Notre Dame Is A Top Contender For 2021 Tight End
Notre Dame has already landed one of the nation’s best tight ends, landing Hartwell (Ga.) Hart County four-star Cane Berrong, but the Fighting Irish staff is pushing hard to add another talented player at the position.
Littleton (Colo.) Heritage standout Erik Olsen is a player tight ends coach John McNulty seems to be quite intrigued by. Olsen released a Top 6 schools list and the Irish were in that top group, along with Colorado, UCLA, Stanford, Washington and Nebraska.
Olsen was offered by Notre Dame on June 2 but already considers the Irish to be one of the contenders for his pledge.
“I felt really honored that they (Notre Dame) gave me the offer and that they think of me as a tight end that will be a great player for them,” said Olsen. “Obviously, if I do end up being a great tight end at Notre Dame then I have a really good chance to make it to the NFL.”
In the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame, every starting tight end for the Irish ended up being drafted into the NFL, which is a huge selling point to tight end recruits.
Olsen was not always a tight end, though, as it is actually a relatively new position for him.
“I played quarterback from seventh grade until my freshman year,” explained the Colorado standout. “But I ended up moving over to tight end because we had some older guys at quarterback.”
It seems like the move from quarterback to tight end has worked out just fine. Last season for the Eagles, Olsen tallied 28 receptions for 533 yards (19.0 YPC) and eight touchdowns. He was also used as a running back in short-yardage situations, as Olsen added nine carries for 38 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Being that Colorado is not a ‘football factory’ state like Georgia or Florida, it took some time for Olsen to garner national attention.
“It really picked up after my junior season,” Olsen said of his recruiting process so far. “That was when I started to get big-time offers and when I started to get excited and see I had potential at the next level.”
Standing at 6-5, 230 pounds, Olsen has great size and quick feet, which has proven very intriguing to programs across the country. He has been adding muscle during the dead period that came about due to COVID-19, and has used it as an opportunity to better himself before his senior season begins.
“Obviously I would rather be in the weight room with my team, but right now I am making do with what I’ve got,” Olsen explained. “We are looking at getting back to team activities on the 15th, so then I can get back in the weight room and continue to get better.”
The standout tight end has been working out with his teammates on Google Hangout, then meeting up with them afterward to run on the school track.
“Something I really want to improve is my route running, so getting out and running on the field and track is going to help me a ton with that,” Olsen noted.
As he continues to sharpen his game, Olsen is still weighing his options about what school he will attend in college. He initially planned to be committed before his senior season began, but COVID-19 has made that impossible for the Heritage tight end. Olsen values visits greatly, and does not take much stock in virtual visits.
“I want to take visits to all of the school in my Top 6 if possible this fall, but if that can’t happen I might end up just taking visits to my top three schools,” said Olsen.
Many experts across the nation have the Coloradan pegged for UCLA, but Olsen was quick to clear up any confusion on the matter.
“All of that stuff on 247Sports came as a surprise to me,” Olsen said. “I never said that UCLA was the clear frontrunner for me, I have been out there a few times but right now I can’t truthfully say there is a frontrunner.”
Olsen has taken quite a liking to first-year Notre Dame tight ends coach John McNulty.
“Coach McNulty and I talked about my positive attributes and some of the things I need to work on. No college has ever done that for me before," Olsen stated. "He was breaking me down and telling me what we would be working on day one if I were to come to Notre Dame”
Expect Notre Dame to be a major player in Olsen’s recruitment until the end, and that quick connection with McNulty, along with Notre Dame's history at the position, are driving forces.
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