Notre Dame football: What does DE Armel Mukam bring to the Irish?
By Carlee North
The Notre Dame football program was able to get a flip on Wednesday, as Stanford commit Armel Mukam from Virginia committed to the Irish.
On Wednesday evening Notre Dame football program landed 2023 defensive end out of Virginia in Armel Mukam. This was kept close to the vest because Mukam has been committed to Stanford for several months now.
That really all changed when the Irish staff reached out and did a deep dive into his film and loved what they say. Everything Notre Dame has to offer on the field, along with off the field which is major for him and his family, was enough for him to make the decision to flip from Stanford after doing a virtual visit with the staff.
At the moment Mukam holds 23 offers from the likes of Stanford, Virginia, Duke and North Carolina among others.
With will Mukam bring to the Notre Dame football team?
The 6’4 250-pound defensive lineman has great size and length. He’s someone who has only played football for two years after leaving Canada. He’s definitely a raw player and has so much room to grow but I think that’s what the staff loves here.
He has a 80” wing span and has a great twitch and motor which is stuff you can’t really teach. He’s someone that has flexibility as well along the defensive line for multiple positions. He plays a lot of weak-side right now but I think he could be a better fit inside once he starts to gain some mass and learn more technique. He’s a very disruptive player and he’s only going to continue getting better with more experience.
The technique will be key and I think once that clicks with him he could be a really good player down the road for Notre Dame.
With Mukam making his announcement the 2023 class now hold 23 pledges with 12 now on defense and 11 on the offensive side. Mukam will be joining Devan Houstan, Boubacar Traore, and Brenan Vernon along the defensive line room. The Mukam joining the fold news was more of a Jason Moore miss and fill in than it is with the Keon Keeley drama.
Defensive line coach Al Washington and Marcus Freeman still want to add one more defensive end to the class and that’s what they plan on doing, so expect another addition. Until then this is a solid group overall upfront and they will try and add another top talent to really round this group out as one of the best.