Jarron Jones Opens Up Recruiting, Considering Notre Dame
It’s been a little while since we got much good recruiting news, but Notre Dame received some good news this week when Jarron Jones, Rivals.com’s #7 DT in the country, decommited from Penn State and opened his recruiting back up after a recent visit to Notre Dame.
Jones, a 6-5, 308 lb monster of a DT from New York, took an unofficial trip to Notre Dame last week and the trip went well enough to get Jones to reconsider his commitment to Penn State according to his local ABC affiliate.
“I talked to the coaches, they were upset about it but they won’t stop recruiting me. We talked and everybody’s on the same page though.”
Recent visits to Penn State and Notre Dame moved Jones to consider taking his commitment back.
Advertisement“Notre Dame is a smaller school and that’s the kind of place I need to be. Aquinas is a smaller school and I’ve been doing a lot better there. It’s just a better way to explore my options.”
Jones did say that Penn State is not completely out of the picture but the fact that he opened up his recruiting shortly after his visit to Notre Dame is a good sign for the Irish. On top of Penn State and Notre Dame, Jones is considering Virginia Tech and North Carolina and expects to make his decision before his senior season.
Notre Dame had an amazing haul along the defensive line last year, but has yet to pick up a commitment in the defensive trenches this season. Getting Jones, a prototypical defensive end in a 3-4 defense would be a heck of a start. With his size he would fit in perfectly at strong side defensive end in Bob Diaco’s defense and could slide inside to defensive tackle when the Irish use some 4-3 looks as they did down the stretch last season.
Here is some video of Jones (hat tip to Matt at SportsCrack.com for finding the video).
[youtube]WMgTptzhkPA[/youtube]
Jones is a huge prospect who is just dominant at the high school level and would add to Notre Dame’s impressive haul of defensive lineman over the last two classes if Bob Diaco, Notre Dame’s recruiter for the area, can get Jones to select the Irish. Diaco has a pretty good track record going up against Penn State for elite defensive recruits in the state of New York – let’s hope he can work his magic again this year.
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
What a beast! Go get him Bob!