5 star 2013 DT may not be enrolling at Notre Dame

Submitted by Leaders And Best on

5 star DT Eddie Vanderdoes is rumored to not be enrolling at Notre Dame:

Bruce Feldman @BFeldmanCBS 17m

Could be good news for #UCLA. MT @SacBee_JoeD: Lot of speculation 5-star DT Eddie Vanderdoes may not be headed to Notre Dame after all

This continues the trend over the last 4 years or so where some of the top recruits at Notre Dame have either never made it onto campus or transferred within a year:

2013: 5 star Eddie Vanderdoes

2012: 5 star QB Gunner Kiel, 5 star CB Ronald Darby, 4 star WR Davonte Neal, 4 star CB Tee Shepard, 4 star WR Deontay Greenberry, 4 star OL Taylor Decker, 4 star WR Justin Ferguson

2011: 5 star DE Aaron Lynch

2010: 5 star DE Chris Martin, 4 star OL Matt James, 4 star RB Giovani Bernard, 4 star DE Blake Lueders

2009: 4 star WR Shaquelle Evans

Decatur Jack

May 21st, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^

Gotta love the reaction on the ND boards:

One Foot Down

Noooooooo!

It seems like all these 5-star kids develop some kind of an allergy to South Bend. The kind of thing that they write off initially as just a cold or rash, but grow to realize is something more insidious. Maybe the excitement of the recruiting weekends helps them to ignore early symptoms. Swarbrick needs to find the antidote, stat! We still have a couple 5-star signees coming to campus in a few weeks, and they need immediate medical services.

and

1. Attend Notre Dame this fall. Put in the effort and be granted a release after 2013 if he still want to leave. Don’t put in great effort and expect Kelly to severely restrict his options.

2. ND can grant a free-release and he can play anywhere he wants for 2013. Not happening.

LOL!! Notre Dame fan boys.

NO WAY KELLY GRANTS HIM A FREE RELEASE TO PLAY ANYWHERE HE WANTS! HE WAS A FIVE STAR RECRUIT FOR ND!!!

Leaders And Best

May 21st, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^

1. They have some star power on the D line but have little depth now. If Tuitt and Nix go pro after this season, they could be in a lot of trouble.

From the South Bend Tribune outlining how the loss of Vanderdoes could cause a gaping hole at DT in 2014:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/notredame/football/sbt-notre-dame-football-status-unclear-for-blue-chipper-vanderdoes-20130520,0,3406911.story

2. Their 2012 class has been annihilated. It's one thing to lose one or two players, but they lost almost every blue chip player in that class except Sheldon Day in the course of one year. Unfortunately though they have been recruiting at a high level the past year coming off their miracle season last year.

Leaders And Best

May 21st, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^

which has Day rated as the better player. Jones was rated higher than Day by Rivals, but Scout and 247Sports had Day rated higher. Both are ranked in the same range though.

I think the SB Tribune article did overlook Jones when they wrote their article on DL depth. Jones has not cracked the two deep yet at ND, but he may get there by 2014.

Leaders And Best

May 20th, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^

From his hometown paper:

http://blogs.sacbee.com/preps/archives/2013/05/is-placer-high-school-football-star-vanderdoes-on.html

Speculation about Vanderdoes ranged from character concerns to an academic fall out. Vanderdoes' coaches continued to rave about his upstanding character on Monday, and his father Eddie Vanderdoes on Monday night texted of his son, "One thing I can tell you is grades or eligibility is not and has never been an issue."

He added in the text, "let people speculate, but you will be the first to know, as always, when it's time to let people know."

 

 

Leaders And Best

May 20th, 2013 at 11:37 PM ^

He is only bound by LOI if he qualifies and is admitted by the school. If he does not qualify, he would be forced to sit out a year anyway, so I don't think the LOI would matter. If he is not admitted, the school would have to release him from his LOI.

GoBlueInNYC

May 21st, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't schools not release students to the point of preventing that student from receiving a scholarship elsewhere? So, even if that student sits out a year, they still can't be on scholarship at another school? I seem to remember that being how Paterno kept Bolden at PSU despite his repeated attempts to leave. And as someone else in this thread pointed out, there's that kid stuck at FSU.

Then again, I don't know if LOIs are a different animal and/or if I'm completely misremembering Bolden's situation.

Leaders And Best

May 21st, 2013 at 8:45 AM ^

The LOI is only good for one year. You lose one year of competition and must be enrolled at the other school for one year before you can play (I think that means if he never shows up at Notre Dame, he would be able to play at another school in 2014 provided he shows up there and redshirts this fall).  He can still take financial aid from another school but just would not be able to play for one year.

 

Leaders And Best

May 20th, 2013 at 11:45 PM ^

but I felt he had to be mentioned as he was the best player in his class. It is sad that his life was tragically cut short.

All of the guys mentioned above did not make it to Notre Dame/left Notre Dame for a variety of different reasons though (many of them unique), and I tried not to differentiate between them.

Leaders And Best

May 21st, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^

I was only looking at highly rated recruits that did not make it to Notre Dame or left ND within a year regardless of the reason. You could make the argument that Matt James belongs on this list more than Ronald Darby, Chris Martin, Taylor Decker, Blake Lueders, Giovani Bernard, or Deontay Greenberry (players who decommitted from ND just before Signing Day and never signed a LOI to ND).

phork

May 20th, 2013 at 11:38 PM ^

Its not academic.  The word on the street is cold feet, but there is friction between both camps.

 

BTW, to the OP, Matt James fell of a balcony at Spring Break and died...  Kinda not really his choice to not enroll..

I am perplexed as to how you go through the recruiting process.  Sign your LOI, because you know its the place you want to be.  Then don't even enroll at school?  His best bet is to enroll for the year and then transfer.  This gives him the next year to redshirt and sit out his penalty year and then have time to play.  Or go JUCO..

Either way, crazy.

Leaders And Best

May 21st, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^

It doesn't make sense to enroll in a school when you are planning on transferring in a semester--you lose 2 years doing it that way and will not be able to play until 2015. Might as well enroll at another school and sit out your freshman year and redshirt there and be able to play in 2014.

As for Matt James, I wasn't going to include him on this list at first, but I felt he had to be mentioned as he was the best player in that class. I never said these players didn't enroll by choice...just that some of them never made it to ND. His case is a very tragic and unfortunate one though.

phork

May 22nd, 2013 at 12:02 AM ^

So more information is trickling out.  Apparently on NSD ND accidentally put his name on a press kit list of signees for the day and Vanderdoes still had not made his announcement.  The family was pretty bent about this and it was still an issue.  Also of note that he would like to be closed to home.  And while UCLA is closer than SouthBend, its still a 6+ hour trip from his current residence.

Secondly there is a supposed "personal" issue that was discovered after his LOI had been sent in.  And when I say discovered, I mean literally hours later.

The Vanderdoes family, as a result, has filed appeals to the LOI board seeking a null on his letter so that he can go play elsewhere right away, they aren't having any of it.

ND coaches are all but hollaring "tamper" charges against UCLA as its been evident over social media that there has been contact between the two parties.  As we all know this is Verboten.  Expect to see this end shortly with the stipulation that he can transfer to anyone not on future schedules and UCLA.

phork

May 23rd, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^

Fresh Intel:

There is less than a 0% chance that Eddie will attend ND.

Saying that, ND officially denied his request to be let out of his LOI and the appeal process is in motion.  Sadly for him these things don't end well for the perspective athlete.

From another corner of the debate, there could actually be an academic hiccup.  Rumour is that its possible a failed course is causing the issue.

EV's dad has tweeted that once EV's story comes out it will be clear what happened.  Mum is the word since the pending litigation

Colleges from across the country are supporting ND in not letting him out of his LOI, will set a bad precident.  ND hate vs UCLA is very real at this point.

EV has a few options.  Enroll at ND and honor his LOI.  Play 1 year, transfer and redshirt and still have 3 years to play.   Disregard said LOI, sign where ever he wants but he will then have to enroll in the school and cannot play or participate in year 1 and loses 1 year of eligibility after that.  In effect 3 years to play 3 years, as opposed to 5 years to play 4.

Damn shame.

Geneticblue

May 21st, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^

I still think its a good thing based on how close the wing percentage has gotten since Richrod destroyed it during his tenure and how well BK has done recently.  Let the good players leave for whatever reason...I really don't care.  I hate seing ND win in the first place, and I don't want to see that percentage to get close again anyways