Notre Dame accepted the commitment of quarterback Blake Barnett in late November, with the California quarterback defying the snowy South Bend weather by pledging his allegiance to the Irish. But as Barnett’s star has risen throughout the process, it looks like the competition for his signature has grown as well.
News broke Tuesday that Barnett took an unofficial visit to Oregon, to see a Ducks football program that had been one of Barnett’s childhood favorites. Oregon-based 247Sports’ recruiting writer Justin Hopkins was the man to break the story, catching up with Barnett and sounding alarm bells across ND Nation with a report that had Barnett close to flipping his commitment to Oregon.
The guys at Rivals had a bit of a different take, with recruiting analyst Adam Gorney catching Barnett as he returned to California. Gorney reported that Barnett hasn’t de-committed, though he did say that the switch was possible (as it is for every recruit that hasn’t signed on the dotted line. (And in the case of Eddie Vanderdoes, after he’s signed on the dotted line.)) But while the initial report made it feel like the switch was a foregone conclusion, Irish fans could put the paper bag down and take a few steadying deep breaths.
“I just wanted to give myself an opportunity to check out another school that I’ve been interested in for a while now and make sure I made the right decision with Notre Dame and just in fairness to the recruiting process explore my options and check it out,” Barnett told Rivals.
What’s real? What’s not? Is Barnett gone? At this point who knows.
While Hopkins has taken heat online for his reporting, there’s no doubt that he’s got close ties into the Oregon program. (There’s also no doubt that a guy writing for DuckTerritory.com will have a certain spin that’s different than those covering this recruitment from the ND side.)
But if the Irish are close to losing out on Barnett, they’ll have to start over recruiting a position that looked filled perfectly with Barnett. Losing out on an elite runner and passer would hurt, though it’s not as if the Irish aren’t properly set up for the near future with Everett Golson, Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer.
Position coach Matt LaFleur, Irish offensive coordinator and Southern California recruiting ace Mike Denbrock and Brian Kelly all will likely work hard to keep Barnett in the fold, as the quarterback was recruiting for the Irish as recently as last weekend, according to prospects that worked out at the Ohio NFTC camp.
One datapoint that’ll be worth watching is Barnett’s next return to South Bend. He’s expected to be at the Irish Invasion camp later this month, a critical visit for the Irish coaching staff to reestablish some momentum in Barnett’s recruitment and remind him why he made the decision to pick Notre Dame in the first place. If he doesn’t show up? It’s likely time to start casting a few lines into the water.
Oregon getting a visit from Barnett now might be the best thing to happen to the Irish in the long run. If it’s enough to flip his commitment for good, Notre Dame will have a chance to remedy that by finding another quarterback in this class and get them to campus this summer. The Irish staff landed Everett Golson late in the cycle after he had been committed to Butch Davis and North Carolina. They landed Gunner Kiel hours before reporting early.
Finding another quarterback to join the 2014 recruiting class won’t be difficult, especially if the Irish score points like many expect them to do. And while Oregon has quarterback Marcus Mariota, a quarterback some expect to be among the top picks in the 2015 NFL draft, Mark Helfrich is in just his second year of life after Chip Kelly, so expect the trajectory of each program to play a role in the decision as well.
But Barnett’s visit certainly shook up the recruiting world for Notre Dame, adding another bit of intrigue to a process that still has eight months until Signing Day.
UPDATE (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. ET): Blake Barnett has released the following statement via Twitter:
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— B² (@Blake8Barnett) June 5, 2014
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