Eddie Vanderdoes Wavering on Notre Dame
Feb 6, 2013; Auburn, CA, USA; Eddie Vanderdoes signs the scholarship paperwork after he announced he will attend Notre Dame on national signing day at Placer High School. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
According to reports, Eddie Vanderdoes, the 305lb defensive tackle from Placer High School, CA, may be wavering from his commitment to Notre Dame. Joe Davidson of sacbee.com posted on his blog yesterday that various sources on social media and recruiting services claiming to be close to Vanderdoes have indicated that Vanderdoes may not attend Notre Dame.
The speculation about Vanderdoes’ commitment includes academic/eligibity issues, UCLA recruitment and character flaws. Vanderdoes father texted Joe Davidson with the following statemetn: “One thing I can tell you is grades or eligibility is not and has never been an issue. . .let people speculate, but you will be the first to know, as always, when it’s time to let people know.” Placer High School head football coach, Joe Montoya, has confirmed Vanderdoes’ father statement and reinforced that Vanderdoes not have any academic or character issues. But neither mentioned Notre Dame.
I will wait for the truth to come from Eddie Vanderdoes himself and will not speculate on the rumors circulating the internet. However, one thing I can say without doubt, the loss of Vanderdoes will have huge ramifications on this football team.
If Vanderdoes decides to opt out of his commitment, the team will not feel an immediate effect as Louis Nix and Stephon Tuitt will anchor the line in 2013. But Nix and Tuitt will most likely be gone in 2014 and Notre Dame will have a huge hole in the middle of the defensive line. Unless someone can fill that void, an area that carried the team for several years will now struggle to compete on the national level. The underclassmen, Sheldon Day, Jarron Jones and Tony Springman along with new recuits Isaac Rochell(2013), Andrew Trumbetti(2014) and Jay Hayes (2014) will perform admirably but none of these players have the size, strength and athleticism already possessed by Vanderdoes. In order to compensate for the loss of Vanderdoes, Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco will have to put a full-court press on the major defensive line recruits in the 2014 class.
The Vanderdoes news brings back bad memories of the unexplained decommitment or transfer of high level recruits under Kelly, most notably Aaron Lynch, Tee Shepard, Deontay Greenberry, Davonte Neal and Gunner Kiel. Let’s just hope these are rumors.