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| Vero Beach's Motta verbally commits to play football at Notre Dame : Top Sport Stories : TCPalm Quote:
Vero Beach's Motta verbally commits to play football at Notre Dame
VERO BEACH — Vero Beach senior Zeke Motta finally can relax.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound defensive back verbally committed to play football for Notre Dame on Thursday. He will graduate high school early and enroll in January to get a head-start with the team.
“It feels great,” Motta said. “I’m just excited and can’t wait to get up there -- again.”
His college search has been a trying process.
Motta, a four-star athlete ranked by Rivals.com as the nation’s No. 10 linebacker, drew the interest of Division I colleges shortly after the Florida Sports Writers Association named him a first-team All-State defensive back in Class 6A last year. His mailbox was constantly filled with letters from coaches, he spent the summer traveling across the country to attend camps and unofficially toured campuses of schools showing interest.
And yes, his phone has been ringing off the hook.
Motta, who attended a summer camp at Notre Dame, made his official visit to the South Bend, Ind. campus last weekend. That experience convinced Motta that is where he belonged.
He had narrowed down his choices to Notre Dame and Florida, which he unofficially visited three times. Among other schools recruiting him were Boston College, Florida State, Auburn and UCLA.
“I just got the right feeling from Notre Dame,” Motta said. “I just felt like I belonged there, and I didn’t get that at Florida. Not to take anything away from Florida -- that’s a great team, and I would have loved to play there -- but I felt more comfortable at Notre Dame.
"I just had to do what’s best for me.”
Motta, who leads Vero Beach with 42 tackles this season, attended the Notre Dame vs. Stanford on Saturday, and said the college gameday experience there was overwhelming.
“They have great respect, and there’s an aura that surrounds Notre Dame football,” Motta said.
His dad, Vero Beach defensive coordinator Bill Motta, said he is thrilled with his son‘s decision.
“There’s a lot of energy on campus on gameday, and the student body was really excited,” Bill Motta said. “It wasn’t a stuffy place. I think a lot of people have that vision of it being a stuffy, uppity place, but the feeling at the game, it made it a perfect visit.”
Notre Dame first interest in Motta was when assistant coach Bernie Parmalee attended two Vero Beach practices this past spring. Motta said Parmalee invited him to the Fighting Irish camp and told him if he did well there, he was certain the school would offer him a spot.
“It was a school I was interested in, so I decided to go up there and I did well and I was lucky to be the only player coach (Charlie) Weiss gave an offer to (from the camp),” Motta said.
A safety for Vero Beach, Motta was recruited as an outside linebacker. Motta said the ND coaches told him they were looking for a faster-type linebacker like him.
His near 4.0 GPA didn’t hurt.
“The defense they run is designed for a lot of blitzes,” Motta said. “As an outside linebacker, I will be lining up on the tight end a lot and lining up in space and definitely going in on blitzes. … They liked what I showed them and felt I was the right fit for their scheme.”
Vero Beach head coach Gary Coggin said Motta would fit in well wherever he went because of his athleticism and work ethic.
“We talk about our great tradition, well he kicked it up a notch," Coggin said. "There are some great universities in the nation, but as for traditions, that’s taking it to the next level. It’s great for him and his family and our program.”
“I know it was one of those long drawn-out processes where you get calls all hours of the night. That’s difficult on a young man, and I think he was getting worn out a little. He went up there this weekend and saw something he liked. They did a great job selling him on their program.”
Motta was the 16th and final commitment for Notre Dame. Though he knows he will miss out on half of his senior year by enrolling early, he looks forward to getting started in January.
“Hopefully I can contribute and help get to a national championship,” Motta said.
| Okay, what's up with the "16th and final commitment for Notre Dame"????? i know i dont trust the site because they can't even spell Charlie Weis... so im almost positive this is false and we are still taking more kids, i just need some reassurance. |
10-10-2008, 05:04 PM
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