In-Depth Breakdown Of DT Calvin Avery – Recent Irish Offer

Notre Dame is looking to add talented pieces to the interior of their defense.

Must Read: Sinclair's Hot 5 Big Board - Notre Dame Recruitinng

The Irish have had success at Bishop Dunne in Dallas, Texas, one of the better 5A programs in the football-frenzy state.

Nick Watkins, one of Notre Dame’s better defensive backs, played at Bishop Dunne as well as two ’19 recruits the Irish offered last week in safety Brian Williams and athlete Marquez Beason.

This week, Notre Dame offered 6’1.5, 310 pound defensive tackle Calvin Avery. The Irish are looking to add several defensive tackles in the ’18 class and have Jersey City, St. Peter’s Prep defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola on board so far.

Avery is hot in the Texas recruiting world with offers from Texas A&M, Texas, Houston, Rice and TCU as well as out of the state with Power 5 offer in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona State and more.

Avery put up big time numbers in ’16 with 68 tackles (which is outstanding for a DT), 12 sacks and one pass defended in 13 games. He played in close defeat in the Texas 5A State Championship.

As a high school sophomore, Calvin Avery resembles a college defensive tackle. You have to like what you see, right off the hop.

At 310 pounds, he’s not only great at eating up space and blocks, he’s also effective in taking away A gaps. Also, Avery is truly great at collapsing the pocket and getting after the quarterback, evident in his 12 sack performance last season.

Avery shows good use of hands and some effective pass rush moves. You can see in his film that he likes to use a swim move that he puts to use effectively.

He also proves to be an overwhelming bull rusher. His strength and motor are truly impressive. I think this will be his strong suit at the college level but the kicker is that he can also get off blocks to get to the backfield, where he often blows things up.

Avery shows that he understands pad level and leverage in his explosive first step, as he initiates contact low but he can stand up a little too high later on in his progression, leaving him susceptible to blocks.

This is something than can and probably will be corrected in time and doesn’t seem to be slowing him down any.

When the ball gets out to the perimeter, he shows good awareness and decent lateral quickness to get to the football. He’s quite impressive in this regard, especially for a man as big as himself.

Notre Dame is looking for a big-bodied defensive tackle who has the fortitude to play the nose tackle position. I think Avery could certainly be that guy and I expect them to move on him in a big way by trying to get him on campus, possibly for their next Junior Day.

He’s been on a Junior Day visit to Oklahoma and word on the street is that he’s leaning toward Bob Stoop’s Sooners at this point. It’s important to keep in mind that it is early in the process and he hasn’t been to Notre Dame, or other quality college campuses yet.

Keep an eye on this one. If Mike Elston is anywhere near as high on Avery as I am, I expect the Irish to be quite aggressive in this recruitment.