There are rumors flying all over the internet that Notre Dame has received the commitment of Gunner Kiel, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Kiel was an early target of the Irish before he committed to Indiana and new head coach Kevin Wilson, where he planned to join his brother Dusty in the depth chart. Kiel’s decommitment from the Hoosiers, then subsequent visit to Notre Dame for the Irish’s home game against USC, showed that the Irish were indeed back in the conversation for the Indiana native with Fighting Irish bloodlines.
While none of the premium recruiting websites have confirmed it yet, Sportscrack.com -- better known for their witty t-shirts than breaking news -- is reporting that Kiel has committed and will enroll early at Notre Dame. Kiel has always been an early enrollee candidate, but news that he’s committed to playing in South Bend would be a pretty big game-changer in the recruiting circuit, and another late-season coup for the Irish.
Just last year, it seemed like the Irish would go without a quarterback in their recruiting class until North Carolina commitment Everett Golson visited South Bend in early November. He committed to the Irish just a few weeks later, giving the Irish a dual-threat QB that was a prototype for Kelly’s offense that planned on enrolling early.
Whether or not Kiel will be in attendance this Saturday night at FedEx Field is up for debating depending on the reports you read. Either way, it seems that both offensive coordinator Charley Molnar and head coach Brian Kelly are leading the charge for Kiel and they’re doing a good job.
Again, there’s no proof that Kiel has committed or even plans to. He’s said in the past few weeks that he plans to make all his recruiting visits before he chooses a school from a list of the country’s finest programs. That said, there’s an awful lot of smoke around the Irish and Kiel. Whether that means a commitment from Rivals.com’s No. 1 pro-style quarterback remains to be seen.