Elston, O'Leary urged Harbaugh to go after Notre Dame's Joe Alt in draft
Mike Elston’s defensive line at Notre Dame back in 2021 had to go against the freshman version of offensive tackle Joe Alt every day in practice that season.
And it made enough of an impression of the now-LA Chargers D-line coach to be in his head coach’s ear and that of general manager Joe Hortiz as well as they were preparing who to select with the No. 5 pick overall of the NFL Draft on Thursday night.
“Also Chris O’Leary, who was just at Notre Dame coaching there,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said of his new safeties coach endorsing the Irish two-time All-American. “So, we had the kind of intel that is best to have, people that were right inside the building, who were there with him every single day.
“His athleticism — I mean, the word ‘freaky’ was thrown out.”
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And the Chargers went on to make the freaky 6-foot-9, 321-pound early entry the first player to be selected with a top 5 pick of the NFL Draft since quarterback Rick Mirer went to Seattle in 1993 with the No. 2 overall pick.
“It's just an elite-level athlete for a man his size who can do a lot of things,” Hortiz said. “And he's just scratching the surface. He's 21 years old — just turned 21 in February. So, you're talking about a guy who's still growing and maturing, and just the upside with him is tremendous.”
The draft started Thursday with a run of three quarterbacks — USC’s Caleb Williams to Chicago, LSU’s Jayden Daniels to Washington and North Carolina’s Drake Maye to New England before Arizona made Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. the first non-QB taken.
Then came Alt and a run on offensive tackles. There were six selected in the first 20 picks and eight in the first round in total, as well as Duke’s Graham Barton, who played tackle in college but is projected as a center.
“I said it from the beginning when we started talking about the draft, we're going to take the best player available for the Chargers,” Hortiz said when asked why he didn’t use the pick to fill a perceived need at wide receiver.
“And that's what we did today, and that's what we're going to do at [pick] 37 and every other pick we have. So obviously, he helps our team and he helps us get better. And that's what we want to do. We want to get better with every pick, and that's what we feel like we did.”
The Chargers have already talked to Alt about possibly moving to right tackle, since they have an established left tackle in 2021 first-round pick Rashawn Slater, out of Northwestern.
“I don’t think it will be a huge adjustment for me,” Alt said via Zoom, while attending a draft party with family and friends and ND head coach Marcus Freeman instead of on-site in Detroit.
“I’ve practiced during this Combine prep, being able to play the right side. So, I think that’s something I’d be able to do if the coaches would like.”
The draft continues Friday at 7 p.m. EDT with rounds 2 and 3, and concludes Saturday with rounds 4-7 and a noon start.
Notre Dame has 12 players hoping to move on to the next level, with eight projected to be selected during the seven rounds. The group includes two other juniors — right tackle Blake Fisher and Audric Estimé.
The others projected to be drafted are cornerback Cam Hart, linebackers JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau, quarterback Sam Hartman and defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste. Also looking to get to an NFL training camp are nickel Thomas Harper, safety DJ Brown, kicker Spencer Shrader and long snapper Michael Vinson.
In Los Angeles, Alt will join former Notre Dame safety Alohi Gilman as well as Elston and O’Leary. Former Notre Dame coach Rick Minter, the father of Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, is a defensive assistant on Harbaugh’s staff as is Mike Hiestand, the son of former Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand.
“Couldn’t be happier to be part of the Chargers organization,” Alt said. “Getting ready to make this next step and go out and compete. I couldn’t be more excited for this opportunity.”
The Chargers finished last in the AFC West last season with a 5-12 record and fired head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco. Harbaugh was hired after taking Michigan to the national championship to replace Staley, and Hortiz came from the Baltimore Ravens organization to fill Telesco’s old job.
Their first collaborative move via the draft was to go get Alt, whom they both interviewed at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in early March.
“It was a unanimous decision,” Harbaugh said. “Like I alluded to earlier. it was all the work that went in. He was the player that was on the top of our board. Nobody was rated higher than Joe Alt when it came to our selection that we picked.
“I know the question is gonna come up and you're gonna say, ‘Oh, what about a weapon?’ Offensive linemen, we look at as weapons. When we talk about attacking on offense, the offensive line is the tip of the spear.”
Alt was quizzed about the days when he didn’t play offensive line, early in his high school career when he played quarterback and the tight end before the conversion to tackle.
“I think quarterback was huge when it came to understanding a full defense,” he said, “understanding all three levels – your D-line, your linebackers and safeties. Safeties really tip a lot when you can kind of read the coverages, how they’re rolling down. So that kind of gives you an understanding of what the entire defense is going to do
“Tight end was huge when it came to athleticism, being able to stay light on my feet while I was growing, being able to have a little bit of fun catching some passes. But the majority of it was pretty much being a glorified tackle. It was good to slowly transition to tackle as I added on weight.”
And now he said it’s all about improvement as he gets set to embark on his NFL career, 40 years after his father, John Alt, did so with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“My dad is definitely all right with me wearing powder blue,” Alt said. “My dad is everything to me. He’s allowed me to become a man. He taught me how to play football, taught me how to do it on and off the field. My dad is everything. I couldn’t be more grateful for him and what he’s allowed me to learn.
“I love hard work, and that’s what I’m always going to do. I think there’s always room to improve, I take it one day at a time and try to get better at something each and every day. Specific things… I need to play lower in the run game and just work on my strike in the pass. Those are kind of my two things.”
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