This Guy Plays Notre Dame Football: #85 George Takacs, Tight End

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a roster full of players, and we want to talk about them all. 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 2020 season.

#85 George Takacs, Tight End

George Takacs committed to the Irish program on June 14, 2017, joining the team as a member of the 2018 recruiting class. He selected Notre Dame over offers from Florida State, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Georgia, Oregon, and Wisconsin, among others. Per 247Sports Composite Rankings, Takacs held a 4 star rating. He was ranked as the 14^th best tight end, 51^st best player in Florida, and 283^rd best player nationally in the class of 2018. He attended Gulf Coast High School, and his hometown is Naples, Florida. He currently stands 6’ 6’’ and weighs 247 lbs.

After enrolling in January of 2018, Takacs subsequently suffered a torn meniscus and missed off all spring practice. Though he did return in time for fall camp, there were simply too many talented players ahead of him on the depth chart. He spent the year working on the scout team and did not see any game action, thus preserving his redshirt season. During preparation for the Cotton Bowl, Takacs was sidelined by an undisclosed injury and again missed valuable practice time.

In 2019, Takacs made his Irish debut against New Mexico. Though he barely played in September and October, Takacs worked his way into the tight end rotation in November. On the year, Takacs played 55 snaps, recording 2 catches and 1 touchdown reception (jump to 18:58 in the video below to see the acrobatic touchdown grab).

Spirit Animal

Cory Matthews from “Boy Meets World”

Irish fans seem to be treating George Takacs as the proverbial middle child. Out of the returners, Tommy Tremble and Brock Wright are garnering much of the attention, while incoming freshman, Michael Mayer, is receiving a ton of hype as a 5 star prospect. Thus, many have forgotten about Takacs. In Boy Meets World, viewers saw Cory Matthews struggle with being overlooked as a kid. Throughout the show, we watched as Cory had to confront many of the same challenges we all go through in life. Similarly, we have watched Takacs deal with injury setbacks and being the forgotten man on the depth chart. Eventually, Cory finds his way in the world, and I expect the same thing to happen with Takacs.

2020 Outlook

Predicting Takacs’ role in 2020 is complex. With all but 1 spring practice cancelled this year, he lost a golden opportunity to impress the staff before the arrival of Michael Mayer. It is also unclear what type of offense Tommy Rees plans to implement in his first year as offensive coordinator. Throw in the fact that John McNulty will be entering his 1^st season as tight ends coach, and everything is up in the air. Takacs is an underrated blocker who possesses the length and athleticism to create matchup nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators. When he plays to his full potential, Takacs may be the most complete tight end on the roster. I am going to go out on a limb and predict that Takacs will be the starting tight end by the end of the season and play an integral role in the offense during the upcoming season.

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images