Notre Dame Football: The quiet emergence of Asmar Bilal
The most surprising breakout player of the season for Notre Dame is undoubtably Asmar Bilal, yet no one is talking about it. Why?
If you look up the definition of “late-bloomer” in the dictionary, a picture of Notre Dame linebacker Asmar Bilal shows up.
Not really, but it should.
After Bilal’s abysmal performance in Notre Dame’s first game of the season against Louisville, no one thought he would now be the team’s best linebacker. No one.
Bilal looked beyond lost against Jawon Pass and the Louisville offense, but he has now transformed himself into a great linebacker in every game since Louisville.
The fifth-year linebacker has led a very young linebacking corps to be formidable and a strength of the Notre Dame defense, rather than the glaring weakness many thought it would be coming into the season.
Two weeks ago, Bilal was recognized on a national-stage for his performance against Duke. After Notre Dame’s dominant 38-7 win over the Blue Devils, Bilal was named to the Pro Football Focus Team of the Week. In the game, Bilal racked up five tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Bilal was everywhere and it was good to see him get recognized for his performance.
It does seem as if while Bilal is being recognized by sites like PFF and others, he is not being recognized much by Notre Dame fans. No one is talking about how great Bilal has been for this Irish defense.
Why?
It seems as if the narrative coming into the season was that there would be a young, exciting, new linebacker corps and that there would be new breakout stars for ND fans to watch.
Bilal does not fit that description.
He is a fifth-year senior, he’s not young, he’s not flashy and he just does his job quietly.
It seems as if junior Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is getting all the attention as the breakout ‘backer, but much more attention needs to be paid to Bilal.
JOK may have more big hits and flashy plays from the ROVER position, but none of what he does is possible without Bilal holding it down at the weak side linebacker position.
On the season, Bilal has tallied 61 tackles (38 solo) and a fumble recovery. Bilal has the same amount of solo tackles (38) as Drew White, who has been hailed as such a great tackler for ND.
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All in all, Bilal needs to be much more appreciated for what he does at the inside linebacker spot. None of what Notre Dame’s defense does is possible without him and his breakout should be noticed, especially because next to no one saw it coming.