Durham Smythe Commits to Notre Dame
Notre Dame hosted a huge recruiting weekend the last few days and it has already begun to pay dividends for the FIghting Irish. Notre Dame picked up a verbal commitment from tight end Durham Smythe on Sunday.
Smyth, a 6’5″, 230 lbs tight end from Texas, announced the decision on Twitter Sunday afternoon.
After originally committing to Texas last spring, Smythe decommitted form the Longhorns in December and was considering Michigan and Stanford along with Notre Dame before this weekend’s visit to South Bend. That visit, however, was enough to push the Irish ahead of their two rivals in the recruitment of Smythe.
Smythe is the second tight end in this year’s class along with early enrollee Mike Heuerman. Both ESPN and 247 Sports rank Smythe as a 4-star prospect while Rivals has him at 3 stars in their final rankings of the year. Smythe’s offer list is more in line with his rating on ESPN and 247 with offers from Texas, Oregon, Florida, and Georgia on top of those from his three finalists.
Like many recruits brought in by this coaching staff, Smythe offers some versatility as well and could potentially grow into a defensive end if he fills out. For now though, tight end is where he was recruited to an play and given the frequency that Notre Dame uses multiple tight end sets, adding another tight end to this year’s class of Smythe’s caliber is a very welcome addition.
Notre Dame will have Alex Welch, Ben Koyack, Troy Niklas, and Heuerman on campus next year along with Smythe. After next season though, none of the current tight ends on the roster outside of Heuerman or Smythe will have more than one year of eligibility left.
Smythe was originally scheduled to visit Michigan next weekend before committing to Notre Dame on his official visist this weekend.
Notre Dame now has 23 recruits in this year’s class and has room for just one or two more recruits with several very highly rated defensive recruits on the board in Eddie Vanderdoes, Deon Hollins, Kylie Fitts, and Torrodney Prevot. All but Prevot were on campus this weekend with Smythe, but Prevot is set to visit with Notre Dame next weekend.
Here are some highlights from Smythe.
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
With two days left before “Signing Day” things are looking bright for the ND Class. Let’s just hope we don’t lose one or two at the last minute. Someone always seems to jump ship at the last minute. If we can get EV, that would be a nice addition. GO IRISH!
He looks like the real deal.
I like this pickup a lot. I live just about an hour south of Belton, TX and a friend of mine’s boy is a senior at Belton HS with Durham and he says that kid is ridiculous. Nobody can cover him and his blocking is insane. I’m very excited to see what he can do at the next level.
Good quality add with an ND guy. Really need EV to follow in Nix’s footsteps. Keep the D strong and develop the O and ND may win the next NC.
Smythe makes me breate easier.
Because of the anomaly of Alex Welch’s injury, and because Troy Niklas played OLB as a frosh, Niklas, Koyack and Welch have the same eligibility remaining: 2013 and 2014. If we’re going to maintain multiple TE sets in the future, we need to keep the pipeline filled.
Matuska was recruited as a DE by ND
Good news, Frank ! But w/ Jacob Matuska, Smythe becomes the third TE from this class.
But I’ve also read reports that Matuska is better suited for a DL position, and will probably end up there.
Regardless, it’s a great addition to the IrishMob #13.
Now let’s keep the recruits we have, and add EV et.al.
(although Fitts in one of his tweets bemoaned the colder weather-
not a good sign)
and we’re on our way to the #1 recruiting class.
Durham Smythe, what a pick up. This boy is going to become an All American at Notre Dame, as well as Hauermann. These two boys will bring the tandem on the outside of the O line. Bringing haveck with other teams. If Folston, and Bryant stay at Notre Dame, this offense is becoming an elite offense in the near future. I hope each one of these boys takes us back to the promise land once again like this year. For the next time we win it all.