2016 MI WR Enjoys ND Visit | Irish Sports Daily
Desmond Fitzpatrick’s spring break tour brought the 2016 Michigan wide receiver through South Bend on Wednesday.
“It went really well, it really did,” Fitzpatrick’s father, Greg, said of the stop at Notre Dame. “I enjoyed the visit.
“The facilities are great. That goes without saying, the facilities are pretty much second to none. We’ve visited some pretty historic programs, programs that have a ton of donors, some of the top programs in the country and Notre Dame is right up there with the rest of them.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder from Farmington High School in Farmington, Mich., had the chance to check out one of the Irish’s final spring practices before Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game.
“Practice was great,” his father said. “I’m glad we got a chance to come down on a day like today where they pretty much had to get everything done prior to their spring game. So we got a chance to see them install quite a few things.”
Fitzpatrick also checked out a position meeting.
“Desmond got a chance to sit in on the wide receiver meeting and get a taste of their wide receiver coach,” his father said. “He really enjoyed practice and really enjoyed the coaching staff.”
The Fitzpatricks spent some time with Notre Dame assistant Matt LaFleur, who recruits Michigan for the Irish, and some of the other coaches.
“Coach (LaFleur) comes straight out of the NFL,” the elder Fitzpatrick said. “They actually have a few coaches with NFL experience. From talking to him, he seems like a real laidback, straight shooter.
“There’s not a whole lot of back slapping and sales pitches going on there. It’s just a group of good guys who showed us a real good time. They let us know their level of interest in Desmond and really showed him a lot of love. We’re starting to develop a relationship with them.”
The Irish staff certainly expressed an interest.
“We heard a lot of positive things about his game,” his father said. “They pretty much like everything about his game. They just want to see him in camp, so we’re definitely coming back for camp and hoping to earn an offer.
“Hopefully we can get down to camp this June and get down to a game or two. They’re pretty close to us, they’re only like two and a half hours away, so we’re definitely going to get down to a couple of games.”
Fitzpatrick picked up an offer from Illinois during a trip to Champaign on Tuesday.
“That was a very good trip,” his father said. “The staff was great. We spent a lot of time with the wide receiver coach prior to practice and after practice. We got a chance to watch practice. They know a little bit about Dez. They’ve seen his film, midseason highlights and his entire sophomore season. They really liked what they saw, so they went ahead and pulled the trigger and offered him.”
Fitzpatrick also holds early offers from Indiana, Cincinnati and Wake Forest. He’ll visit Wake Forest this weekend.
