What Tyler Luatua’s Return Means for Notre Dame Football
By Bobby Norell
Tyler Luatua decides not to transfer and will remain with the Notre Dame football program.
Yesterday news broke that junior tight end Tyler Luatua would in fact not be transferring and will remain a member of the Notre Dame football program. At the beginning of the spring semester Luatua made it known that he would be exploring transfer options and eventually landed on BYU. Instead of enrolling at BYU right away and participating in spring practice there, he decided to finish out the semester in South Bend. Even though he didn’t participate in spring practice with the Irish the decision to stay for the semester is perhaps what ultimately lead Luatua to stay with Notre Dame.
Because he stayed, he had all semester to watch his friends and teammates grind through spring practice. You could also put some money on a few teammates being in Luatua’s ear telling him to stay. Luatua basically gave himself a boat load of time to mull his decision over and then eventually change his mind.
So since Luatua is staying, what does it mean for the Irish? What Luatua gives the Irish is depth at the tight end position. It is probably a safe assumption that Durham Smythe and Alize Jones will be the 1A/1B options at tight end. In the event that either Jones or Smythe gets injured, Luatua, as well as Nic Weishar, would be one of the guys to fill in.
Luatua has never been known as an elite pass catcher. Most of his contributions has been dirty work. Last season he served as a key role in Notre Dame’s stout rushing attack. At times he would line up in the backfield as a lead blocker on run players. In fact he yet to catch a pass in his Notre Dame career. Along with providing depth, Luatua will give the Irish offense another quality blocker this upcoming season.