Shrive Talks about Growing Up a Notre Dame Fan

Eric Shrive was thought to be right at the top of Notre Dame’s recruiting board this year and most considered him a lock for the Irish. Shrive unexpectedly committed to Penn State last week though despite growing up a Notre Dame fan. In an interview with the Altoona Mirror, Shrive talks about picking Penn State despite gorwing up as a ND fan.

It was pretty well known Shrive’s childhood favorite was someone other than the Lions. Someone just as interested in getting Shrive’s signature on a letter-of-intent in February.

“I was actually,’’ Shrive said, “a Notre Dame fan growing up.’’

‘‘I just knew Penn State was the place for me when I established a relationship with the coaches,’’ Shrive said. ‘‘It’s only two hours from my house. They have great facilities.’’

Not only did Shrive grow up a Notre Dame fan, but his father is a Notre Dame fan, and the Scranton area has a big Fighting Irish fan base. Still, Shrive, who visited 10 prospective colleges between last season and this spring and attended the 2007 Notre Dame/Penn State game at Beaver Stadium, didn’t feel pressured to play for his childhood favorite.

‘‘Yes, [this is] at big Notre Dame community, but it’s probably a bigger Penn State community,’’ Shrive said.

I still can’t get my head wrapped around this one. It’s not that he committed elsewhere that really shocks me, its the timing that does. Most thought he would wait until the season started to see how the Irish looked before committing somewhere else. Instead, he committed four months before the season started seemingly out of the blue.

He mentions in the article that he is 100% committed to Penn State, but we’ve heard that before from recruits the past two seasons, so there is always a chance he reconsiders if say Penn State suffers a season as we did a year ago. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen though.