Notre Dame Football: Will top 2018 recruits make big splashes?

3. Derrik Allen

Along those same lines, Allen could very well be a contributor sooner rather than later in his Notre Dame career.

His combination of size, athletic ability and ball skills are hard to come by in a young player. Obviously, this is only one play without anyone in pads, but still…why does he make this look so easy?

Having a ball-hawking player like that with the versatility to run with receivers and tight ends alike? The Irish faithful can get down with that, I’m sure.

The issue for Allen will be getting up to speed and getting into college football shape when he comes in during the summer. In both senses, new teammate and secondary mate Griffith has the jump on him due to his early enrollment.

From that standpoint, it could take some time before Allen ends up earning significant playing time on defense. After all, the Irish return their starting safeties (Nick Coleman, Jalen Elliott) and reserves (Isaiah Robertson, Devin Studstill). That’s quite a list of guys ahead of you to start your true freshman season.

But none of them have the kind of potential that Allen does in the long run. Once he starts settling into at Notre Dame, it could get hard to keep him off the field.