(UHND.com) — While current Notre Dame players were signing free agent deals and getting drafted this weekend, a future Notre Dame player was deciding that Notre Dame was where he wanted to play his college ball. Tight end Mike Ragone from New Jersey verbally commited to Notre Dame Sunday.
Ragone, 6’5”, 230 lbs, his a highly rated tight end prospect out of New Jersey with offers from schools such as USC, Penn State, Ohio State, and more. He is listed with 4.45 speed in the 40 by Scout.com, which is blazing speed for a tight end. That 40 time is probably inflated as most are this early in the recruiting process, but either way, the kid has got some great speed for the position.
He recently visited Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold game where he got to meet the quarterback who will be throwing him passes in the future in Jimmy Clausen. Clausen committed to the Irish last weekend and Ragone is the first to follow the probably consensus #1 prospect.
Ragone is as talented as any tight end prospect in the country at this point and possesses the kind of speed that will create problems for linebackers who have to cover him.
The Cherry Hill, New Jersey native will be coming off a serious knee injury in 2006 after suffering a torn ACL and MCL during a wrestling match as a junior. He is expected to be ready for the season, but it will be interesting to see how the injury affects his performance this year.
Even with the injury, Ragone will be one of the top rated tight ends when the final recruiting rankings are released at the end of next year.
This commitment gives the Irish another talented tight end for the 2007 roster with Knorad Rueland and Will Yeatman joining the Irish this past recruiting class. Rueland was considered the top tight end in the country last year, something Ragone can be this year.
The last six foot five Notre Dame tight end to come from Jersey, Anthony Fasano, was just drafted in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft this past weekend, if Ragone follows in his footsteps, Irish fans can expect a great career from him.
