Charlie Thom

Physical Profile

Prototype modern left tackle frame at 6-7 with the arm length and wingspan that let him win the edge before contact — the single hardest trait to coach and the reason his offer sheet exploded off one camp workout. He tested 5.06 in the 40, 9-3 in the broad and near 30 inches in the vertical at that size, a movement profile that lands in the same band as recent first-round tackles. He carried roughly 270-280 through the recruiting cycle and has already added weight to 295 on Notre Dame's roster, which is the right trajectory: the frame will comfortably hold 310-315 without costing him the bend and change-of-direction that make him special. Current functional strength is the gap — he plays with a tight-end's body composition and needs a full college strength cycle before he can anchor against 300-pound Power Four interior-to-edge power.

Play Style

A movement tackle, not a maulers' maul. On film he wins with range and length rather than mass — he gets depth quickly out of his stance, uses his reach to establish first contact on the edge, and mirrors well laterally, which is why he looked far more comfortable in pass pro than a one-year convert has any right to. In the run game he is best on reach and edge blocks where his athleticism lets him gain leverage on the play side rather than displacing a defender straight back. The tight-end background is visible in a good way — he moves in space and on the second level like a skill player — and in a bad way, in that he still occasionally plays high and blocks with his body instead of resetting his hands. He is not yet a finished player who wins reps with technique; he is a player who wins reps because he is bigger, longer and faster than what is across from him.

Strengths

• Elite length-plus-athleticism combination for the position — 6-7 with a 5.06 forty and 9-3 broad jump, giving him the kick-slide range to cover speed rushers wide and the closing burst to recover when he's beaten off the snap
• Explosive first step and natural bend that showed up immediately in pass protection; evaluators repeatedly noted how comfortable and un-mechanical he looked in pass sets despite having never played tackle in a competitive season before 2025
• Genuine finishing temperament in the run game — reaches and sustains on edge blocks with good leverage for his height, plays with fight through the whistle, and earned NEPSAC Class A Lineman of the Year plus First Team All-Founders League and All-New England in his one season on the line
• Multi-sport athletic base (starting defenseman for the nationally competitive Darien lacrosse program) that shows up in his hips, footwork and body control in space

Areas to Improve

• Weight-room strength and anchor — this is the No. 1 item. He is still carrying tight-end mass on a tackle's frame, and against college bull rush he will get walked back until he adds 15-20 pounds of functional lower-body and trunk strength
• Technical fundamentals across the board: hand placement and timing, punch accuracy, pad level out of his stance (a chronic tax on 6-7 linemen), and consistent inside-hand control on reach blocks. One evaluator's blunt framing is accurate — he needs to improve nearly everything because he is only getting started at the position
• Rep volume and pattern recognition — one season of line play means very limited exposure to stunts, twists, games and disguised pressure. Processing speed against layered college fronts is unproven
• Sustaining leverage on combination blocks and climbing to the second level with consistent finish; his height makes the transition from double-team to linebacker a real technical hurdle

College Projection

Already on campus at Notre Dame as a freshman offensive lineman (No. 68) and squarely on a developmental timeline. Expect a redshirt in 2026 with the entire focus on strength gain and technical rebuild under OL coach Joe Rudolph — the direct comparison inside the program is Wisconsin's David Edwards, another tight-end-to-tackle convert Rudolph developed into an all-conference player and NFL draft pick, and Joe Alt is the in-house version of the same arc. Realistic path: year one redshirt, year two swing/rotational tackle and special-teams contributor, year three starting-caliber at right or left tackle. Any expectation of meaningful 2026 snaps is optimistic and would only come from injury attrition. The bet is that in 2028-29 he is a multi-year starter; anything faster is a bonus.

NFL Outlook

Legitimate draftable projection with an unusually wide range of outcomes. The conservative national read has him as a future Day 3 pick who could end up playing multiple spots along the front if he doesn't hold up on the edge. The optimistic read — supported by testing numbers that mirror recent top-10 tackles — is a high pick if the strength and technique catch up to the frame, which is exactly the Alt/Edwards template. Length, foot speed and athletic testing are all first-round-caliber inputs; his floor is dictated entirely by whether he develops NFL-grade anchor and hand technique. Draft-eligible after his junior season, but given the developmental runway a fourth-year departure is the more likely timeline.

Best Fit

A pro-style or wide-zone/outside-zone offense that asks its tackles to move, reach and climb rather than drive-block down after down — his athleticism is the asset and a power-gap scheme that demands displacement would expose his current strength deficit. He needs a program with an established, patient offensive line developer and a stocked room that can afford to redshirt him and let him marinate two full years, plus a high-end strength staff to rebuild his body composition. Notre Dame is close to an ideal landing spot on all three counts: a proven track record converting tight ends into NFL tackles, an OL coach who has done this exact project before, and enough depth in the 2026 class (six offensive linemen) that nobody has to rush him onto the field.