Notre Dame football: 2021 wide receiver Deion Colzie de-commits

On Friday, March 20th, Deion Colzie de-committed from the Notre Dame football program. The news was a significant blow to the 2021 recruiting class.

The Notre Dame football team will continue to pursue the talented four-star wide receiver and should be in the running when Colzie eventually commits later this cycle.

Just a week after Notre Dame had to cancel spring football activities and their annual spring football recruiting event, Irish fans received more bad news on the recruiting front. Four-star wide receiver Deion Colzie announced his de-commitment from the 2021 recruiting class.

As has become common practice for high school and college athletes, Colzie made the announcement by posting a screenshot of the Notes app on Twitter. Here was his full statement:

"“I want to take the time and thank the University of Notre Dame for trusting in me and giving me an opportunity to continue my academic and athletic career. Secondly, I want to thank God and my family for the unbelievable support in this process. This was not an easy decision, and there were lots of thoughts and prayers that went into this decision. With that being said, I will be de-committing from the University of Notre Dame and re-opening my recruitment. No interviews please.”"

The news came as a surprise to many. Irish Illustrated had previously ranked Colzie as the most likely member of Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class to de-commit – citing the distance between South Bend and his hometown of Athens as one of the reasons.

Less surprising was the number of offers from major college football programs that Colzie received immediately following his announcement. Oregon, Michigan, and Minnesota offered later that same day. Penn State offered two days later.

The loss of Colzie brings Notre Dame football’s 2021 recruiting class to just six total commitments. Despite that, the class is still ranked seventh overall on 247 Sports. They are buoyed a bit by borderline five-star quarterback Tyler Buchner.

The Irish do have another highly-rated receiver, Lorenzo Styles, committed to the class. Ideally, though, Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees would like to add two more receivers.

Colzie has not completely ruled out Notre Dame yet. We can expect Brian Kelly and his staff to continue recruiting the four-star wide receiver.