(UHND.com) – Notre Dame received some excellent news Saturday morning before the annual Blue-Gold game even “kicked off” when Chicago native and ESPN Top 150 prospect Darius Fleming committed to the Irish giving Charlie Weis and company three linebackers in this young recruiting season.
Fleming – 6’2”, 230, 4.55 – had spent a lot of time at Notre Dame practice this spring so it was certainly no surprise that he decided to officially announce his commitment already. Even though Note Dame fans have been chalking this one up as a win for a while, this was still a huge pick for the Irish.
As a junior in 2006 Fleming registered 105 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and 9 sacks and was an All State selection for Illinois.
In the new 3-4 defense, Fleming will come in as an outside linebacker and pass rusher and he compliments the other two linebackers already committed – Anthony McDonald and Davie Posluszny – rather well.
He’s a very good pass rusher already after playing at defensive end for his St. Rita High School, but he also has the speed to be able to drop into coverage when necessary. He’ll find himself more often than not lined up at the outside linebacker spot for the Irish, but with the 3-4 personnel he’ll also find himself with his hand on the ground in a three point stance at times.
Fleming will fit into Notre Dame’s scheme rather well because he is really built to be an OLD type of player. His weight is listed at 230 on various websites, but that number might be a little high. He has the kind of frame that would need to add quite a bit of weight to be a defensive end in a traditional 4-3 defense which is why he is very well suited to for Notre Dame’s new defensive style.
This was also a huge commitment for Notre Dame because Fleming is another one of those kids that Notre Dame supposedly can’t recruit – an inner city, African American athlete. For year pundits have said the Irish can’t recruit kids like Fleming which makes his early season commitment very welcome news for Notre Dame fans.
Getting a kid this highly ranked out of Chicago is also great news for the Irish after the success Illinois has been having the last couple of seasons. Reestablishing Chicago as a hotbed of talent is something that needs to happen for the Irish to return to elite status. Notre Dame should be able to own that area, but hasn’t over the last 10 years or so.
Before committing to Notre Dame Fleming listed offers from the likes of Michigan, USC, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin among other schools.
