Newsstand: Where ESPN's Mel Kiper ranks Notre Dame OT Joe Alt in latest Big Board
The 2023 college football season is officially complete. So, it is unofficially 2024 NFL Draft season. The Notre Dame football program has several former players in this year’s draft, including star left tackle Joe Alt.
Not only is the 6-foot-8, 322-pound Alt the top NFL Draft prospect out of Notre Dame this year, but he is also one of the top players in the draft class.
ESPN football analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said as much in his latest big board, unveiled Friday. The longtime NFL Draft guru ranked Alt as the No. 9 overall player and No. 2 offensive tackle in this cycle.
“Alt started 33 games at left tackle for the Fighting Irish — he’s another prospect who will skip the bowl game and prep for the draft — and I was most impressed by his technique on a snap-to-snap basis,” Kiper said. “He rarely gets caught out. He mirrors well in pass protection, adjusting easily to secondary moves from edge rushers. And he does a great job keeping his huge frame between the defender and his quarterback. In his career, he allowed just 16 total pressures in more than 1,000 pass-block snaps.
“Alt’s father, John, was a first-round offensive tackle, too, going No. 21 overall to the Chiefs in 1984. He was 6-7, 275 pounds when he entered the NFL, which shows you how the game has changed since then.”
Kiper put Penn State offensive tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu one spot ahead of Alt.
In addition to Alt, he ranked four Notre Dame players in his positional rankings section. Kiper ranks former Irish right tackle Blake Fisher as the No. 10 available offensive tackle.
He also has Audric Estimé as the No. 3 running back behind Texas’ Jonathan Brooks and Florida State’s Trey Benson. Kiper considers Marist Liufau the No. 8 off-ball linebacker. He also ranked Mitchell Evans as the No. 7 tight end even though Evans has not declared — and is not expected to — for the 2024 NFL Draft.
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“He felt the biggest connection to the coaches. Ivan’s very much a relationships type of kid. He’s going to somewhere where he feels the most wanted and welcomed in terms of facilities, atmosphere, classes and coaches.”
— Winter Garden (Fla.) West Orange football coach Eugene Thompson on 2025 safety Ivan Taylor’s decision to commit to Notre Dame football.
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