Reviewing the Redshirts: DT Brandon Tiassum

Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season series meant to resurrect discussion around the current Irish freshmen who did not play in 2015.

There were 11 players this past year who retained a year of eligibility and today we look at an Indianapolis product looking to break into the rotation.

DT, Brandon Tiassum

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Height: 6-3 1/3

Weight: 302

247 Sports COMPOSITE RANKING:

3-star, No. 32 DT, No. 6 IN, No. 537 USA, 0.866 Score

Need at Position: Low

Expected Spot on 2016 Depth Chart: 4th String

With our recruiting grades we almost never give out anything under an 80 and Tiassum sneaked in at 80.8 overall. My personal grade was a 78 making him one of a handful of players over the last several years to rate in the 70's for me. Here are my comments from last year's National Signing Day:

I thought bringing Tiassum aboard 8 months ago was a head scratcher and I still feel that way when looking at his skill-set in a vacuum. He's got decent power off the line but doesn't explode into the backfield the way a major conference prospect should against his low level of competition. He looks a little frumpy and likely needs more than a year of re-working his body. I think there's a decent run-stopping rotation player ready to play down the road.

It's going to be very hard for Tiassum to make an impact in 2016. I don't think there's any way to sugar coat that fact. Job number one since he's arrived on campus has been to form his body into something that the staff can work with to get him into contention for some playing time. As late as the bowl practices leading up to the trip to Arizona the belief was that Tiassum still needs quality time in the Irish strength & conditioning program.

How long it'll take Tiassum to get to that point is anybody's guess. If he were to make tremendous gains in the weight room there's still a plethora of other bodies to contend with on the interior. He's also likely a candidate at nose guard where Jarron Jones and Daniel Cage currently reside. Even with a huge spring it's unlikely there will be any two-deep reps available for the fall.

There's not much else to say, really. Tiassum was seen by most as a long-term project and he's still in the beginning of his young career. We'll need another 12 to 15 months to really understand his role on the defense and within the program.