SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Offensive tackle Guerby Lambert chose Notre Dame over Harvard, plans to major in civil engineering and stands 6-foot-7 and 318 pounds as a freshman. By every definition, the product of Catholic Memorial in Boston who grew up playing center back on soccer pitches is an athletic outlier. And yet Notre Dame has had a recent streak of aberrations just like Lambert, who bucked the national trend of elite prospects enrolling early.
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In each of the previous five seasons, Notre Dame’s top freshman turned out to be a prospect who arrived on campus in June, not one who got a jump start on college in January. From Kyle Hamilton to Michael Mayer to Joe Alt to Benjamin Morrison to Jeremiyah Love, what makes for an instant-impact freshman is less about when they show up and more about what they bring to Notre Dame’s roster when they do.
Lambert, who will wear Alt’s No. 76 and has counseled with the 2024 top-five pick, is Notre Dame’s best chance to extend this streak, which will be challenged by Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Bryce Young and Micah Gilbert, all January enrollees. And yet, considering right tackle is one of the program’s few open positions on an offensive line looking for answers, Lambert could make a run at work with the first team.
“It’s definitely more of a motivator than it is fear or nervousness,” Lambert said. “But seeing that as a possibility definitely got me excited. I’m in no rush because of how much I trust these coaches. I trust that they’re going to put me in when I’m ready and when I can perform the best for the team.”
Based on recent history, Notre Dame won’t wait.
Love turned four carries into 40 yards during Notre Dame’s blowout of Navy (early enrollee Jaden Greathouse also scored two touchdowns). Morrison got reps at Ohio State. Alt waited until midseason before starting, after shifting to tackle from playing jumbo tight end. Mayer caught three passes for 37 yards against Duke. Hamilton scored on his first snap inside Notre Dame Stadium, the week after getting work in a road win at Louisville.
The Irish have seven other scholarship freshmen who enrolled in June, although the opportunities for slot receiver Logan Saldate or defensive backs Tae Johnson, Leonard Moore, Karson Hobbs and Taebron Bennie-Powell may be scarce beyond special teams. It’s the same story for linebackers Teddy Rezac and Bodie Kahoun, who arrived at Notre Dame behind Viliamu-Asa — less because the fringe five-star from California enrolled early and more because of what the 6-3, 240-pound athlete brings to the defense.
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“I was given a playbook, and after one practice my mind was absolutely blown when I saw the whole team and how fast they go in tempo (drills) and stuff,” Kahoun said. “Definitely my first full team workout in the stadium, where it was probably 120 degrees on the turf, it was just how fast everyone moves. I’m from a high school where I was one of the bigger guys, obviously. And coming here, you’re obviously next to wide receivers where in high school they’re 150 pounds, and here they’re 200-and-some.”
Kahoun said he’s working at mike linebacker, which likely puts him behind some combination of Jack Kiser, Drayk Bowen, Preston Zinter, Tre Reader and Viliamu-Asa. Rezac, listed at 6-3, 199 pounds, was always recruited to be more of a developmental prospect, with special teams as a more realistic freshman goal.
Among the defensive backs, Hobbs was moved to nickel, putting him behind at least Jordan Clark and Jaiden Ausberry. Moore is working at boundary corner, where Notre Dame has at least three options. Safeties Bennie-Powell and Johnson are more developmental at a position where the Irish should start two graduate students, with one being a returning unanimous All-American in Xavier Watts. And Saldate in the slot means he’ll be fighting for reps with bowl MVP Jordan Faison, Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison and potentially Greathouse.
”We have a super stacked receiver room this year. We don’t really need much outside, so you can expect to see me in the slot motioning around a little bit,” Saldate said. “They told me straight up that it’s going to be hard and the playbook is going to be rough. I’m experiencing that now.”
What Saldate is experiencing during his first month on campus is the rule. And the promise of Lambert remains the exception, even if the Irish are riding a streak of exceptions among previous freshman classes. Those five freshmen who starred after arriving in the summer were all national prospects or the sons of former NFL offensive linemen. Lambert is the former as the No. 2 player in Notre Dame’s freshman class per the 247Sports Composite, after Viliamu-Asa. On3 ranked Lambert as a five-star prospect at No. 18 overall.
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Starting a freshman offensive tackle is hardly ideal for a program with designs on making a run at the College Football Playoff, even if the Irish came within one game of doing that with Alt three years ago. Yet, talent won’t be denied, no matter when it shows up on campus. As Lambert walked up the stairs of the Irish Athletic Center last week for his first interview as a full-fledged Notre Dame football player, it was easy to wonder how long it would take for him to get on the field.
“Right now I’m doing a pretty good job with the playbook. I want to get that down so that’s not a problem during camp,” Lambert said. “I want to do everything the coaches (ask) and become the best I can by the time camp starts. I just want to do everything to make sure I’m the most prepared for what they need from me when camp comes.”
(Photo of Guerby Lambert: Greg Swiercz / USA Today)
Pete Sampson is a staff writer for The Athletic on the Notre Dame football beat, a program he’s covered for the past 21 seasons. The former editor and co-founder of Irish Illustrated, Pete has covered six different regimes in South Bend, reporting on the Fighting Irish from the end of the Bob Davie years through the start of the Marcus Freeman era.
