The 'Sky Is The Limit' For Notre Dame 2019 OL Target Julius Buelow
Notre Dame is aiming to put together a strong offensive line class in 2019 during the first year of Jeff Quinn manning the position replacing Harry Hiestand.
The Irish have yet to land a commitment, but are pursuing many of the nation’s best which now includes Kapolei (Hawaii) High Rivals100 offensive tackle Julius Buelow.
Kapolei is the high school home of current Irish freshman defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. Like his former star defensive lineman, Kapolei head coach Darren Hernandez sees Notre Dame being an intriguing program to Buelow.
“He was very excited about it,” Hernandez told Blue & Gold Illustrated. “They are two years apart, so Myron has been a great advocate and great salesman for the program at Notre Dame. When you think of Notre Dame especially a guy like Julius who has good grades, if you want to play football at the highest level and get the academic side, Notre Dame is a no-brainer.
“I think education is important to him and so is football. I think he’s very excited about Notre Dame.”
The 6-foot-7, 304-pound Buelow ranks as the No. 14 offensive tackle in the class No. 90 player nationally. Hernandez believes Buelow’s movement for a bigger player plays a role into that ranking along with his ability to perform well in pass protection and run blocking.
“One of the things that jumps out about Julius is his footwork,” Hernandez explained. “He has great footwork, knee bend for a guy his size. I’ve coached really big guys before and sometimes their feet are too big and they can’t move them. He has size 16 feet, but it’s not overly big. I think that’s a huge factor that allows him to be nimble and move his feet so well.
“He’s pretty balanced. We throw the ball a lot. Our tackles are in a two-point stance, so he’s very adept at pass blocking. He can put his hand in the dirt and run block. He’s very balanced.”
This winter Buelow began playing basketball and it has helped the Rivals100 prospect transform his body.
“One thing he could improve on he already has,” Hernandez stated. “I felt he needed to drop a little weight. He was probably 315 pounds last year and he’s still a young guy. Weight room strength needs to improve a lot, but he lost a lot of the baby fat when he started playing basketball. He’s slimmed down to 300 pounds now.
“Once he gets into a college strength and conditioning program, I tell you what, the sky is the limit for this kid.”
For Hernandez, it’s hard to miss Buelow on the field and when watching film of Kapolei.
“The first thing you notice is how big he is,” Hernandez said. “He’s closing in on 6-foot-8. He’s a big cat. Other than that, his best football is ahead of him. When he’s playing high school kids they are much shorter and he’s not playing the type of game he will at the next level.
“He’s punching down to 5-foot-9 rush ends and that’s not going to happen in college. He’s able to adjust his technique to very different pass rushers.”
Along with Notre Dame, Buelow’s offer list includes the likes of Florida, Oregon, UCLA, Utah, Penn State, Washington State and Arizona State, among others.
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