Notre Dame’s unrivaled tight end tradition over the past 40 years, including five straight starters drafted in the first or second rounds since 2006, will remain in good hands with incoming freshman Nic Weishar. Good feet, too.
Nic Weishar's 252 career receptions are an Illinois state record.
Illinois’ all-time prep receptions leader with 252 catches in three varsity seasons for 3,238 yards (12.7 yards per catch) and 28 touchdowns, the 6-foot-4 Weishar has added about 15 pounds since the end of his basketball career at Chicago Marist in March, where he averaged nearly a double-double in points and rebounds all four varsity seasons.
Listed at 215 pounds on signing day, Weishar said he now tips the scales at around 235 after partaking in Notre Dame’s strength and conditioning work for nearly three months. Those three-day-a-week sessions, which expanded to four recently with more emphasis on conditioning, was augmented with workouts with fellow Chicago native and linebacker Nyles Morgan at Swallow Cliff, which entails ascending the steep stone workout mecca near Palos Park.
“It’s like climbing bleachers, but a lot more steeper,” Weishar said. “It’s for endurance, and now I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life.”
The conditioning workout from Notre Dame included doing five consecutive 350-yard sprints, with a two-minute break between each sprint, in 55 or fewer seconds. Linemen are required to finish each in 60 seconds, “Big Skill” athletes such as linebackers and tight ends in 55, and skill position athletes in 50.
The conditioning work in the final weeks before enrolling in Notre Dame’s summer school that begins June 16 now includes 10 100-yard dashes, with 20 seconds between each run, eight 80-yard jaunts, six 60-yard sprints and five 40-yard dashes.
“You have a little of that where you wonder if you can do it all in the beginning, but it’s a really good program set up where each week more and more work is added to help you gradually get better,” Weishar said.
Other incoming recruits he has kept in contact with regularly include another Illinois native, linebacker Nile Sykes, and offensive guard Quenton Nelson. The Parade All-American Weishar, who has posted a 5.42 grade-point average on a 5.0 scale, plans to enroll in the renowned Mendoza School of Business, and will be taking a math and English course this summer to begin his curriculum.
“There are a lot of emotions going on right now and some nerves about going into a new atmosphere, but it’s even more exciting knowing I’m about to start the next chapter of my life,” Weishar said.
What To Expect: With a veteran trio of juniors Troy Niklas and Ben Koyack, plus senior Alex Welch, both freshman tight ends last year, Durham Smythe and Mike Heuerman, were redshirted.
With Koyack now the prime figure because of Niklas’ early departure to the NFL, Smythe and Heuerman are in line to take over the second and third spots, and the possibility of 6-7 ½, 300-pound sophomore right tackle Mike McGlinchey having a role as a blocking tight end in certain packages sounds enticing if it is feasible. Head coach Brian Kelly noted that Koyack was the most consistently reliable target in the spring, and he believes Smythe is a rising star.
Thus, unless a rash of injuries occur, both Weishar and California native Tyler Luatua are most likely to follow Smythe and Heuerman’s path of preserving a fifth year of eligibility, which then in 2015 would leave the Irish with four tight ends with a minimum of three years of eligibility.
