The question of how hard the Notre Dame coaching staff should try to get Ronald Darby back is one that tears at me from two sides. You know, kind of like the angel and devil sitting on each one of my shoulders.
The angel shoulder is telling me that Darby, when first committing in April, got caught up in the emotional aspect of big-time colleges recruiting a high school kid. He loved all that Notre Dame stood for and what it was about and said “heck ya, I want go there”.
And then, things began to change as rational thought started to take over from his emotion. Darby loves track, probably as much as, if not more than, football. Because of his love and participation in track meets, he was unable to take recruiting like recruits who play solely football. That’s a big reason he de-committed and opened his recruitment back up. He wants to take visits (and they don’t have to be official football ones) to other schools and check out their track environment as well as their football.
I stated in a previous article that I think this is very mature by Darby in understanding what he wants out of a college and that his first choice (Notre Dame) may not have all that he wants. In the final 2011 NCAA Division I National Team Rankings, Notre Dame’s track program came in at No. 39. Compare that to Florida (No. 1), LSU (No. 4), Florida State (No. 5) and Clemson (No. 22), and it’s not hard to see the rationale behind Darby’s decision.
Due to the sound rationale and understanding by Darby of what he wants out of college, the angel on my shoulder is telling me that while the Irish coaching staff should still stay in touch and recruit Darby, they should back off somewhat and respect his desires. After all, should they lay on the full court press and get Darby to come to Notre Dame and he’s unhappy, then what?
But then, the devil on my other shoulder is telling me that Notre Dame should full court press and that once Darby gets on campus as a student/athlete, he’ll love it. After all, he’s a kid; what does he really know. The devil is also telling me that perhaps I give Darby too much credit for knowing what he wants, and in reality, he won’t know what he wants until he’s on campus somewhere, so why not Notre Dame?
The devil on my shoulder is also looking at the depth at cornerback on the Irish roster and telling me they need to add a player like Darby. And besides his ability at cornerback, he’s got 4.3 second 40-yard dash speed and can return punts.
And besides, Darby de-committing wasn’t really all that unexpected by the Notre Dame staff because they never set their official in-home visit with him. Rather, they were waiting for this to happen so they could work a Stephon Tuitt switch on Darby.
Coach Kelly will have an in-home visit with Darby sometime between now and National Signing Day on Feb. 1, 2012. And also understand that both Tony Alford and Kerry Cooks were at the Under Armour game talking to Darby and promised to talk more after the game and before National Signing Day. And further understanding that Notre Dame is getting set to have head track coach Joe Piane and sprinting coach Alan Turner check in with Darby, it’s clear the Irish are not giving up on keeping him in the Notre Dame football class of 2012.
However, I’m still torn about exactly how hard the Irish should continue to recruit Darby. It’s evident they know a lot more about the situation than I ever will, so with that understanding, I’ll have to take the side of giving Darby the full court press.
After all, I can always say the devil made me do it.
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