About 24 hours after his first-ever visit to Notre Dame, Matthias Farley (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Christian) gave his pledge to the Irish.
“I committed to Notre Dame this morning,” the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Farley said. "Go Irish!"
Farley, who will begin his career in South Bend as a cornerback, becomes the fourth player to verbally commit to Notre Dame in the class-of-2011. He chose the Irish over offers from UCLA, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Illinois, North Carolina State, Duke, Maryland and East Carolina.
"There is no place I’d rather be from a school standpoint and a football standpoint."
As a junior, Farley had 29 receptions for 849 yards and 12 touchdowns, with a long of 76 yards. In spot duty on defense, he had 19 tackles and three interceptions, with one of those he returned for a score. It was also Farley’s first year playing organized football after making the switch from soccer.
Farley arrived at Notre Dame on Sunday night with his coach, and left South Bend on Tuesday morning feeling he had found the right place.
“I wanted to get away from where everywhere you turn there is a Notre Dame flag, and see if I felt the same way when I got home," Farley said.
“I got home and talked to my parents, and we talked about it more and more, and I just got more and more excited about it. Then I woke up this morning, and rushed to the computer to hear the song, Here Come The Irish."
Farley wanted to commit on Tuesday night.
"Last night, I was jumping off the walls making my parents cry from laughing, and I was like is it too late to call coach (Mike) Elston, and they were like wait till this morning.
“I called this morning and he was in a meeting with the defensive staff, so they put me on speaker phone and I told them I’m Irish. They were like that’s what we thought, why haven’t you called yet. I love the coaches up there, I love the guys, it’s just a good fit overall.”
