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Defensive end haul

Notre Dame put plenty of focus on the defensive end position in this year's recruiting class.

The Irish added six players that are projected as defensive ends in Brad Carrico, Ben Councell, Aaron Lynch, Anthony Rabasa, Bishop Dwenger's Tony Springmann and Stephon Tuitt.

Here is Barry Every, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com, take on the defensive end haul that linebacker Ishaq Williams could also be grouped into.

Every: "From a defensive end point of view, I don't think I've ever seen a class like this at that position. Pretty sick to be honest with you. Pretty insane, whatever you want to say.

"Ben Councell is probably your typical outside linebacker/defensive end, very active, very fast. I loved him when I saw him down at the Shrine Bowl practicing, North Carolina-South Carolina, Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. A really active kid.

"The next defensive end, Aaron Lynch, a little immature. I don't care if I'm on the record for that. He does have some maturity problems. Athletically talented – oh, wow, out of this world. A giant kid. A little one dimensional right now. He's an excellent pass rusher. He needs to improve working against the run.

"Anthony Rabasa, another pure pass rusher. He will probably be like Councell, a very active, high-motor guy. He will probably be an outside linebacker, because he's a little small for the end.

"Tony Springmann, I know when they said they were bringing him in as a defensive end to be honest with you, I still think he is a good offensive tackle prospect. So that wouldn't shock me with all these ends that that is where he ends up. He's got that body. You know wide hips, thick legs, long arms. He's not as athletic as some of these other guys they have signed.

"Stephon Tuitt is a giant. If you've never met him, the first time you do meet him and you didn't know who he was and nobody told you ahead of time, you would think he's an NFL football player.

"Ishaq Williams, I can't say enough about him. A true weakside D-end, possibly could play outside linebacker. Very, very athletic, great pass rusher, but where he really caught my eye was in the U.S. Army All-America game when he made a solo tackle on punt coverage. You don't see 6-foot-6, 235-pound kids run down there and make solo tackles on really quick athletic guys.

"Those guys are a really good class. No one is even coming close to that from a defensive end point."

The Journal Gazette's Assistant Sports Editor Tony Krausz covers The University of Notre Dame. Krausz, a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a native of St. Louis, has been assistant sports editor since October 2005. Prior to joining the JG, he worked at two papers in Mississippi covering high school and college athletics.

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