Notre Dame Signs OL Blake Fisher
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have signed offensive tackle Blake Fisher
BLAKE FISHER PROFILE
Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.
High School: Avon
Height: 6-6
Weight: 330
IB Grade: 4.5 (Top 50 caliber player)
Upside Grade: 5.0
Offers: Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, Wisconsin, Auburn, Texas A&M, Penn State, Florida State, Michigan, Tennessee, Louisville, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Missouri, Boston College, Northwestern, Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota, Duke, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Washington State, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Kansas
Recruited By: Jeff Quinn
SI99 Rank: No. 64 overall
Rivals: 5-star - No. 25 overall
247Sports: 4-star - No. 86 overall
ESPN: 4-star - No. 104 overall
Composite: 4-star - No. 54 overall
FILM ANALYSIS
Fisher is a massive individual, and as a senior he was in much better condition and he clearly put in work reshaping his body. The result was him having a brilliant final high school season, which boosted him into the number one spot in the class.
The 330-pound tackle shows surprisingly nimble feet for someone his size, and that was even more enhanced this past season. He's quick off the ball, changes direction well and his leg drive this past season was impressive. His quickness on the edge in pass protection was much improved this season, and he looked even more natural as a tackle than he did in previous seasons.
Fisher is a powerful blocker that can truly dominate and manhandle opponents. The Avon star is a bully on the field, and I mean that as a compliment. He throws around smaller defenders and his finishing ability is elite. Fisher plays with the kind of nasty demeanor you want in an elite run blocker.
Fisher played with a much better base as a senior, which helped improve his ability to play in space in the pass game. His improved pad level and base made him highly effective on the backside getting reaches or going down for cuts. Fisher had a much better all-around game as a senior.
Prior to his senior season I had Fisher pegged to ultimately move inside to guard. Although I still believe he could be truly special inside, as a senior he looked more than capable of staying outside and playing at a very high level at tackle.
NOTRE DAME FIT
Fisher looked more like a guard as a junior, but as a senior he looked far more comfortable in space as a senior. His upside as a tackle got a lot better this past season, and not only do I think he could stick at tackle, he could thrive.
While I believe Fisher could be a multi-year starter at tackle, and a darn good one at that, I am still intrigued by his potential at guard. Fisher has traits that could allow him to get action as a true freshman if he was willing to move inside.
The reason I talk so much about him being a guard isn't that he can't play tackle in college. I thought Quenton Nelson could have been a pretty darn good right tackle in college, but he was a truly elite, all-time great guard. Fisher has the tools to be a very good tackle, but he could be special at guard.
JOHN GARCIA, SI ALL-AMERICAN ON FISHER
"The literal alpha of Notre Dame's class, Fisher is the first off the bus within this group at offensive tackle. He has an imposing frame that is supplemented by tremendous mass. Fisher has a strong punch at the point and sustains well with good strength. He can engulf linebackers when working on level 2 and is reliable when down-blocking. The Notre Dame pledge has a good push from his set leg to jump out to wide-alignment pass-rushers and has some savviness and awareness to pick up stunts. Fisher plays left tackle right now, yet he is another prospect we strongly feel could kick over to right tackle."
To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook