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.
#17 Jordan Botelho, DE
Jordan comes to us from Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawai’i. He is an incoming freshman defensive line recruit this year. He is also a newly-minted incoming recruit, as he was an early enrollee for this current semester. I bet he had an interesting path starting this January and then getting his first ever college semester cut short because of the Rona. He is in good company, though, as there as been a pretty good pipeline from Hawai’i to Notre Dame. Obviously there was Manti and Alohi Gilman, but there has been Robby Toma and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. He is just continuing the lineage, which is fantastic to see.
He was a four-star recruit and ranked 105th by 247Sports. He got some high praise for his talents and skill back when he committed to the Irish. Jordan has been considered a hybrid between a defensive end and a linebacker, which has made him extremely versatile in hi abilities. Depending on how he shows in practice whenever we get back to normal football, he could be floating around different parts of the defense.
The comparisons have already been made with former Hawaii star Manti Teo. This is not just because he is a linebacker from Hawai’i, either. Jordan has been considered an insanely talented recruit. So, with all of the connections, Jordan gets to be like young Manti with a lot of promise and talent.
2020 Outlook
If Jordan stays at defensive end, he will be behind Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji, two monsters at that position. There are still some heavy hitters ahead of him at linebacker too: Drew White and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, just to name a couple. So, Jordan will need to show his strength early if he wants to get some playing time. We don’t know how he has looked yet since we only got one week of spring ball. However, if the talent is there, watch out for him maybe late in the season to get some playing time.