‘23 VA DL Armel Mukam (Notre Dame Signee)

[Domina Nostra]

His competition is below avg. Recruits should lose half a star if they’re playing against Prep Schools.

Kyle Hamilton: 4.5 stars

 

[Crazy Balki]

His competition is below avg. Recruits should lose half a star if they’re playing against Prep Schools.

I guess it's a good thing you're not in that line of work, because you'd be hard press to find a stable job.

A lot of great players end up playing in areas where the competition is below average. Unless you have the privilege of playing in Texas or the Southeast or some higher level divisions in the midwest, the competition in general is usually pretty mediocre or below.

Kansas isn't exactly a hotbed of prime time high school football, but I think anybody with eyes and a basic understanding of the game can tell you that Dylan Edwards is a stud. Competition be damned.

Mukam is a project. He's not a day-one insert. But his sheer size and athleticism are quite apparent. Competition isn't changing his burst off the line or his ability to get up field in a hurry, despite being massive.

If Mukam gets any points off, it's because he's clearly a raw player and needs time to develop from a technical level, because he hasn't played a ton of football. It's not because of his competition. That's ludicrous.

 

[T-Boone]

How is gobaira progressing?

 

[MacIrish75]

This is a kid that if we had passed on him and he had gone to Stanford would have been a thorn in our side in a string of 16-14 losses for four years.

 

[MacIrish75]

This is a kid that if we had passed on him and he had gone to Stanford would have been a thorn in our side in a string of 16-14 losses for four years.

We used to lambaste the staff for not identifying and moving onto “B” guys after the “A” guys have moved on elsewhere. In this case we had a committed guy—our longest tenured commit—that decided to renege on his verbal. You can’t really recruit over a commit unless you’re prepared to burn that bridge. So Keeley peaces out and the staff pivots and gets in with Mukam in relatively short order. Kudos to them and personally based off his film and measurables, I think there’s a ton of upside with Duke Mukam.

 

[NDIrish1988]

We used to lambaste the staff for not identifying and moving onto “B” guys after the “A” guys have moved on elsewhere. In this case we had a committed guy—our longest tenured commit—that decided to renege on his verbal. You can’t really recruit over a commit unless you’re prepared to burn that bridge. So Keeley peaces out and the staff pivots and gets in with Mukam in relatively short order. Kudos to them and personally based off his film and measurables, I think there’s a ton of upside with Duke Mukam.

There was supposed to be upside with Onye and Ehrensberger, neither have done anything up to this point. It’s fine taking a flyer on him when you have a proven talent in Keeley, but he can’t be Keeley’s replacement.

 

[NDIrish1988]

I guess it's a good thing you're not in that line of work, because you'd be hard press to find a stable job.

A lot of great players end up playing in areas where the competition is below average. Unless you have the privilege of playing in Texas or the Southeast or some higher level divisions in the midwest, the competition in general is usually pretty mediocre or below.

Kansas isn't exactly a hotbed of prime time high school football, but I think anybody with eyes and a basic understanding of the game can tell you that Dylan Edwards is a stud. Competition be damned.

Mukam is a project. He's not a day-one insert. But his sheer size and athleticism are quite apparent. Competition isn't changing his burst off the line or his ability to get up field in a hurry, despite being massive.

If Mukam gets any points off, it's because he's clearly a raw player and needs time to develop from a technical level, because he hasn't played a ton of football. It's not because of his competition. That's ludicrous.

Im skeptical of Edwards bc of his terrible competition. That said, you can tell he’s a natural athlete with how fluidly he moves. You can’t say that about Mukam, who’s only been playing football a few yrs.

 

[Dale]

 

[Dale]

Definite raw, wild, bull in a china shop at times but he’s got a great first step and size

 

[Old Man Mike]

WAY back the Oakland Raiders hired a huge guy whose current "profession" was a Hell's Angels rider-enforcer (and part-time rock concert crowd controller.) He did pretty well as a defensive lineman. "Wild, Raw, and Bull-in-a-China Shop" can be OK if you're Bull enough and have the Wild barely under control. Looking forward to seeing Mukam at work.

 

[Dale]

Yesterday was his first CFB game. And I’m sure he was loving the weather

 

[NDPhilly]

Tom Lemming has never met a Notre Dame prospect that wasn’t exceptional

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

What’s his level of competition?

A lot of those OL were literally afraid of him. I assume it’s from getting beaten on play after play.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Mediocre competition. Small prep schools, but elite enough that they can recruit since the education is so valuable.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Good track record with Woodberry and ND.

C. J. Prosise and Greer Martini. Doug Randolph too, whom had his career cut short with a shoulder injury, but was an U.S. Army All-American.

 

[stpeteirish]

Good track record with Woodberry and ND.

C. J. Prosise and Greer Martini. Doug Randolph too, whom had his career cut short with a shoulder injury, but was an U.S. Army All-American.

Randolph also sued Kelly (and possibly ND too I forget) for mistreating his injury. Never saw anything about how that ended up.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Tom Lemming has never met a Notre Dame prospect that wasn’t exceptional

I heard he gave Heggie a third star

 

[NDIrish1988]

They really needed a legit Edge rusher, not a project. Not sold on Wafle as that guy in the class of '24.

 

[Dale]

They really needed a legit Edge rusher, not a project. Not sold on Wafle as that guy in the class of '24.

Nobody is trying to sell either as an edge rusher. Mukam has some potential from either Big End or DT. Wafle could be Big End, DT or even NT.

 

[Dale]

 

[Dale]

Armel Mukam Wraps up Notre Dame Official Visit

Fighting Irish defensive line commit Armel Mukam discusses the details from his official visit at Notre Dame over the weekend.

247sports.com

This dude is a funny sound bite

 

[Old Man Mike]

I like it. Should get him sitting around talking to all the recruits.

 

[irishff1014]

 

[NDIrish1988]

But his stock didn’t go up. He’s still out of the top 500.

 

[Crazy Balki]

247 bumped him up to a 90 back in mid-October.

I'd imagine a lot of services haven't gotten around to reviewing his tape.

But 90 sounds about right. High ceiling, but still a project who has work to do.

 

[NDIrish1988]

247 bumped him up to a 90 back in mid-October.

I'd imagine a lot of services haven't gotten around to reviewing his tape.

But 90 sounds about right. High ceiling, but still a project who has work to do.

He was rated at #595 before the last update. He actually went down in the rankings now at #619.

 

[CanadalovesND]

But his stock didn’t go up. He’s still out of the top 500.

You arguements are getting very repetitive.

It's okay to take development players. Alabama does it. Georgia does it. Every major program does it, despite having four and five stars in a position group.

It's only an issue if the majority of your class are those development guys that need two or three years just to get up to speed of the game, the weight they need, or an overall quality to their game that can allow them to play snaps.

They way I see the class is that every position group has been stocked with good/great talent, and a few developmental guys like a Joe Otting or Armel Mukam. A little more five-star, top 50 players would be lovely, like Alabama/Georgia/Ohio State have every year, but to add to the class they had last year, these consecutive classes from 2022 & 2023 are the best we've seen at ND for at least 15 years.

To add one final point to the whole rankings thing... Ade Ogundeji was ranked as the #652 in the 2016 class, and after a few years, he was ready to play, became a starter, and did fairly well, and was drafted in sixth round. For a long term project, turning Ade into a sixth round pick is a huge win and a solid ROI.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Joe Alt was ranked 400 in the composite...

 

[NDIrish1988]

You arguements are getting very repetitive.

It's okay to take development players. Alabama does it. Georgia does it. Every major program does it, despite having four and five stars in a position group.

It's only an issue if the majority of your class are those development guys that need two or three years just to get up to speed of the game, the weight they need, or an overall quality to their game that can allow them to play snaps.

They way I see the class is that every position group has been stocked with good/great talent, and a few developmental guys like a Joe Otting or Armel Mukam. A little more five-star, top 50 players would be lovely, like Alabama/Georgia/Ohio State have every year, but to add to the class they had last year, these consecutive classes from 2022 & 2023 are the best we've seen at ND for at least 15 years.

To add one final point to the whole rankings thing... Ade Ogundeji was ranked as the #652 in the 2016 class, and after a few years, he was ready to play, became a starter, and did fairly well, and was drafted in sixth round. For a long term project, turning Ade into a sixth round pick is a huge win and a solid ROI.

Not ok when you don’t replace Keeley.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Not ok when you don’t replace Keeley.

An elite edge rusher would have been a wonderful cherry on top. ND kicked the tires on a few others, but couldn't get any traction unfortunately.