(UHND.com) – Notre Dame got its first linebacker commitment of the year Thursday night when Pennsylvania native David Posluszny committed to Charlie Weis after visiting South Bend for Wednesday’s practice. Posluszny, whose brother Paul just finished an illustrious career at Penn State, is the sixth commitment of the year for Notre Dame and just the second on the defensive side of the ball.
With the switch to a 3-4 defense, it was obvious that Notre Dame was going to need a renewed focus on linebackers this year in recruiting and getting Posluszny’s commitment this early in the recruiting process is a very nice start for the Irish.
Posluszny, 6’2”, 214, 4.6, had played safety prior to this past season for his Hopewell High School team, but made the switch to linebacker for the 2006 season. Unfortunately he suffered a separated shoulder and hairline fracture in his collarbone and only played four games at the linebacker position. Posluszny will have all of next season, however, to start getting acclimated to the linebacker position.
Listed at 214 already on Scout.com (which is probably a little generous), Posluszny still has 16 months until he reports to Notre Dame which should give him plenty of time to bulk up to the 220-225 range before he checks in next summer.
With the speed to play safety on the high school level, Posluszny will help Notre Dame’s efforts to upgrade the defensive speed with this recruiting class and has been told by Weis that he was recruited to play weak-side linebacker which should let Irish fans know Weis likes his ability to rush the passer.
Aside from bring good speed for the linebacker spot, Posluszny brings a tough mentality, the kind of tough as nails mentality Corwin Brown has repeatedly mentioned is necessary to play in his defense.
Posluszny has also played at running back and flanker for Hopewell at times over the last three seasons which should help him covering running backs out of the backfield from the weakside.
Despite the success of Posluszny’s brother Paul, who won the Bednarik and Butkus Awards last year, at Penn State, the Nittany Lions did not extend a scholarship over to the younger Posluszny before he committed to Notre Dame Thursday. He did, however, receive scholarship offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Louisville, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and a handful of other schools.
The lack of an offer from Penn State may raise some eyebrows from Notre Dame fans, but being listed in Rivals.com’s Top 100 list, even if it is this early, should give Irish fans and idea of the kind of talent and potential Posluszny has.
Getting this commitment was a great way to start linebacker recruiting for this year for the Irish who are looking to add at least four linebackers to the roster with this class.
