One of the most interesting recruiting battles of the year took an unexpected turn on Friday when star defensive end prospect Aaron Lynch decided to open up his recruiting and plan a trip to Notre Dame next weekend.
Lynch committed to Notre Dame over the summer, but during the season the Florida native decided to decommit from Notre Dame and switch his pledge to Florida State around the same time Jordan Prestwood did exactly the same.  Notre Dame never stopped recruiting Lynch, however, and their persistence has paid off.
Irish Sports Daily was the first to break the news this morning and several other outlets have reported the same – Lynch plans to visit Notre Dame next weekend after previously saying this week that he was sure of his Florida State selection.
The South Bend Tribune was able to catch up with Lynch today and got some quotes from him on his recruitment. Here’s what he told the SBT about why he opened up his recruiting again.
“I’m still in love with Florida State, but I’m still in love with Notre Dame too,” Lynch said Friday afternoon in San Antonio, where he will play for the East team in Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl. “I’m all screwed up. That’s all I’ve got to say. I’m all screwed up.”
Wow. I don’t think anyone really saw this coming, but this is potentially huge news for Notre Dame and the class of 2011. Tony Alford has done a fantastic job recruiting Lynch and has the Irish in position to potentially pull off the coup of the recruiting year.
Now, this is a long way from over. Even with Florida State starting classes this week and Notre Dame starting them next week a lot can change. According to the SBT report though, if Lynch enjoys his visit to Notre Dame next weekend and decides that’s where he wants to be, he visit on the weekend and enroll Monday.
This sounds like a situation where an 18 year old kid is truly confused and isn’t sure where he wants to go.  It also sounds like Lynch is getting pulled in a lot of different directions.
Lynch has reportedly deleted his Facebook account. When Lynch went through his decommitment from Notre Dame previously a few Notre Dame fans littered his page with negative comments. This time around it looks like Lynch is shutting out as many outside voices as he can in making his decision – something that may be the smartest move he’s made.
Now, before anyone posts in the comments that Notre Dame should pass on Lynch since he decommitted originally, remember, the kids Notre Dame recruits are just that – kids. They can change their minds all of the time no one knows everything that caused him toe change his mind.
Bottom line is, Lynch is an elite recruit that teamed with Stephen Tuitt would give Notre Dame a dominant pair of defensive ends the likes of which we haven’t seen since the days of Lou Holtz. Adding an elite recruit like Lynch is also the kind of news that would make other recruits take notice. Recruits like the ones Notre Dame is still heavily recruiting.
Buckle in Notre Dame fans, the final month of recruiting looks like it could be a wild ride.
Lynch is a de, if Williams commits, he will be an outside linebacker. Imagine our d with tuitt thrown in there too.
Why cant we both get Williams and Lynch? Both looked pretty good to me today in the AA bowl.
Who would you guys rather have if you had to pick one?
Williams or Lynch
2 Feet of snow in South Bend won’t help the cause. Hopefully it will melt before his visit.
If he comes to ND, great, if not, I’m not going to loose any sleep over it.
Bluegoldblood738 out.
I am sure Lynch & Tuitt got tight this week and enjoyed playing together.
Williams is delaying his decision to see what Lynch is going to do. If Lynch goes to ND, Williams goes to Syracuse. If Lynch stays at FSU, we get Williams. That’s my guess at the events of the past week.
Lynch was outstanding in the US Army game today with Tuitt on the other end. Hopefully Stephen will be able to help convince him to switch back to ND. Both kids look like stud DEs.
I just watched this kid in the Army All American game, he is a stud and I hope he comes to ND. He will be a great X-end. He is a good kid and I wish him luck.
Need to get some facts right for once. He is all FSU, his mother is all ND but she is not the one that would be on the field now is she..
rolnoles,
Is that what you Florida State fans are telling yourselves? That’s at least the sixth or seventh time i’ve heard a Florida State fan write something like that. I think you guys are whistling pretty hard past this graveyard here.
Aaron Lynch: I’m still in love with Notre Dame.
Lynch will be Irish. No hard feelings though.
We all know what happened here. Its obvious…
We had Navy/Tulsa and that wasn’t matching what the coaches were saying on the phone. He decommited, and then we crushed it and went 4-0 and it actually proved our coaches weren’t lying.
So he commits to FSU as they’re telling him: (a) you can’t hack it at ND with school, (b) we train better for the nfl, (c) “you’re our guy at DE”. But they keep recruiting Clowney, everyone’s #1.
Fact is our guys have been upfront. He’s 17, so he doesn’t know what to think. Its a good thing this kid has a parent that gets it. Most other parents have no idea what to think.
End of the day, Brian Kelly is a WINNER. He won at Grand Valley st, he turned it around at Cent Mich, he turned it around at Cincy, the biggest dog of a program in CFB the last 20yrs. If Lynch comes to ND…then when Brian Kelly gets it done, Lynch won’t be famous just in Tallahassee. He’ll be famous from New York to Chicago to LA.
And if he chooses FSU, so be it. I’m proud of our staff.
Would be sweet that’s for sure. I guess bc I was raised to appreciate all that Notre Dame stands for and has to offer no other schools begin to compare. That’s why it’s hard for me to relate to some of these
guys and how they pic their school. ND is the complete package, we just don’t have a beach but football is meant to be played in the snow…. More NFL teams are scrapping the domes and going to outdoor venues even MInnesota is switching for the next stadium.