Flipping A Nichol(s)

On a big hoops day for the Notre Dame men’s and women’s hoops teams, the Fighting Irish football team received really good news in the form of their 19th commitment for the 2010 freshman class. Tate Nichols, a 6’7″ 278 pound tight end from Kentucky, has made a verbal commitment to Notre Dame to play on the offensive line.

Nichols had been a Stanford commitment since April of 2009, but once the ball started rolling with the new Irish coaching staff- the flip was inevitable. Tate made an official visit to Notre Dame on Friday after new offensive line coach, Ed Warriner, made an in-home visit.

Nichols is the third former Stanford commitment to change his mind and commit to the Irish. WR Tai-ler Jones and S Chris Badger were the other two that chose not to play for a team with a band mascot.

Although Nichols is only rated as a 2 Star prospect, that ranking was as a tight end. It’s hard to project what ranking he may have garnered had he played offensive tackle in high school- but it doesn’t really matter. Tate is the type of player that Coach Kelly has been talking about. He is a big athlete and they will coach him to play the offensive line. Don’t look for Nichols to play much his freshman or even his sophomore year, but after some development he may turn out to be a very athletic left tackle option in his junior year. That is recruiting, getting the players you want to fit your system. It’s a good pick-up for the Irish.

Here is a video of Tate…

This brings the total number of scholarships available for the the 2010 class to 7. Here is the most current eligibility chart for 2010.