Aaron Nagel Officially Transferring, Yeatman Back

Sophomore to be linebacker Aaron Nagel is officially transferring from Notre Dame. There was some wide spread speculation over the weekend that Nagel was transferring and confirmation came Wednesday.

From the South Bend Tribune:

“Our family has always been Notre Dame fans and always will be Notre Dame fans. We’ve got nothing but good things to say about coach Weis. It came down to the fact that Aaron wanted a chance to get on the field. It didn’t happen in the spring and it didn’t look like it was ever going to happen.”

With the incoming talent in this year’s freshman class, it is very possible that Nagel wasn’t going to crack the starting lineup for the Irish anytime soon. Transfer like this are normal and are not really cause for concern. Of all the transfers the program has seen over the last year, all were because of playing time issues. If starters started to jump ship, I would be worried, but that just isn’t the case.

Also from the same article, it appears Will Yeatman is back with the team.

As expected, Irish tight end Will Yeatman has been reinstated to the football and men’s lacrosse teams. Yeatman, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound junior-to-be, was suspended indefinitely by the university from both teams following a Jan. 28 arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Missing all of spring will really put Yeatman in a hole because Mike Ragone by all accounts looked great. Yeatman is considered the better blocker while Ragone is the better receiver. Considering the problems the offensive line had last year, its quite possible we see a lot of two tight end sets this year so both will see considerable playing time.

There’s been some rumors that Pat Kuntz will indeed be re-enrolling at the University in June as well. Kuntz played much better than expected at NT last year, but he’ll most likely move over to DE with Ian Williams in the middle this year.