Notre Dame added the 17th commitment to its 2013 recruiting class over the weekend, with LB Alex Anzalone of Wyomissing, PA pledging to play for the Irish. Anzalone, who had previously been committed to Ohio State, chose the Irish over Penn State and Florida. (Get in on the discussion on our Sideline Forums)
Anzalone’s commitment likely rounds out what is an incredible linebacker haul by Brian Kelly (with Jaylon Smith, Danny Mattingly, and Michael Deeb having previously committed). While recruiting services generally list Anzalone as an outside linebacker, at 6’3” and 220 pounds (with plenty of room to add weight) he could potentially end up on the inside – and even plans on enrolling early and succeeding All-American inside linebacker Manti Te’o with the #5 jersey.
Anzalone has earned strong recruiting ratings across the board:
Scout: 4 stars, #52 overall, #4 OLB Rivals: 4 stars, #49 overall, #7 OLB ESPN: 4 stars, #66 overall, #5 OLB, 85 grade 247Sports: 4 stars, #43 overall, #4 OLB, 95 gradeAlong with the Irish, Anzalone received offers from other big programs including Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, USC, South Carolina, Michigan State, and Arkansas (among others).
Until you have the chance to see him suit up in the Blue and Gold in the fall of 2013, you can watch these highlights from Anzalone’s junior season to tide you over. These may be some of the better recruiting highlights we’ve seen in a while simply because it’s astonishing to watch biggest guy on the field also be the fastest guy on the field. The first half of the video is Anzalone running people over on offense, while the second half is him blowing up plays on D:
As we saw last year it is difficult to earn commitments from the top players in the class, but even more difficult to keep them. While the Notre Dame graduating class of 2017 (damn, I feel old) is shaping up well, let’s try not to get too excited until signing day…
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OK, OK — I give up! I’m excited!!! #IrishMob13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proof that, sooner or later, everyone comes around to love the Irish.
After growing up as a Notre Dame hating, misguided youth, it only took one visit to campus during high school for Twibby to realize the error of his ways. From that point on Twibby and the Irish have had what can only be described as a true Hollywood love story. When he's not reminiscing about his time in South Bend and pondering ways to get a 5th year of eligibility as a student, Twibby writes about Notre Dame and the rest of the college football world for HLS. Along with the Irish, he is a diehard fan of the Chicago Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks and Cubs with a strange affection for Northwestern Wildcats football.
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After watching the vid and seeing him on defense(first half of the video is useless imo) he looks decent. I can see why he’s a 4 star. Id probably actually only give him 3, but what do I know. What I can see is a sure tackler with great athleticism. My major critique of him would be that he seems to be reacting too much and doesnt read plays well. A couple of the passes he was totally fooled and was in chase mode which leads to a lot of penalties(in fact, one play in the EZ was borderline DPI for playing through the receiver). He needs to get his mental aspect sharper and learn to put himself in a position to succeed. He cant rely on catching up to slower guys or hoping an underclass QB doesnt see a wide open receiver because it’s the 3rd option. Not at this level.