Notre Dame 2025 Commit Profile: Linebacker Anthony Sacca

Analysis of Notre Dame linebacker commit Anthony Sacca

St. Joseph's Prep linebacker Anthony Sacca (39) follows a North Allegheny receiver during the PIAA / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Notre Dame invested over two years in recruiting linebacker Anthony Sacca. All that hard work paid off when the standout defender committed to the Fighting Irish. Let's take a look at the recruiting profile for Sacca.

ANTHONY SACCA PROFILE

Hometown/High School: Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep

Height/Weight: 6-3, 225

IB Grade: 4.0 (Top 100 caliber prospect)
Upside Grade: 4.5

2023 Stats: 67 tackles, 2 interceptions

Recruited By: Al Golden

Offers: Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Florida State, USC, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Miami (Fla.), Nebraska, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Maryland, Duke, Rutgers, Syracuse

Player Comp: Drue Tranquill, Notre Dame

RECRUITING RANKINGS

Rivals: 4-star - No. 57 overall - No. 7 linebacker
ESPN: 4-star - No. 152 overall - No. 21 linebacker
247Sports: 4-star - No. 231 overall - No. 27 linebacker
On3: 3-star - No. 50 linebacker
247Sports Composite: 4-star - No. 186 overall - No. 24 linebacker
On3 Consensus: 4-star - No. 228 overall - No. 27 linebacker

NOTRE DAME FIT

Sacca's range and coverage instincts fit quite nicely at the Will spot, but he has the kind of frame and strength potential to be a bigger version of JD Bertrand as a Mike in the Irish defense. There are still some flashes on his junior film of the player that looked like a Rover, but the inside is likely where his future lies. But the fact you can see parts of all three linebacker positions in Sacca's game makes his versatility something the Irish coaches will likely be quite fond of.

FILM ANALYSIS

Sacca is a long, rangy athlete that always showed the body to grow into a box defender. He's now listed anywhere between 215-225 pounds, and there's more room for him to fill out, get even stronger and easily get to 230+ pounds. Sacca was always a willing hitter, even as a safety, but the added weight and strength he gained as a junior allowed him to play a more physical and violent game.

Sacca is a quality all-around athlete, and his athleticism grades out even better as a linebacker than it did as a safety. He's nimble, shows good balance, his change of direction skills are fluid and natural, and he has relatively good natural strength. His speed is what really projects better to linebacker, and Sacca shows the kind of side-to-side range that you want and need from the Will position. His downhill explosiveness fits well at the Mike position as well, and his ability to accelerate allows him to get to the ball in a hurry.

It appeared as though Sacca lost just a little bit of his speed with the added weight during his junior season. You'd see it flash at times, so it's still in there. Perhaps playing closer to the ball was a factor, perhaps the extra weight is the reason. Either way, the fact that it was there at times leads me to believe that with another year at that weight, and with another year of physical maturity, he'll get more used to the weight and show even more explosiveness as a senior.

Sacca is a high football IQ defender, and his ability to adapt to playing in tight quarters as a box defender in 2023 was really impressive. But it's his comfort playing in space that stands out to me. He is patient when he needs to be, but Sacca also shows the athletic skills and range needed to be an impactful coverage player at Will, and it grades out even higher as a Mike. Yes, he can run and hit, and that part of his game will get better as he gets older, but in today's game you need linebackers that can cover, and Sacca can really cover.

There are plenty of technical parts of his game that will continue to need refinement as he gets more used to playing in tight quarters. Footwork, proper block destruction, blitz timing, angles, etc. are all things that will need continued development as he makes the transition. But with Sacca's combination of length, athletic skills and football smarts he already made that transition effectively in year one, and his second year should really show off his linebacker skills. This is a strong pickup for the Irish, who covet linebackers with length, athleticism and the ability to impact in all facets of the game, which Sacca does.

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