Former Tennessee four-star wide receiver commit TJ Sheffield picked Notre Dame football on July 6, but it wasn’t honored by the staff.
What happens when a player commits to a school but the staff miscalculates just how much room it has in that class? Just ask TJ Sheffield who attempted to commit to Notre Dame on July 6, but was told that there wasn’t a spot for him, leading to a de-commitment on July 11.
According to Tom Loy of 247Sports, Notre Dame wasn’t expecting to be chosen when Sheffield narrowed his list to Arkansas, Ohio State, the Irish and Purdue because of a lack of communication with both sides, but he surprised everyone and chose them anyway.
When he called to tell receivers coach Del Alexander the good news, he was congratulated and given the green light to make the commitment public.
When the four-star receiver did so, he had no idea that Notre Dame didn’t make room for him in its 2019 class. Just five days later, he announced on Twitter that Alexander apologized for not letting him know at the time and that his recruitment has been re-opened.
So what can we make of this odd situation?
Honestly, these kinds of things happen often, but Notre Dame handled it poorly. Sometimes kids want to commit to a certain school which they have a scholarship, on paper, to, but they wait too long and their spot closes up or their position group is already loaded. In Sheffield’s case, it seems as if the staff gave up on pursuing him and his commitment surprised them after they had moved forward without him in the plans.
Yes, Notre Dame botched this one by congratulating the kid of his commitment and welcoming him aboard in that initial phone call, but they had no idea he’d pick the Irish.
Next: 5 reasons Notre Dame can win 2018 national title
This is just an odd situation, but nothing in the recruiting landscape is surprising anymore.