Rivals Analyst On Notre Dame Commit Blake Fisher: ‘Tall, Athletic And Lean’
Some rust may have been acceptable. So too would initial sloppiness, or less-than-peak conditioning.
No athlete can prepare for a shutdown of three-plus months where practices, weight rooms and gyms are unavailable. It was suddenly forced upon them — and making the best of it was still the expectation.
Blake Fisher sure did. In his first in-person action since early March, he let everyone at the Midwest Exposure Skill Camp in Fort Wayne, Ind., know there was no letdown or ramp-up phase needed. Fisher, the Notre Dame offensive tackle commit out of Avon (Ind.) High, stood out at the June 27 camp that featured a few offensive line prospects with Power Five offers and attention.
“The big question we’ll have with everyone this first time coming off the shutdown was, did they stay in shape or sit on the couch and eat potato chips?” Rivals Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt said. “Blake definitely was not sitting on the couch eating potato chips. He looks tall, athletic and lean. That played out, too, in what we saw. He looked really light on his feet.”
Fisher dominated a camp with defensive line talent below him as he should have. In one-on-one reps, he was too nimble, too strong and too big for his competition. At one point, he ended a rep in about a second when he shoved his defender to the ground about five yards away. He let only one opponent get to the stationary quarterback.
“He definitely didn’t disappoint,” Helmholdt said. “He looked sharp. It doesn’t mean there aren’t things he can work on, like keeping his feet chopping when he locks on, those types of things. He reached a few times.
“But that could just be being cold, having not had a lot of practice against defensive linemen. Nothing major that concerned me and a lot of good things today.”
Fisher spent the entire one-on-one portion at tackle, a position fitting his 6-7, 330-pound frame. Rivals ranks him as the No. 3 offensive tackle and No. 22 overall player in the country, and Helmholdt sees him finding a home on the edge of Notre Dame’s offensive line.
“I like Fisher best as a tackle,” Helmholdt said. “If you move him inside, you lose some of the things that make him elite. But he’s plenty capable of playing both tackle and guard.
“He measured at 6-7. He’s plenty long enough to stay on the edge and athletic enough to man that role.”
Fisher is the fifth-highest ranked four-star in the Rivals100. There are currently 17 five-stars, and normal classes finish around 30. In a disrupted year with no spring evaluation, fewer camps and high school seasons in question, perhaps that number is lower in this cycle. But it also seems likely to rise above 17.
The next ranking update is likely to come at the end of the summer, Helmholdt said, and Fisher isn’t shy about his desire for a fifth star. Helmholtd is part of the rankings team, and seeing Fisher in person for the first time in a while helped his five-star case. As did, of course, his performance.
“There was nothing there that pushed me too far either way,” Helmholdt. “I think he’s obviously one of the best offensive tackles in the country and I still feel that way after seeing him today.”
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