I love how people talk about Silent Commitments. I think a stronger staff would tell a recruit that a Silent Commitment is a non-commitment and that until he is ready to commit its a non-factor and ND will still be taking visits from other players.
Frankly, I am suspicious of the narrative as its basically an easy out for the staff that went and over recruited this kid then got duped. They misread the landscape as they were all inexperienced and in retrospect saying that Dante gave a Silent was an Easy-Out for the debacle.
Based on what we have heard, had they kept the recruiting open, they could have likely gotten one of: Vizzina, Arnold or Johnson. But the "Silent Commitment" blunts the true nature of the shit show.
Hopefully they have learned their lesson no matter the recruit or the position.