Notre Dame Football: What does Holden Staes bring to the Irish?
By Carlee North
The Notre Dame Football program continues to stack talent, this time adding Holden Staes from Georgia, an elite tight end prospect.
Notre Dame Football has landed a second tight end commit in the last week, this time with 2022 tight end Holden Staes out of Georgia. The Irish staff offered Staes back in February after he backed off and de-committed from Penn State.
The second he was back on the market the staff made it a priority to get on him and stay on him until his decision was final. The history of Notre Dame and tight ends was massive here and adding the success the Irish have had recently and the education side, it was a simple pick for Staes when it’s all said and done.
At the moment Holden Staes holds 25 offers from the likes of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and many more big programs.
So what does Staes bring to Notre Dame Football?
The 6’5 230-pound tight end will bring a prototype skill set and natural ability at the tight end position. He has outstanding catching ability and you will rarely see him drop a ball that comes his way. What’s crazy is he’s still learning the position and he’s already physically developed which is very impressive.
Obviously, you think of a match-up nightmare when you try to implement tight ends into an offense and that is exactly what Staes will be, a matchup nightmare for all defenses. If he’s lined up out wide against a linebacker or even a safety, that will be trouble for anyone.
Someone a lot of people have compared him to, as well as myself, is former Notre Dame tight end Tommy Tremble, who was just drafted in the third round by the Carolina Panthers a couple of weeks ago. They have similar size but I do think their biggest pros are flip-flopped, with Staes being a better pass catcher at this stage and Tremble being a better blocker.
The similarity in size though is very spot on and if he has the success Tremble did in the Irish offense, I would not be shocked one bit. I actually expect much more production for Staes once he gets to campus and in the rotation for Notre Dame.
With Holden Staes committing to the Irish, there are now 13 pledges in the 2022 class, with seven being on offense and six on defense. The tight end room seems all but wrapped up for this class after 6’6 Eli Raridon committed last week and now 6’5 Holden Staes joining the class.
The rich just keep getting richer when it comes to the tight end position and with the tight ends Notre Dame has had, have on the roster right now, and have coming in is just outstanding and impressive to see. Well done by this staff for being consistently dominant for that group.