Notre Dame Football: Rocco Spindler is crown jewel of 2021 class
By Carlee North
Notre Dame football has had a ton of recruiting momentum in past weeks, which culminated in landing Michigan offensive lineman Rocco Spindler on Saturday.
Notre Dame football is on a roll. The Irish landed one of their top priorities in the entire class on Saturday evening in Michigan Offensive Lineman Rocco Spindler. He made his announcement on CBS Sports HQ and picked Notre Dame over Michigan, LSU, Ohio State and Penn State.
At the end of the day, though, this was always going to come down to Notre Dame and Michigan. It was a tough battle but I do think the Irish had a special place in his heart that he just couldn’t turn away. The relationships with the commits were massive here and the bond he built with offensive line coach Jeff Quinn was like no other. Those factors I think pushed Notre Dame over the edge in the end, along with of course academics that really stood out the entire process.
At the moment Rocco Spindler holds 18 offers from some of the top programs in the Country.
https://twitter.com/roccospindler92/status/1046408774091780096?s=21
What will Rocco bring to South Bend?
The 6’4″ 315-pound lineman is a bruiser. He’s extremely tough and has an aggression to him that you rarely see in high school players. Honestly, think former Notre Dame great Quenton Nelson in that aspect. He doesn’t really carry “bad weight,” either, which is a positive to see. For him, getting leverage, along with his aggressiveness, comes a lot from his wrestling experience. He’s an absolute brick wall and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone getting by him. Don’t let his size fool you though, he’s great as a run blocker that also moves smoothly in open spaces and pulls well.
Spindler is someone who could start very early in his career at Notre Dame, which is hard to do, but also it’s at a position of need. Evaluating guards is probably one of the hardest positions to figure out, but he’s a sure-fire guard in my book and could easily be the next great lineman at Notre Dame. His technique is outstanding and that will only help him get on the field earlier in South Bend.
Next. How could potential opt-outs affect Notre Dame?. dark
With Rocco’s pledge, the Irish now have 17 commits after adding a big piece yesterday in linebacker Prince Kollie. There are now nine offensive and eight defensive commits in the class. Rocco will be joining elite lineman Blake Fisher and also Pat Coogan and Joe Alt in the lineman room. This is an outstanding job by the entire staff and especially for Jeff Quinn. Rocco Spindler completely changes the outlook on this class by a mile and it couldn’t have been done with the staff and definitely the commits going all in from start to finish.