Giovanni Bernard will play his college football for Notre Dame.
On Sunday, the four-star running back gave his verbal commitment to head coach Charlie Weis and the Irish program.
“I picked them because they have a good situation for me,” Bernard said. The St. Thomas Aquinas standout becomes the 17th player to give Irish head coach Charlie Weis his oral pledge, and second running back joining Cameron Roberson. “Coach (Tony) Alford, the running backs coach was truthful to me, and most of all, the education that they offer and life after football is my biggest thing.”
The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Bernard took an official visit to Notre Dame for the USC game. It was his first time on the South Bend campus. He chose the Irish over his other 20-plus other scholarship offers including Nebraska, Tennessee and Oregon State, where he also took official visits, as well as Florida State, Alabama and Miami.
"It feels good," Bernard said about his decision. "It relieves a lot of pressure.
"It just felt right."
As a junior, Bernard rushed for 1,579 yards and 18 touchdowns, helping Aquinas win ESPN Rise’s mythical National Championship. Banged up this fall, Bernard has carried just 30 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns for the nation’s top-ranked Raiders, including a 12-carry, 119-yard, two-touchdown performance in the season opener against Upper Arlington on ESPN.
"This is a big pickup for Notre Dame," ESPNU's Scouts Inc. national recruiting director Tom Luginbill said. They rank Bernard as the 17th-best running back in the country. "I think this is a guy that has really grown on us. I think he's more explosive than we thought and more capable of breaking off longer runs once he gets to the second level than we initially thought. I just think he's one of those guys that at the collegiate level could end up becoming a work-horse type of player."
Bernard is one of four players in the class-of-2010, that Notre Dame has offered from Aquinas. He plans on trying to get teammates, four-star offensive tackle Brandon Linder, and five-star cornerback Lamarcus Joyner and four-star cornerback Cody Riggs to join the fold as well. Those three also visited South Bend for the USC game two weeks ago.
Current Irish players, offensive linemen Sam Young and Dan Wenger, punter Ben Turk and long snapper Jordan Cowart, also attended St. Thomas Aquinas.
