October 27, 2005
Are The Irish Getting Picky?
by KEVIN DELGADO
Daron Rose will not be making an official visit to Notre Dame, nor will the 6-foot-5, 310-pound offensive lineman be attending the University of Notre Dame next year. Apparently, the Irish have decided to concentrate on other recruits.
“I hadn’t talked to (the Notre Dame recruiters) since September,” said Rose, not hiding the frustration. “I didn’t know what else to do because they didn’t seem interested anymore, so I cancelled my visit.”
Rose had originally slated to be amongst the gaggle of recruits that visited South Bend on October 15 during the game against Southern Cal. However, because of a scheduling conflict, he rescheduled that visit to November 5 for the Tennessee game.
In the meantime, the Irish recruiters apparently cooled on Rose who has adjusted his list of schools accordingly.
“I’m down to seven schools,” says the Tampa native. “Florida, Florida State, Michigan, the University of South Carolina, Tennessee, USC and Duke.”
Rose has scheduled an official visit to Michigan for early December and two more in January to Tennessee and Florida State.
Notre Dame already has commitments from two offensive linemen in tackle Bartley Webb and guard Eric Olsen. The Irish’s lack of interest in Rose will only fuel speculation that they also have silent commitments from other top prospects.
So here goes:
If Notre Dame had projected Rose as a tackle, strong interest from Sam Young or Jim Barrie might cause them to take a pass. Other tackles that have been on the Irish radar include Lou Eliades and Lawrence Marsh.
Another possibility, but more of a long shot, is the Irish projecting Will Yeatman for the tackle position. Although the 6-foot-6, 255-pound Yeatman has shown a lot of interest in Notre Dame; he could end of being a tight end because of his athleticism.
The most likely scenario is that Rose was projected to the guard position and that the Irish have other plans for that spot. For weeks, the rumor mill has been churning that Matt Carufel is much more interested in wearing blue and gold than he has publicly stated. There has also been talk about Chris Stewart favoring Notre Dame with an interest in enrolling as early as January.
If any of this is true, it means that Notre Dame’s 2006 recruiting class, which is currently ranked the third best in the nation, is even stronger than it looks on paper. This is particularly true if Chris Stewart enrolls early or if Will Yeatman comes in on a Lacrosse scholarship. These scholarships would not count against the 25 allotted by NCAA rules.
While it’s hard not to feel bad for Rose, who seems to have envisioned Notre Dame a possibility, he will surely end up at a good football school. The fact that he doesn’t see the Irish on his radar can only mean that Notre Dame is in the position to be picky. And that hasn’t happened in a long time.
