In case you have been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, or if you saw the new Rivals rankings and bonged a 12 pack of Molson Ice with your newly Jimmy Clausen autographed beer bong- shit just amazingly real. Not “real” like Extreme Home Makeover, but more like “real” I’m the drunk whore on ‘Rock of Love’ with Bret Michaels.
Shortly after those rankings were released, all hell broke loose…
It started with a Tweet. Basically, Twitter started to get bombed with reports that Stephon Tuitt committed to Georgia Tech after visiting them this past weekend, and that Tuitt had informed the Irish coaching staff of his decommitment.
There is wide speculation about the reasons why Tuitt would switch to Georgia Tech from Notre Dame, including his high school coach pushing Stephon towards the Jackets, the fact that his buddy and high school teammate, Demontevious Smith, needed Tuitt to go to GT to get an offer from the Jackets, wanting to stay closer to home, and so on, and so on.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but as far as the Demontevious Smith thing; if you check Smith’s offer list, he has offers from both Air Force and Navy- both run option offenses. The last time I checked, Paul Johnson is still the head coach at Georgia Tech. Chew on that for a bit, and chew on the fact that Smith also has an offer from Harvard. You should feel a little bit like an asshole right now, well… if you’re anything like me you would.
The HS coach thing is expected, and after the Lynch saga, it makes absolute sense. Colleges and high school coaches have symbiotic relationships. It’s boarderline “wrong” but that is the way it has always been, and everyone is guilty- even the Irish. If the head coach at Bishop Dwenger in Fort Wayne had a 5 star player, do you think he wants him to go anywhere else but Notre Dame? Yeah, chew on that.
Although this decommitment hurts the Irish, it does not kill them, or this class. The last time I looked at an eligibility chart for 2011 and 2012, I still see Kapron Lewis-Moore, Kona Schwenke, and some guy named Aaron Lynch. Tuitt was a perfect fit as a 3-4 defensive end (which GT runs), so of course he was perfect for the Irish, but that doesn’t mean the Irish were perfect for him.
Notre Dame has done a better job on the defensive recruiting job this year than it has in over a decade. Needs have been met, elite players are signed, and there is still momentum going forward. Can one guy in the next recruiting class make up for this loss? Absolutely. So, just sit back and remain pumped for those that will sign their LOI in a couple of LONG weeks.
Now, where in the fuck is that beer bong…
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