Louis Nix (Jacksonville, Fla./Raines High) has wanted to pull the trigger and verbally commit to Notre Dame for weeks.
Even months.
Now he finally has.
On Tuesday, Irish assistant coach Tony Alford was at Raines High visiting Nix, and he gave the future Under Armour All-American defensive tackle some advice that he couldn’t ignore.
“He told me about the situation with the coaches, and he said if he wasn’t going to be there, he thought I should still go there, and that Notre Dame was the best school for me,” Nix explained. “For someone to tell me that, who possibly wouldn’t be coaching me, that’s something worth listening to.”
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound Nix did just that, giving his pledge to Alford and the Irish, even with Notre Dame currently sitting without a head coach. Former coach Charlie Weis was dismissed on Monday.
“The school,” Nix stated. He becomes the 18th player to verbally commit to Notre Dame's class and first defensive tackle. “Even though they’re going through a coaching change, the school is really attractive, and it caught me when I went down there a couple times.”
Nix has visited Notre Dame three times since the summer. He camped in South Bend back in June, returned on an official visit for the Michigan State game in September, and traveled back on his own dime for the USC game in October.
In late-November 2008, Nix verbally committed to Miami, but recently de-committed from the Hurricanes and chose the Irish over LSU and Florida.
“That was really hard, but I manned up and decided to call the coaches and let them know this is what I want to do, and they said ok.”
Nix’s family is also excited about the verbal commitment to Notre Dame.
“My family was great about it,” Nix said. “They loved how coach Alford was talking.”
Ranked as the eight-best defensive tackle in the country by ESPNU’s Scouts Inc., and the 99th-best player overall, Nix also had scholarship offers from the likes of Michigan, Florida State, Ole Miss, Clemson and South Carolina.
“No more visits, no more nothing,” Nix stated. “I’m 100 percent.”
Nix also spoke with an official in the Notre Dame athletics department, but he wasn’t sure of the name.
“He told me they’re going to find a great coach so when I come in there, they’re going to turn this football program around to the way it used to be. I was very excited to hear that, and I hope it’s a great coach.”
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