Class Impact: Breaking Down The Commitment Of Armel Mukam To Notre Dame

Notre Dame added to its 2023 class with a sleeper defensive end, as Woodberry Forest (Va.) School standout Armel Mukam pledged to the Fighting Irish. Mukam was previously committed to Stanford, but after Notre Dame got involved things quickly turned in their favor.

Let's take a look at how Mukam's commitment impacts the Notre Dame 2023 recruiting class and the Irish depth chart.

NOTRE DAME CLASS IMPACT

Mukam is the 23rd player to commit to Notre Dame in the 2023 class and the 12th defensive player. He is also the fourth defensive lineman to commit to the Fighting Irish in the class, joining Brenan Vernon, Boubacar Traore and Devan Houstan.

Notre Dame came into the class looking to land at least four defensive linemen, but the focus now is on five players. Landing Mukam gives the Irish another power defensive lineman in the class, and another player with size and length, something the Irish are trying to add more and more of to their front.

As a consensus three-star prospect, Mukam doesn't move the needle from a recruiting rankings standpoint, but the Irish staff moved on him over more highly ranked players because they view this as a player with Adetokunbo Ogundeji and Khalid Kareem type of upside.

Like Vernon and Traore, Mukam projects as an edge player with some inside potential. From a timing standpoint some might point to him being a replacement for Keon Keeley, but that's not it at all. Notre Dame is still looking for that replacement, this is more of a replacement for the spot that Notre Dame was recruiting Jason Moore to play.

NOTRE DAME FIT

Mukam is an incredibly intriguing player. He didn't put pads on until his sophomore season in Canada, and they barely had a season. His first full season of football wasn't until 2021 when he transferred to Woodberry Forest, and he only played six games. So when talking about Mukam it's all about upside, but he's the kind of player that Notre Dame has had great success with in recent seasons .... lower floor but very high ceiling.

A big end target in the Irish defense, Mukam has a thick frame that should allow him to get to at least 270 pounds in relatively short order. He grew up as a hockey player, but now that he's transitioning to football full time you'll see his time in the weight room result in a physical transformation that will not only add weight room strength but also really good mass.

Mukam has exceptional length, checking in with a confirmed 80+ inch wingspan. The Montreal native has strong hands and impressive natural power. Despite being new to the sport he shows an impressive feel for the game. When he uses his hands he is hard to block thanks to his power/length combination. He'll need to learn a lot about playing with better pad level and using his hands to keep blockers off his body, and to get off blocks.

I was surprised by his flashes of quickness. When he keeps pads low he shows a really impressive vertical burst off the line. At times he gets high off the line and it tightens him up a bit, but you can see above average lateral quickness on film. Where I was blown away with his agility was from some summer workout film, where Mukam showed strong foot quickness and the kind of change of direction you want from a top-level athlete at his size.

This is a projection player. He's going to need time. Consider him a thicker, more advanced version of Ogundeji, which is an impressive comparison.

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Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame 2022 Roster
Notre Dame 2022 Schedule

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Offense
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

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