Double D is done

Chicago (Ill.) Morgan Park four star ranked dual-threat quarterback prospect Demetrius Jones (6-foot-3, 185 pounds) has ended months of speculation today, as Jones and his family are heading to South Bend, Indiana this afternoon to visit with the coaches from the University of Notre Dame. Jones gave the Fighting Irish his early verbal commitment last weekend and is making his decision known today.

"I called Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis last Saturday and gave him my verbal commitment," Jones said. "I wanted to end my recruiting process before the start of my senior season. I asked for God's help and I left it in his hands this summer, and he's directed me towards the University of Notre Dame."

Jones talked about why he's decided to commit to the Fighting Irish.

"It's everything about Notre Dame. From the atmosphere, the tradition, the distance from home and especially the academics are just some of the reasons I decided that Notre Dame was the best place for me. The overall strength of the academics and the reputation of earning a degree from Notre Dame and what that means in the real world is what really clinched it for me with Notre Dame. The overall strength of the academics no question was what helped me decide on Notre Dame."

"I really felt comfortable with the coaches at Notre Dame and in particular head coach Charlie Weis. I wanted to commit earlier this spring to the Irish but I also felt that I needed some time to think things through before I made anything public. The coaches at Notre Dame didn't pressure me at all and they showed me a lot of patience. I wanted to get my head around this decision and I'm glad that the Notre Dame coaches understood. I was very impressed at how they handled my recruiting."

Jones claims that he decided on the Fighting Irish over a handful of schools that he was giving serious consideration towards earlier this summer.

"For me it came down to either Notre Dame, Purdue, Illinois or Louisville. Those were the schools that I gave a lot of thought about this summer. I even went to a few schools in person this summer just to get a better understanding about each place. It was a hard decision for me to make, but in the end all of the positives about Notre Dame just outweighed the other schools."

Jones also approached his final college choice in a business manner.

"Every school that was recruiting me all had positives. All of those schools play on TV and all of those schools offer a chance to play and to make myself a better player. For me this was more of a business decision than just a football decision. With the alumni network at Notre Dame, just getting a degree from that school means something more. This was much more than just football, this for me was really a life decision."

Jones talked about just how hard this final decision was for him to make. Jones also took what he felt was some great advice from several others in this process.

"The most valuable piece of advice in this process for me came from Illinois assistant coach Mike Locksley. Locksley told me that I should just pray about my decision and to then leave it alone for awhile, which I did earlier this summer. He also told me to just focus on playing high school ball. He also added that people make the place, and if you aren't 100 percent dedicated to that decison, then you need to not make that choice and to look elsewhere. Several other college coaches that were recruiting me also gave me some great advice in this process, and just telling them that I was going to another school made it a very hard thing to do. I really appreciated the great advice I received in this process from many of the other college coaches."

Jones can now put his entire focus this fall on his team.

"It was really important for me to end this process now. I feel relieved, very relieved. I'm glad to have this over with and now I can just be a high school kid and play football and go to school this fall. I definitely feel better to have this out in the public."

"In the end I guess I knew that I wanted to go to Notre Dame all along. I'm a solid verbal commit to the University of Notre Dame. I just feel that I belong at Notre Dame."