Thaddeus Snodgrass tried to schedule a couple press conferences in the last few weeks to announce his college commitment, but the 2014 Ohio wide receiver had to cancel each and now has no timeframe for a decision, a good thing according to his head coach.
“He’s your typical high school student who may or may not be overly well-versed in the process,” Springfield High School head coach Eric Gillespie said.
“He’s got an interest in a number of places, but myself and his family and some other people have explained there are some other things he needs to look at in the process in terms of schools, majors, getting on campus and all of those things before he makes his decision.”
The 6-foot-1, 170-pounder currently holds offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Purdue and Indiana among others with a top five of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes and the Irish were considered the favorites heading into his scheduled announcements, but Gillespie is glad Snodgrass is waiting.
“It was one of those things where he was getting ready to make his decision and there are some schools that he likes and he was going to make his decision based on football, but I think he understands that there is more that goes into the decision than the football side of it,” the coach said.
“He just got done with his junior season, so there’s a lot of things he needs to look at in the process that he hasn’t looked at yet. I think he’s going to take some time to do his due diligence before making that decision.”
Snodgrass pushed the decision back once in order to try to visit Notre Dame for the BYU game, but wasn’t able to make it. He could be in town this weekend for the Irish’s final home game of the season.
“I’m not 100 percent sure,” his coach said. “I know he mentioned it, but I’m not 100 percent sure on his travel plans.
“I think he’d like to, sure. He’s knee deep in school, but Notre Dame is really, really high on his list. He really, really likes Notre Dame. His goal is to get up there for a game and for a visit, so he can get on campus and get around the student body and do some of those non-football things to get a good feel for the campus.”
Gillespie acknowledged that Ohio State was another school that was very high on the list.
“One of the things I tried to express to him is that when you go to those one-day camps and games, they’re all going to look good,” the coach said. “Gameday is great everywhere when you get to that level in terms of the pageantry and the weight room and the coaching staff and players.
“I encouraged him that when he’s making a decision to develop a rubric of the five or six things that are most important to you about your college experience both in and out of football. I think he has some time to take a step back and evaluate what those areas might be. I don’t think he’d ever heard it from that standpoint. I think he’s taken that to heart and he’s had some conversations with his family and done some research and now it’s about getting on some campuses and continuing that process.”
After missing the majority of his sophomore season at Springfield with an injury, Snodgrass hit the camp circuit, where he grabbed offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan State.
“Obviously he went to some of the one-day camps during the summer and really tore it up,” Gillespie said. “I think that really turned some heads.”
This season was a struggle for Springfield, but Gillespie sees potential for the future.
“I think the problem with us is that it’s a first-year program, it’s my first year here, we’re trying to turn our program around,” he said. “We went through our bumps in the road going through that. We had an experienced quarterback coming back who got injured in the first series of the second game. He didn’t play for a couple weeks and then was very, very limited for a good portion of the season.
“I think that really, really limited our opportunity to get him the ball. Some good things are in the future and he’s going to work hard and have a great season.”
Whoever ends up with Snodgrass is going to be getting a standout on and off the field, according to his coach.
“He’s a great kid. You’re going to get a real high character kid, a real high character kid. He’s a kid who loves the game. He’s a kid that has an effervescent personality and seems to get along with just anybody there is out there. He’s a great kid.”
