In June 2009 Chris Badger committed to play football for Notre Dame and then went on a two-year Mormon mission.
Badger will be back at Notre Dame for the fall 2012 semester and will practice with the team in August.
But exactly who is Badger? How good is he?
And after two years away from football can he actually help the Notre Dame football team in 2012?
Badger committed to Notre Dame when Charlie Weis was still the coach. When Brian Kelly took over in December 2009, Badger and Kelly had a sit-down because Badger was concerned about his two-year Mormon mission and how the coach would react.
Coach Kelly assured Badger there would be a place on the football team for him when he returned; feeling assured, he enrolled early at Notre Dame for Spring 2010 classes.
One semester later he embarked on his Mormon mission. At the time of his recruitment in 2009 Badger was 6’0″, 190 pounds and a 3-star safety prospect.
Recruiting guru Tom Lemming described Badger as not the biggest, fastest or strongest strong safety, but one of the more productive ones.
Not exactly glowing praise.
ESPN is a little more flattering than Lemming was when they say that Badger is one tough nut.
They also go on to describe Badger as having good size for a safety with good instincts to both the run and pass. They also state that Badger takes great angles to the football and is rarely out of position.
In high school Badger was a first-team Utah 4A all-state defensive back for 2009. He was named defensive MVP on the 2009 all-Valley team selected by the Provo Herald.
He was ranked the 10th-best player and second-best defensive back in the Midlands region (Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah) by SuperPrep.
Badger made 77 tackles and had three interceptions as a senior safety in 2009 for Timpview High School in Provo, Utah.
Additionally, Badger was selected in 2008 as one of only two juniors to earn all-state honors. His high school team won four straight Utah 4A state titles, with Badger as a starter each of his three seasons.
Badger originally committed to Jim Harbaugh at Stanford, but ran into problems working in his mission. He also had offers from Oregon, Cal and Florida State before choosing Notre Dame.
Seems like he can play, but exactly where, if at all, does Badger fit in with the 2012 Notre Dame football team?
Most likely Badger will be thrown into the mix of players looking to replace Harrison Smith in the secondary, either at free safety or strong safety. To date that list of players looks like this:
- Jamoris Slaughter (assuming he’s asked back for fifth year)
- Zeke Motta
- Austin Collinsworth
- Eilar Hardy
- Nick Baratti
- CJ Prosise
- John Turner
- Elijah Shumate
That’s quite a list, and if nothing else, Badger may help add depth to either of the safety positions. And depth at any position is never a bad thing.
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