| Schwenke Is All Notre Dame | ||||
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 Kona Schwenke (Kahuku, Hawaii/Kahuku) wasn’t home from Notre Dame for long before he decided he wanted to go back for good.On Monday morning, shortly after the 6-foot-4 ½, 235-pound defensive end prospect landed on the island from his official visit to the Irish campus over the weekend, he was calling Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston to give his verbal pledge. “It feels great,” Schwenke told Irish Sports Daily on Tuesday. He’ll fax in his letter-of-intent to Notre Dame later today on National Signing Day. “We’ve been watching Notre Dame for a long time now, and I’m excited to be a part of it. “Notre Dame was more than I expected it to be. It was the feeling that I got from the trip that made me make the final decision to commit to Notre Dame.” Schwenke was once verbally committed to BYU, and chose the Irish over Washington. He also had scholarship offers from the likes of Arizona, Colorado and Oregon State. “I thought it was going to be a hard decision between BYU and Notre Dame, but BYU pulled out and made it easier,” Schwenke explained. He pledged to the Cougars back in July, and the staff there pulled his offer when he took his visit to South Bend. “Just being part of the tradition at Notre Dame and playing for (head) coach (Brian) Kelly is exciting. “The football facilities are great, and the academic programs, they have a lot of help for students, especially the football players, helping them succeed.” Kelly, Elston and the rest of the Irish staff sees Schwenke succeeding as a defensive end or outside rush linebacker. “It just depends on how I look when I come to camp this fall.” One of the bonuses for Schwenke in his decision to attend Notre Dame, is joining up with fellow Hawaii natives, Irish sophomores Manti Te’o and Roby Toma. He spent a lot of time with those two while on his official visit. “I think it’s going to be cool. I haven’t played on a football team with them. It should be an exciting thing.” It’s also exciting already having friends at Notre Dame. “I didn’t want to go to a college I didn’t know anybody,” Schwenke stated. “At least I know somebody.” |
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 February 2010 12:09 ) |