented junior tackle.
BLAKE FISHER PROFILE
Hometown/High School: Avon, Ind./Avon
Height/Weight: 6-6, 310
Class/Eligibility: Jr./Sohp.
2022 Stats: 874 snaps - 5 sacks allowed - 17 pressures allowed - 2 penalties
2021 Stats: 128 snaps - 1 sack allowed - 2 pressures allowed - 1 penalty
Career Stats: 1,002 snaps - 6 sacks allowed - 19 pressures allowed - 3 penalties
*** Stats are from Pro Football Focus
2022 RECAP
Fisher was a star in his first spring and earned the starting left tackle job to start the 2021 season, beating out Joe Alt. Fisher went down for the count with a knee injury in that game, and he didn't return until the bowl game. Fisher played well in the bowl and expectations were high for him in 2022.
The season started off rough for Fisher, who along with the rest of the offensive line, played poorly in the first three games. He was better the rest of the season, but even during his good stretches he didn't show the consistency you want from a player with his talent.
If you look at the PFF numbers, Fisher gave up 11 pressures (including three sacks) in the first six games. He gave up only six pressures in the final seven games, which is evidence of his improvement. Fisher was also better in the run game over the second half of the season, but his biggest strides came in protection. Fisher was never the dominant run force I expected him to be, but again, there were flashes.
Fisher's raw talent is where the expectations came from, but sometimes I forget he was a redshirt freshman who only played two career games. He showed progress, he had some really impressive moments in the second half of the season, and the way he finished the season is where the excitement comes from for the 2023 campaign.
2023 EXPECTATIONS
Expectations remain high for Fisher heading into his junior season, but now they are a bit more realistic. He has a season of experience under his belt and now has over 1,000 career snaps. Fisher also had a full season of coaching from Harry Hiestand, and now it's up to Joe Rudolph to build on that and get Fisher to take his game to a higher level.
So what does that look like for Fisher in 2023? There are many areas where Fisher's game needs work, and the better he gets in those areas the better he'll be. My first question is what will he look like frame wise and where will his weight. be. Fisher was all the way down to 310 pounds this spring, and I'm curious to see if he continues to lose weight, stabilizes around 310 pounds, or if now that some of the baby fat is off they will add 5-10 pounds of much better weight back on.
As is the case with more sophomore tackles, there are plenty of areas where Fisher can and must improve his game. There are three areas, however, that will largely determine just how good he'll be in 2023.
Consistency - With greater experience should come greater consistency. This is especially true in the biggest moments. Fisher needs to go from being a player that flashes impressive moments and be a lineman that is on top of his game on a more snap by snap, and game by game basis. This also includes being on top of his game in the biggest moments.
Lower Body Mechanics - Fisher is a naturally strong young blocker, but too often his technique kept him from playing with consistent power. Fisher had three bad lower body mechanical issues in 2022 that must be corrected.
The first is far too often Fisher would either be on his heels in pass protection, or at best flat foot, which allowed too many defenders to get into his chest and easily knock him off balance. When Fisher is anchored well and balanced with his lower body he's a rock when defenders try and run into him.
Second, Fisher has a bad habit of stopping his feet on contact in the run game. He bends really well for such a big player, and he'll come off the line and deliver a shot, but then he won't explode his hips or drive his feet through contact. This tendency to stop his feet when engaged kept Fisher from being a stronger finisher last season.
Third, Fisher has a tendency to stop and lunge in pass protection if he at all thinks he's out-leveraged to a side. He needs to stay balanced, keep working, trust his technique and trust his talent. This cost him multiple sacks and pressures last season.
If all Fisher does this season is cleans up his footwork he'll be a much better football player.
Hand Play - Tennessee's Darnell Wright was the first right tackle picked in the 2023 NFL Draft. When I watch him bend and move athletically I quickly think of Fisher, and there is no doubt in my mind that Fisher is the better athlete, that Fisher bends better and that he plays with better leverage in the run game. The tools are there for Fisher to be that kind of player. Cleaning up his footwork is step one to becoming that kind of player, but step two is using his hands better.
When I watch Wright, the thing that really stands out his how violent he is with his hands, and the second is how tight and fast he shoots his hands at defenders. Fisher has fast hands when you does it correctly, and he has some pop with his mits. The problem is that Fisher doesn't play with enough violence with his hands. He needs to learn to shoot his hands at the snap and get his hands and feet working together instead of stepping and then bringing his hands, often once contact has been engaged.
This is true in the run game and pass game. Fisher tends to just place his hands on defenders instead of shocking them with speed and power. He also tends to shoot his hands too wide when he engages with defenders, especially in pass protection.
Using his hands more effectively will allow Fisher to become a far more dominant blocker.
2023 PROJECTION
Fisher has all the talent in the world, he just needed experience (which he now has), he needs to clean up his technique and he needs to play with a bit more fire. I believe his youth is why the latter was an issue, because it often seemed as though Fisher wasn't completely confident in his technique or what he was supposed to do from a technical standpoint. Fisher looked like he was thinking a lot instead of playing fast and playing with force.
Experience and good coaching plays a big role in being good in those areas. He got good coaching last year and he will get good coaching now under Rudolph. The key now is Fisher continuing to get stronger (again, he was just a sophomore last season), playing with better technique and playing with a bit more force.
If Fisher does this he'll make a huge jump in 2023, he'll become a much more dominant player, and he'll emerge as one of the nation's best right tackles. That would also mean he'll combine with Alt to form the nation's best tackle tandem. It would also allow Notre Dame to be an even more dominant as a run blocking team than it was a season ago.
If Fisher doesn't make big enough jumps with his technique and consistency, he'll still be a solid right tackle. Basically, he'll be a more experienced version of what he was last season. That's still pretty good for the run game, but it will cause problems against the better opponents.
We'll see which version of Fisher we get in 2023, but if I was a betting man I think he'll look more and more like the player in the first projection, and by the end of the season he will put himself in position to go into the 2024 season in the conversation of the best returning tackle in college football.
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