When Josh Barajas committed to Penn State at the end of March, the move surprised many since the 2015 Indiana linebacker had been high on other schools, including Notre Dame.
Barajas actually declared Notre Dame was his leader after visiting and receiving an offer from the Irish in March and on Friday, he came to the decision that many believed he would initially and committed to Notre Dame.
Andrean High School head coach Phil Mason confirmed the news to Irish Sports Daily on Friday morning. The move came after calling Penn State to decommit.
“He called Penn State last night and he called Notre Dame this morning,” Mason said. “My conversation with Josh was, ‘Josh, this is it. You’ve got to be sure now.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I’m sure.’
“I said, ‘Good. I’m not sure how you couldn’t be. I would have done anything to play at that university. I think when you say college football, if Notre Dame isn’t the first thing that pops into your mind, I don’t know what it is.’”
Mason said it was a family decision and the right one.
“I think it was a family thing,” Mason said. “He sat down with his family. It just comes down to family. It’s a good decision, it is. He’ll be close to home and close to his dad. Obviously, going to Notre Dame is exciting for us here at Andrean. It’s just a great move. I just think it was all based on family.”
Mason said the Irish continued recruiting Barajas after his pledge to the Nittany Lions, but handled it the proper way.
“Notre Dame was very professional, they stayed with me and kept in contact with me, but they did not bother Josh at all,” the coach said. “When Josh came to me and said, ‘Hey Coach, I’ve really been thinking about it and maybe I should have gone to Notre Dame.’ I sat down with Josh and I said, ‘You need to be smart about this.’
“Coach (Mike) Elston and I continued to converse and when it was appropriate, he gave Josh the one call he could give him and gave it to him. Things quickly got into gear from there.”
Elston and the Irish staff were fired up to get the call this morning.
“They’re pretty excited, yeah,” Mason said. “They’re really excited. I think this is a great, great thing for Josh.”
Barajas is expected to get back to South Bend soon.
“We’re finishing up finals and I think he’s going to get down there in a couple weeks,” his coach said.
Barajas is the ninth commitment in Notre Dame’s 2015 class and the third defensive prospect, joining safeties Nicco Fertitta and Prentice McKinney. Mason believes he’ll be a good one.
“
I think he’s another Jaylon Smith. We played against Jaylon in semi-state Jaylon’s senior year,
they’re the same kid. The fact that they’re going to have two bookend linebackers like that, they’re going to improve immensely at
linebacker.”
Barajas Flips To ND | Irish Sports Daily
