Eddie Vanderdoes won’t be attending Notre Dame. Both Brian Kelly and the talented defensive lineman agree on that. How the situation ever got to this point, well that’s a story most people are still trying to figure out.
Today, after a few weeks of murky details slowly coming to the surface, Vanderdoes, Notre Dame and UCLA made statements clarifying Vanderdoes’ college football future.
First the headline: Vanderdoes will be attending UCLA. But Kelly and the Irish coaching staff didn’t release Vanderdoes from his letter-of-intent, allowed Vanderdoes to enroll at school in Westwood, but keeping him off the football field for the Bruins, giving him four years to play out three seasons of eligibility.
Kelly and the Notre Dame football program released this carefully crafted statement:
“Eddie Vanderdoes will not be attending the University of Notre Dame. We did not release him from his national letter of intent in order to protect the integrity of that very important program, but we have worked with the Vanderdoes family so that Eddie can continue his education this fall at a school closer to his home. We understand Eddie’s interest in remaining closer to his family and wish him well.”
Vanderdoes, one of the top recruits in the country, has stayed mostly quiet on his desire to get out of his letter-of-intent with Notre Dame and instead attend UCLA. While promising clarity on the situation to both ESPN’s Joe Schad and the Sacramento Bee’s Joe Davidson, who seems to have had a line into the Vanderdoes family from the start of this, Vanderdoes has remained scant on the details for his change of heart, instead citing changing family circumstances.
“I would like to thank the University of Notre Dame for lifting the recruiting ban and allowing me to sign an athletic scholarship with UCLA,” Vanderdoes said via text message to the Sacramento Bee. “Over the past four months, circumstances have changed for me and my family. For very personal reasons, I feel a strong need to remain close to home and be near those who are most important in my life.
“I am honored and humbled that Note Dame thought enough of me as a person and a football player to offer me a scholarship. They have been very gracious to recognize not only how difficult a decision this was, but also how important it was for me to be near my family at this time. I take my commitments seriously, but as circumstances changed, the most important commitment is the one made to family.”
Vanderdoes, who lives six-and-a-half hours via car away from UCLA, will stay home in California, making Bruins head coach Jim Mora a happy man. After coming up just short for Vanderdoes’ signature on Signing Day, how the Bruins were able to make inroads after Vanderdoes’ letter-of-intent was signed remains to be seen, but UCLA denied any wrongdoing to the Sacramento Bee.
“We’re very excited to welcome Eddie to the Bruin family. We know what kind of quality person Eddie is,"UCLA defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Angus McClure told the Bee. “When the recruiting ban was lifted, we were able to make contact, and he showed interest in UCLA.”
Just when that recruiting ban was lifted is up for debate. That date could have been as recent as the last ten days according to sources, which would make sense considering both defensive line coach Mike Elston and Kelly publicly stated that they expected to see Vanderdoes in South Bend when freshmen showed up in mid-June.
But as the Irish staff showed with high profile defectors like Aaron Lynch and Gunner Kiel, there was no chasing after a player that didn’t want to be in South Bend. Allowing Vanderdoes to get his education in Westwood, while also protecting the sanctity of the letter-of-intent seemed like the lesser of two evils, and doesn’t allow for a scary precedent to be set that would effectively force coaches to continue to recruit signed players until they show up at summer school.
The loss of the talented defensive lineman is a blow to the Irish depth chart, though one that might not be felt for a few seasons, with Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt and Sheldon Day locked into the starting lineup this season. But expect the Irish to try and address Vanderdoes’ loss in the upcoming recruiting class, putting an added emphasis on the interior of the defensive line.