2024 Recruiting: Owen Wafle (2024)

His compadre in competence Kevin Sinclair credited Wafle with the "the feet and movement skills of a defensive end," and "special athleticism and notable weightlifting numbers, showing the potential to develop into a gap-creasing bully in the middle of the Irish defense." Brian Dohn's scouting report on 247 comes from around this time, when Wafle "showed ability to bend" during a workout, and "gets off quickly at snap and covers ground well in first three steps." NJ.com quoted a 4.8 forty at 290 pounds from Wafle's coach Todd Smith, who later told MLive's Ryan Zuke that it's mostly from the acceleration.

He’s so disruptive. He’s very fast off the ball, so he is usually beating offensive linemen right out the gate. Even before they are out of their stance, he is usually on the other side of the line of scrimmage wreaking some kind of havoc.

ND person for SI Bryan Driskell said "impressive initial burst off the line" multiple times in his commitment scouting report. A year later Kevin Sinclair, the other ball-knowing guy at IrishIllustrated had Wafle his 7th favorite member of ND's then-14-member, #1-ranked recruiting class.

His physical transformation from a 250-pound edge player to a 292-pound thrashing defensive tackle has been interesting to watch. Owen Wafle has some surprising attributes, including the ability to dunk a basketball from standstill at 6-foot-2.5 and nearly 300 pounds.

When Wafle committed to Michigan shortly thereafter, we got another round of "This guy goes." Here's EJ Holland the first time he saw Wafle:

His first step is downright explosive. Wafle consistently got in the backfield in a blink of an eye and provided a consistent pass rush from the interior of the defensive line.

Reimink:

good acceleration, good quickness, solid foot speed, good physical strength, and solid agility. … Opposing OL struggle to stay in front of him because of how fast he gets off the ball, often taking them by surprise with his acceleration and quickness for a guy his size.

Austin Meek thought Wafle's "quickness makes him especially tough to block" inside.

Wafle is a powerful, disruptive defensive lineman who plays with a relentless motor. He can line up anywhere on the defensive line and shows impressive quickness paired with a strong lower body. In his highlights, he’s not just taking up space or occupying blockers — he’s exploding into the backfield and inflicting damage once he gets there.

Kyler Kregel of GMBWolverine thought the "terrific closing speed" was evident on both sides of the ball, but he was maybe relying too much on those first steps.

Right now, he plays more like a gap-shooter than a gap controller, but he certainly has the tools to become a well-rounded player against the run and the pass. The upside is very high.

Touch the Banner even made a comp to Quick Burst Mo Hurst.

Wafle has excellent quickness for his size. He gets off the ball very well, and with his low center of gravity, he changes direction well to chase after ball carriers.

Magnus also mentioned Brady Pallante, which was Brady Hoke taking a 2-star good dude wrestler just to show us they're not all Rob Renes, and box-shaped former BC linebacker-turned-NFL DT/FB Dan Klecko. But neither of those guys had the twitch. Wafle's dad isn't an unbiased source here, but has been telling anyone who listens his kid's "going to surprise a lot of people with his speed and quickness."

Wafle can also choose not to move. If there's a difference in the scouting reports since his Michigan pledge is there's been a lot more time to evaluate Wafle against doubleteams and whatnots. Jurors: He can do that too. Magnus praised the pad level, which Dohn thought came naturally.

Thick build with plus length. Has low center of gravity and plays low to win leverage. Strong, physical, hard-nosed player with strong work ethic. … Shows stack-and-shed ability. Can take on block and re-direction along line of scrimmage. Can anchor in run game. Willing to take on and fight through double teams. Relies heavily on power and strength and often wins leverage by sinking hips.

Sinclair reported as of May 2023 that Wafle's bench press was already past his father's best in college. Rivals' Adam Friedman thought Wafle, one of the top 10 DL he saw all year:

Wafle is a boulder in the middle of the defensive line. The Michigan commit is so strong that offensive linemen are barely able to move him off of his spot. Wafle may be on the shorter side but he certainly isn't small. He is technically sound and does a good job using his hands to keep offensive linemen from slowing him down.

(Also on that top-10 list: 2025 DT target Maxwell Roy).

The compact build minded EJ Holland of a wrestler

I mean you watch his in-game clips and they're amazing. He knows how to knife through double teams. He's super aggressive. He's just a really smart player, along with being physical and aggressive. Just tremendous brute strength. Really compact build, kind of looks like a wrestler.

and that this build was complemented by Wafle's general irascibility.

The dude is as strong as an ox and displayed elite level power in the trenches. He also plays with violent hands and has a non-stop motor. He’s very much a Mike Elston defensive lineman — bring your hardhat to work, blue-collar, lunch pail, other fun cliches.

No, Wafle wasn't a wrestler in high school, but Hun HC Todd Smith said the kid has some WWE moves:

Just as the ball was snapped [he] plowed through the line of scrimmage and had an unabated path to the quarterback, who was lined up in shotgun. Wafle disrupted the mesh point on a read option and tackled both the quarterback and running back, forcing a fumble. Hun head coach Todd Smith’s jaw dropped.

“He did like a WWE double-clothesline and threw them on the ground,” Smith told MLive. “We were just like, ‘What was that?’

Yes there's video of this.

Wafle don't stop. Once they're done gawking at the get-off the people start talking about Wafle's motor. Meek: "motor is always running." Dohn: "Ferocious style of play … high effort and has strong work ethic." Bryan Driskell: "his motor. This young man plays the game hard and with a lot of passion. … raises the level of everyone around him." Reimink: "He plays with a very hot motor, showing as much effort as you’ll ever see on every single snap." EJ: "The dude has a non-stop motor and is always angry." Prister:

Wafle is absolutely ferocious on the football field. He gives every fiber of effort on every snap. He is wired for destruction but doesn’t cheap shot kids who clearly are physically inferior to him. He manhandles his man and moves on, but frankly, he is a danger to kids on the high school level.

That was Prister's evaluation of Wafle *as a sophom*ore.* Where Wafle goes there are BATMAN WORDS. EJ:

It’s rare not to see Wafle finish a play. When he hits someone, you hear it. When he body slams a ball carrier behind the line, they usually take a while to get up. When he screams instructions at his teammates, you can feel the respect. Wafle is an old-school player that will thrive in a physical conference like the Big Ten.

Smith again:

No matter where he is on the field, you can see him and, more often than not, you can hear him. You hear pads popping, helmets colliding or a gigantic collision. Often times, it’s someone being a recipient of Owen Wafle.

Brice Marich on the TMI Signing Day Podcast:

Brice: This in my opinion is one of my favorite commits. … they haven't lost the game in two years, so he's a winner He can full Rush, he can you make moves up in the middle, and he can be moved around. ... he reminds me a lot of Mason Graham. He's got a high motor, root strength, and someone that's just a hard worker as well so I I love the pickup.

The Molkiness bleeds over to BEN MASONosity when you consider Wafle is a fullback's fullback. CoacH:

He’s a ridiculously good fullback. Iso and power were designed for him. We let him clear the path. One of our best formations is ‘Heavy,’ and it’s a two-fullback formation. You have one fullback who is bigger than the guard in front of him and faster than everybody on the field. He’s a fun toy to play with and definitely sets the tone on offense as well.”

Holland says this is because Wafle plays as angry. As in David Molk-angry.

I joked with him after the game that I never see him on social media or doing interviews. Wafle’s stoic ‘I hate these things’ response made me crack up. He’s such a polite kid yet always look like he wants to choke me out.

On Signing Day EJ lamented he wouldn't get to watch/hear Wafle play in high school anymore.

My favorite recruit to see this season. If I could have gone to 40 Wafle games I would have gone to 40 Wafle games because he was so entertaining. Screaming at opponents, clapping up his teammates, like just being a dude out there. I loved it man. Owen Wafle was so awesome to cover so I'm I'm definitely going to miss him.

Uh, you know you can watch him play in college EJ.

That might happen sooner rather than later. For a guy who moved inside fairly recently, Wafle is reportedly ahead of his class, already following pulling linemen (Holland), showing "very good mental processing speed to diagnose run quickly" and gap discipline (Reimink). Wafle's coach and father both alluded to how quickly he picks up coaching, and Wafle himself talks about going beyond cognition to get a feel for what the offense is doing.

Now I am trying to feel out the offensive line and see what they're giving me, what I can take, and it really playing it more like a chess match then a bullying match.

Not that the incoming freshman DT is coming in fully-formed. Like most kids his age, he needs to "develop more moves" (Friedman and Reimink), and diversify his pass rush beyond his bull rush, rip and spin moves (Dohn). Smith wants him to use his hands better, something Touch the Banner also alluded to.

So how do you rank this guy a 3-star? Was Notre Dame losing interest? I think that's bunk. As of May 2023, IE days before his decommitment, Sinclair named Wafle as the one player in ND's class he "would comfortably move up the rankings" and the "the next Kurt Hinish-like rock at nose tackle." Even after he decommitted, Prister wasn't buying ND's line that Wafle had been processed, proposing instead that ND was shifting to a 3-3-5 plan with a planetary nose and two DEs with Ike Iwunnah-like prospect Sean Sevillano. Prister wasn't on board:

Truth be told, the first film reviewed by Irish Illustrated of Sevillano made the decision to move past Wafle a head-scratcher.

The catch is they thought he'd be 6'4" and he topped out at 6'1" or 6'2". Sinclair circa February 2023:

He was an edge rusher until he grew, and grew, and then grew some more. … what I like is the Jersey product could play three-tech or nose tackle with occasional work on the strong-side end.

Prister says Wafle was 6'1.5"/255 when his name first surfaced in 2021, and at that people looked at his 6'5"/290 (as a player) dad and assumed he'd shoot past the listed 6'3". From there you can correlate Wafle's diminishing ceiling to the people who do recruiting rankings to the shrinking height.

• Prister was calling him 6'3"/275 in April 2023.
• …and 6'2.5/290 before the decommitment in May.
• At Wafle's Michigan commitment in June the sites said 6'3"/290, 6'2"/267, 6'2"/290, and 6'3"/270.
• Brian Dohn and EJ Holland were saying 6'1"/290 and 6'1"/285, respectively after conversations in mid-September.

EJ Holland thought the height and lack of national exposure were the only things preventing Wafle from shooting up the rankings as a senior like Mason Graham did.

Wafle likely won’t get in a bump in the rankings no matter what he does as a senior, which is unfortunate. Based on Saturday’s game action, it’s clear Wafle is in line to have a Graham-like breakout campaign. Remember, Graham was a late riser in the rankings but still didn’t get the love he should have due to his lack of NFL ceiling. Wafle plays at a strong Northeast program at Princeton (N.J.) Hun School but won’t have the luxury of getting maximum exposure in the Trinity League, arguable the toughest league in all of high school, like Graham did. I wish Wafle would get more eyes on him from a national perspective. Like Graham, I believe he’s going to be a true steal on the recruiting trail.

He may have a point—Graham had Greg Biggins tracking him at camps and going to games; Wafle had nobody in the ratings class in his camp. What he did have were reporters gaping at every measurement except the height. They say Wafle wears a size 17 shoe, has a 6'10" wingspan (everyone mentions the very longarms), was benching more than his dad's best as a high school junior, etc. And his coach says being short has its advantages.

He can play outside or inside. He can play on the nose. He’s just one of those kids that has some really freaky physical attributes where he’s not your classic 6-5, 6-4 guy, but he’s got the wingspan of a 6-4, 6-5 guy. He’s got these really long arms, but his height gives him natural leverage over these offensive linemen. He uses that to his advantage.

Also suppressing Wafle's ranking was an arm injury when 247 went to see him, but for everybody else the height was the ceiling (especially to those that didn't hear about the length).

That's what they said about Mason Graham.

Aye, and this is what Wafle's coach is saying.

He has a unique body type. He is a shorter defensive tackle in that 6-foot-2 range, but he has elite arm length. He can out-leverage anybody and has long enough arms to play with anybody.

And what Steve Lorenz is saying.

Like Bryce said I think one of the more I think one of the guys I think a lot of people are going to pick is sort of the sleeper or one of the sleepers in this class.

And what Holland is saying and saying and saying and saying.

He’s everything that I thought he would be. Mason Graham 2.0? You bet. Yes, Graham was a couple of inches taller than Wafle, who is right around 6-foot-1, but the latter is longer and just as strong and explosive in the interior of the defensive line. Wafle is tailor made to play the three-technique in Michigan’s scheme and while he doesn’t have a huge ceiling or a ton of NFL potential, he has the makings of an early impact college football player.

And what these guns are saying.

Instagram

And Mason Graham's 3-tech position is the spot all of these people think Wafle will be centered, though at Michigan that hardly means you'll only be single-blocked in B gaps. Wafle told Dennis Fithian on Singing Day that the goal is to come in between 290 and 300 and try to work his way up behind Graham.

TTB thinks he's gonna have to keep going if he's going to make it work.

Wafle has an odd build for a Big Ten defensive tackle at just 6’2″. … Some short-ish defensive tackles can get swallowed up by bigger offensive linemen. That’s the biggest question for Wafle, because if he can’t overcome the size deficiency, it’s going to be tough to get on the field.

But Wafle's dad talked to Elston quite a bit about this, and has a pretty good idea what they plan to do with him.

ll too often your defensive linemen are more or less human shields for the linebackers. What I like about the scheme is Michigan doesn’t play that way. They move guys around and put them in positions to make plays. I think that fits with Owen’s style quite well. They see him playing a three-technique with moving inside some and outside to a four. I think that will play to his strengths. He’s explosive off the football. He’s very quick. He’s a lot stronger than I was when I graduated from college. He’s a pretty big weapon to have. We were happy to see that they felt the same way.

Did they happen to mention a goal line formation we call Pancakes and Wafles?

TTB mentioned it might be worth a shot in a goal line package.

Wafle is not as athletic as Hurst, more talented than Pallante, and perhaps as versatile as Klecko. I could see Jim Harbaugh wanting to line Wafle up in the backfield on goal line situations and letting him make a linebacker or two explode.

Holland is just greedy.

This is a guy that runs a 4.9 40 and also gets significant time on the offensive side at the fullback position, where he caught a pass, cleared the way for a long touchdown run and served up a pancake. I could see him getting some time at fullback at Michigan in certain packages.

Anyway it's a good idea.

Etc. Via Holland, Wafle didn't want to wear the puffy jacket they give the recruits at the games because he wanted to embrace the cold. Has a Xavier Simpsonesque dad who's going to keep being an extra trainer. Obligatory Tom Loy trying to say their breakup was mutual:

However, things moved in a different direction today. Wafle and Notre Dame have parted ways. The staff will pursue other prospects along the defensive line, and Wafle will re-evaluate his options and move his recruitment in a different direction.

Why Grant Bowman? This goes back more than 20 years, but Bowman was a highly effective, box-shaped, fullbackian little bastard of a 3-tech with a great first step and a supercharged motor. Bowman was a wrestler who played fullback on offense and played for a high school team that almost never lost because nobody in Ohio's then D3 could block him. After a redshirt year Bowman became a fixture on the 2000-'03 defensive lines, with 25 starts, 48 games, 87 tackles, 31 TFLs, 11 sacks, team captain, 2nd team All-B10, two-time recipient of Michigan's Dick Katcher Award for best player in the Front 7, a four-year Academic All-American, and a borderline member of Brian's all-decade team.

Wafle is already larger than Bowman, who arrived at 258 and capped out at 289, but in Bowman's (my) day an OL of all 300+ guys was something to remark on in the pregame show, whereas today the projected OL for Arkansas State looks like this:

Bowman would have a fringe NFL career with the (Super Bowl-winning) Steelers because he was too small and sometimes got shoved around for it.

I resisted using the guy playing next to Bowman, Norman Heuer, for Ted Hammond, because you'd have to be at least my age to remember those guys well.

The reason I did it here was to suppress a desire to comp Wafle to Mo Hurst, another boxy first step who dominated a Northeast league as a DT/H-back, but capped out at about 6'1"/295 and was most effective when he was allowed to use his get-off to make havoc in the backfield. Scale back Hurst's first-step quickness from a 10 to an 8 and buy a level of BEN MASON and you get Bowman.

I also thought of Rob Renes, if we're going old school, or Bob Landers from Ohio State for a more modern comparison. But if you're my age or older this photo probably sets off the fond nostalgia spren.

That photo's also gotta be from earlier in Bowman's career, because I had a class with him and remember his biceps being cartoonishly large.

Guru Reliability: Medium-Low. They're mostly saying the same things but nobody knows what that means. Evaluated him as a sophom*ore they thought would be 6'5" then more or less ran away. His fourth stars on Rivals and ESPN aren't well explained because neither printed evaluations after Wafle's senior year, which didn't have any tape or camps to go on, and could just be artifacts from the early rankings. 247 and On3 have reporters banging the table for top-300 rankings they didn't get. And from what we can tell, the reasoning is mostly how he'll measure at the NFL combine, not how he'll perform in the next half a decade or so he's in college. Competition in the Northeast Prep League isn't great.

Variance: Medium-low. A first step is something to work with, period, so at bare minimum Wafle should get on the field and be of use. The variance is in whether you think he can be Mason Graham just because we've seen one guy do it, and yo: that's a LOFTY expectation.

Ceiling: Medium. I don't care how he measures at the combine; I care how he grades in UFR. There concern is that he's done growing and will therefore only be a Grant Bowman-esque plugger you're glad to have but who doesn't alter the shape of the game.

Flight Risk Level: Low. Not very low because Elston was a big part of Wafle's recruitment. But he also grew tight with Grant Newsome (who played in the same Mid-Atlantic prep league in high school), and is also friends with walk-on Cole Morgan. Also the dad was pretty clear they were looking for a major academic program, which isn't easy to transfer into. Plus the path to playing time at 3-tech is pretty wide open, what with Graham and Grant leaving after this year and only Pierce and Benny thus far looking capable of stepping forth.

General Excitement Level: Highish. Baseline 5; +1 for many comps to Mason Graham, +1 with a first step compared to Mo Hurst, –0.5 for isn't quite as quick-twitch as Mo Hurst, +1 for an attitude that reminds one of David Molk, –1 for lower ceiling because the NFL isn't as interested 6'1" DTs, +1 for don't care give me the college player and they said the same things about Mason Graham, –1 for isn't quite as big as Mason Graham, which could cause issues vs doubles, +1 when Michigan and Notre Dame are after the same Northeast prospect that guy is usually very underrated, and no I don't believe Notre Dame cooled on Wafle or that he was a casualty of a shift in scheme; this was a Flip.

Projection: Two sites (not even the two sites that tend to re-rank guys late) gave Wafle four stars so I can't name him my Sleeper of the Class, but Wafle's "not a consensus 3-star" like Rob Renes technically does have a neck.

As much as I love the ceilings on some of the edges, Wafle has the highest floor at a position that needs depth immediately. Graham and Grant will go as much as they can, Benny is going to step into the Jenkins role, and Trey Pierce, a true sophom*ore who's also coming off a spring injury, is the only backup with a reasonable case to be an impact player. Someone needs to take Cam Goode's snaps, let alone Pierce's, and with Michigan striking out in the portal it's up to late-earlies Ike Iwunnah and Alessandro Lorenzetti, walk-on build-a-bears Chibi Anwunah and Joey Klunder, or true freshmen, among whom Wafle seems by far the most ready.

By 2025 I think Wafle has a good shot to be Michigan's #3 DT in an equal rotation with Pierce and Benny. I further project by 2026 PFF and this site will be delighting in Wafle's backfield exploits and naming him one of the best players on the defense. This has something to do with how we grade—MGoBlog has an easier time falling in love with D-linemen because we get to see them do something almost every play, and can have such an outsized effect on the game when they're doing something well.

If the NFL remains disinterested because of his stature, all the better: shoot the money cannon at him to get him to stick around through his senior year, pump out some t-shirts labeling Michigan Stadium the Wafle House, etc. The height issue doesn't matter to me, but size does. Mason Graham played last year at 6'3"/318. People think Wafle can get to 300 or 305, but he probably caps out around there, meaning he won't be the kind of guy who's constantly commanding doubles and letting his linebackers make plays.

The question then becomes how much can he cause havoc by defeating single-blocking. If you can't block down on him because he'll just pop in your RB's face, and you pair him with a responsible nose who can't be zone blocked, you can mitigate Wafle's only weakness and watch him put up Hurst numbers. If he's left exposed, especially before he's managed to max out his strength—think late-2015 Mo Hurst after Ryan Glasgow went out—Wafle could be a bit of a liability. But given Michigan's record of development, the next guy in this class, the way their 2025 defensive line is shaping up, my faith in Esposito, and the likelihood some transfer's gonna want step in for Graham/Grant when they're done, I think Wafle found himself the perfect setup to maximize his particular abilities in college. But good luck getting the Irish to admit it.