Notre Dame Loses Justice Hayes
Notre Dame lost its fourth commitment of the year on Monday when 4-star running back Justice Hayes committed to Michigan after being committed to Notre Dame for months.
Hayes had been considered a firm commitment to Notre Dame, but on his visit to South Bend for the Utah game, he changed his mind. Hayes told Michigan live that he didn’t receive the attention he had hoped for on the visit.
“I had a better relationship with the Michigan coaches and wanted to stick closer to home,” Hayes said. “When I went (to Notre Dame) two weeks ago for the Utah game, I had no intention of decommitting at that time. I just wanted to go there to see how my team was doing and watch the game. Something happened with the coaching staff. Nothing bad, but I just noticed I didn’t get the attention I was looking for. Me and my family felt very uncomfortable.”
Hayes marks the fourth decommitment for Notre Dame joining Clay Burton, Justice Hayes, and Jordan Prestwood. Luckily for the Irish, there are still some options for them at running to compensate for the loss of Hayes.
Savon Huggins, one of the most dynamic players in the country, has been on Notre Dame’s radar throughout Hayes commitment and he remains interested in Notre Dame. Amir Carlisle, a Stanford commitment, is also still on Notre Dame’s radar and Texas native Cam McDaniel is also a possibility.
While decommitments are never a good thing, the one encouraging aspect of these decommits is the fact that the Irish coaching staff has contingency plans in place and is in a position to be able to withstand the losses.
Think back to where Notre Dame was when Omar Hunter decommitted a few years ago. The only backup plan at the time was going after Mike Martin – a Michigan native who grew up a Michigan fan. Martin has turned in to a heck of a football player for the Wolverines but not having any other contingency plans back then proved costly.
For now, it at least appears as though that won’t be the case this year with highly touted prospects still interested in the Irish at the positions where the decommitments have come.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
As a recruiter u either play ur cards right or wrong. It is like romancing a women. Lets just hope ND learn from this situation…
or like most women, they’re never happy.
Has anyone even thought that the coaching staff had the Utah game on their minds during the Utah weekend, and not making sure that Justice Hayes was being properly entertained?
Should have had Cam Newton’s pops set up his recruiting weekend…bags of money, stolen laptops, etc……..
“but I just noticed I didn’t get the attention I was looking for”
Really? Sounds like he belongs in Michigan.
I’m with gveeb and Andy. My guess is that Kelly feels really good about Huggins or someone else and the “I’m here, bend over backwards for me” attitude turned Kelly off. I don’t even think my 5 year old would say something as childish as “they didn’t show me enough attention”…wow. How could you not realize how ridiculous you sound?
I’m pretty sure Kelly has dealt with the “I am god’s gift to football” superstar before and since ND actually honors their commitments it’s much easier to let the recruit do the walking prior to Feb. 2nd…Good for him.
USC and Michigan are always looking for pretentious premadonna’s so farewell, good luck. On the bright side, at least it was Michigan so our Defense can “thank” him next year!!
If this is true he didn’t get enough attention then I don’t think he’s a RKG so let him go.I heard a lot of people talk about how he might be moved to a slot reciever much like Theo Riddick maybe he didn’t like hearing that.Kelly needs guys that put team first and will bust their butts for the team not the NFL.As I said in another post watch out for Cam Roberson next year a lot of people forgot about him but Kelly has been praising him.Kelly will pick up more pieces and add depth.GO IRISH!
Couldn’t agree more gveeb. Let the divas go to Michigan. We don’t need quitters.
Seems like Kelly has the same attitude with recruiting as he does with the depth chart, next man in and he has seemed to have been a step ahead each time by already working on the next man before they were needed.
I don’t know, but it sure seems he’s kind of a ME guy, he didn’t get enough attention. I think Notre Dame’s better with some WE guys.
Another Anthony Davis in the making.
wow, i can’t believe he had a bad visit for the utah game. navy or tulsa i could understand, but utah? i wonder what made him uncomfortable?