After a swirl of rumors, an excused absence, a long weekend with family, and a return to football, defensive end Aaron Lynch has decided to leave the Irish football program, with plans to transfer from after the spring semester. The loss is a blow to the Irish defense, with Lynch counted on to be the team’s best pass rusher.
“Aaron recently approached me about his desire to leave Notre Dame and return to Florida,” head coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. “I’ve always known and appreciated the affinity Aaron has for his home in Florida. However, the stark reality is you can’t make it at Notre Dame if your head and heart are not here. I am proud of the effort Aaron made in the classroom and on the field at Notre Dame. I wish him all the best in the future.”
After a string of rumors that reached a boil last weekend, Lynch also released a statement through the sports information department.
“I want to thank Coach Kelly for giving me this great opportunity to attend Notre Dame and be part of the Fighting Irish football family,” Lynch said. “This was one of the toughest decisions I have had to make, but I want to go back home to Florida. I’m grateful to Coach Kelly for understanding and allowing me to return home.”
There’s no question that the loss of Lynch on the field is a potentially devastating. Lynch lead the Irish in sacks and doubled the next closest Irish defender in quarterback hits, and looked poised to have a breakthrough sophomore season. While he plays a position where there’s plenty of quality depth, as a pass rusher, Lynch’s skills were unrivaled.
That said, while every coach would put on a brave face, there was resolve in head coach Brian Kelly’s words, evident in a press conference where he made Lynch’s decision a black-or-white issue. In a program that’s a pressure-filled and unique as Notre Dame’s, there’s no use trying talk any player into staying if he’s not into it.
“There’s a point where you’re either in or your not,” Kelly said. “When we’re recruiting, we’re laying our cards on the table. Here’s who we are, this is what you’re going to get when you come here. We’re not going to say, ‘You don’t have to live in the dorms.’ No, you’ve got to live in the dorms. We’re not going to say, ‘Hey, it’s easy in the classroom, don’t worry about it.’ We don’t say, ‘Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t snow here.’ The fact of the matter is, when you’re opened up like that, then you have to be that same way in the program, and we wish him the best.”
There’s long been rumors that Lynch has missed family, friends, and a girlfriend in Florida. While his mother moved to Ohio to be closer to her son, Kelly did acknowledge that these winter months of freshman year -- like they do to so many college underclassmen -- were when Lynch struggled. After giving Lynch a long weekend to reflect on being at Notre Dame and what he wanted to do with his future, Lynch and Kelly discussed his departure Thursday evening and Friday morning.
“Some of it is you’ve got a guy that’s young and you want to see him mature,” Kelly said. “And then you hit a point that it’s not about growing up, it’s where your heart is.”
Kelly was steadfast in stating that this won’t effect the morale of the team. “If this were doubles tennis, it might,” he quipped. And insiders close to the program have commented that Lynch never fully clicked with his teammates, with his bravado, and emotional outbursts -- Lynch led the team in personal fouls last season -- rubbing many players the wrong way.
Lynch’s future will be interesting. Notre Dame will likely control where Lynch can end up, and with Florida being mentioned in both coach and player’s statements, you can bet that he’ll only be released to schools in the sunshine state, squashing any Urban Meyer or Ohio State speculation. After a no-holds-barred recruiting war with Florida State, and retribution sought during the Seminoles recruitment of Ronald Darby, it’ll be interesting if the Irish release Lynch to the Seminoles. Lynch could likely end up at South Florida next season, where former Irish coach Skip Holtz mans the sidelines.
There’s little question Lynch will play in the NFL some day, and the decision to transfer away from South Bend could delay that eventuality. While any program that ends up with Lynch will file for an exemption and hope for immediate eligibility (like the Irish got with running back Amir Carlisle), it’s difficult not to look down on a decision made by an 18-year-old, and shake your head at its foolishness.
Yet football coaches have always talked about the forever unbeaten recruiter: the high school girlfriend. In this era of social networking and over-sharing, Lynch’s difficulties being away have been well chronicled, often times by Lynch himself. While the initial tidal wave of shock and anger from Irish fans is heaped on what looks like a petulant decision, Lynch isn’t the first or the last to make a decision that has generations older than him scratching their head.
Still, the polished head coach might have tipped his hand and shown his true feelings when he opened his impromptu media session. Stated quite clearly, from the very start, Brian Kelly’s opening words were likely his truest.
“As you know, Aaron Lynch has quit the football team.”