Changes change things for Nelson

Word travels fast and some times it doesn't. Two major coaching changes that could affect the status of Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider three-star receiver David Nelson went down in the last day and one of the moves was news to him, and the other was confirming news that had been widely speculated.

Nelson, who is 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds and ranked as the No. 40 player in Texas, did not know that Oklahoma State coach Les Miles was about to be announced as the new head coach at LSU. The move by Miles and several of his assistants, including coach Henson and Monken, to Baton Rouge has caused the Cowboys to be erased from the three-star prospect's list.

"There is no point in waiting with coach Miles gone and apparently coach Gundy to become the head coach there," he said. "I'm not interested anymore. I really liked coach Miles and coach Monken and Henson were cool, too. Now that they're gone, I don't know. I just didn't get a good feel for coach Gundy."

Nelson, a soft Irish commitment, also said there has been some moves on the Notre Dame front.

"Notre Dame is coming in Wednesday," Nelson said. "They have a GA come by the house right before Christmas break before Notre Dame had any assistants. I'm now being recruited by coach Cutcliff and coach Ianello for Notre Dame, but they think coach Haywood will take over since he's familiar with the Texas area."

Coach Haywood was expected to be one of the Irish assistants named soon and word about coach Ianello, who established himself as one of the nation's best recruiters at Arizona and Wisconsin, leaked in the media on Sunday but hadn't been confirmed by anybody on the record.

"I talked to coach Cutcliff yesterday and he said they'll announce it early this week," Nelson said. "Coach Ianello will coach receivers and will be involved with recruiting me, but coach Cutcliff has been calling me until coach Haywood takes over.

"I hear coach Ianello is a very good recruiter and a good man. That's the biggest thing that I'm looking for. I hope he's a good person. He offered me at Wisconsin, so I guess he likes me."

Nelson is still set to visit Texas on January 21 and Florida on January 28. Coaches from Florida, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma State are scheduled to make in-home visits also this week. Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz is also scheduled to visit.