The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a roster full of players, and we want to talk about all of them. One Foot Down’s player profile series will take a look at every single one of them, and hopefully we all learn a little bit more about these guys, and Notre Dame’s chances for the upcoming 2018 season.
#57 Jayson Ademilola
Jayson Ademilola comes to South Bend as a much-needed highly-rated defensive line prospect. Sure, right now, the Irish have surprisingly strong depth up front with Jerry Tillery and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa manning the defensive tackle spot and Jonathan Bonner and Kurt Hinish holding down nose guard.
But with both Tillery and Bonner set to graduate after 2018 and major talent/depth/heft needed up front to step up, a ready-now prospect like Jayson Ademilola is CRUCIAL to Clark Lea’s defense having any sort of lasting stoutness on the front lines.
Ademilola is big (6’3”, 284 pounds) and incredibly strong, but also quick and athletic for someone his size, making him a guy who could end up earning some serious playing time as a rotation guy during the 2018 season. He’s the level of defensive line recruit the Irish do not usually successfully bring to South Bend, so it cannot be understated how important he is to the future of the Irish defense.
3 Things To Know About Jayson Ademilola
- In case you live under a rock and don’t know, Jayson has a twin brother, Justin, who will also play defensive line at Notre Dame starting in 2018. Jayson is the higher-rated of the two and has a better shot to see early PT, but both appear to be very good players who will be anchoring the d-line in the next few years
- Both Ademilolas hail from St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey, just like fellow incoming freshman LB Shayne Simon and senior QB Brandon Wimbush. Former Alabama and current Miami Dolphins DB Minkah Fitzpatrick also attended St. Peter’s - that high school has had some decent players recently, eh?
- As noted above, Jayson comes into ND as a very highly-rated prospect along the defensive line, which is huge for a program that has been known to swing-and-miss on a lot of elite defensive line recruits. Ademilola finished his prep career ranked as the #128 player in the class of 2018, according to 247sports.com, listed as a four-star player and as the #12 defensive tackle prospect in the country. He was an Army All-American and held offers from nearly everyone you can think of, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Clemson Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Florida Gators, Miami Hurricanes, Michigan Wolverines, and Ohio State Buckeyes.
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Country, Condiment, or Canon
Identifying the player as either a country, condiment, or member of the Star Wars Canon.
Brazil.
I see Jayson as Brazil, in that he is a huge, hulking guy who’s going to be a major force out on the football field, just like Brazil, which is the 5th-biggest country in the world and considered one of the big emerging economies along with Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Both are still emerging and developing into their full potential, but once they arrive, they will be HUGE players in their respective landscapes.
2018 Forecast
Because Tillery and Tagovailoa-Amosa are ahead of him on the depth chart and both very good players, I don’t foresee Ademilola playing too much in the early going. However, as the season wears on, there will be injuries and fatigue and the need for more bodies to rotate in on the defensive line, and so I think by the end of the season Jayson Ademilola will have played a number of snaps, shown some flashes of brilliance, and solidified himself as a key contributor in 2019, if not a key contributor for the second half of the season/bowl game this year.