(UHND.com) – Notre Dame lost a good number of recruits at last weekend’s Army All American game – one of them being USA Today 1st Team All American Chris Little. On Saturday, Little selected Florida State, but had a change of heart just five days later and has now committed to Notre Dame.
Little’s coach Dexter Copeland told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that there was a miscommunication between Little and his mother prior to the All American Bowl. Little felt his mother wanted him to stay close to home, but after talking with his mother on the flight home from San Antonio, Chris started to rethink things.
Fortunately for Notre Dame, he decided South Bend was where he wanted to be for the next four years.
With the addition of Little, Notre Dame’s 17th commitment of this year’s class, the Irish now have five offensive linemen this year and an impressive haul of 11 linemen the past two years.
Contrast the 11 offensive linemen Charlie Weis has now recruited with the four in Ty Willingham’s first two classes and you’ll notice quite a contrast in philosophy between the two coaches.
Rumors began to circulate early Thursday that Florida State dropped Little because new offensive line coach Rick Trickett felt Little didn’t fit into his style, but Copeland steadfastly denied those reports.
Further rumors suggested that Florida State may have cooled on Little based on his performance in the All American Bowl after Everson Griffen took advantage of him all day, but an injury is said to have kept Little from playing at 100%.
Regardless of how or why Little ended up at Notre Dame, Irish fans have to be very excited to get yet another extremely talented offensive line recruit after witnessing some of the most inept offensive line recruiting Notre Dame has ever seen under the previous regime.
Little will benefit from a full year under strength and conditioning coach Rueben Mendoza and with the surplus of linemen that Weis has recruited these past two years he won’t have to step in right away and be expected to play. He’ll have some time to settle in at a position whether it be at tackle or guard.
