Notre Dame trip tightens Schultzs recruitment
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Dalton Schultz's Notre Dame visit is in the books. He did some reflecting during his flight and landed in his home state of Utah on Sunday evening. But even after everything he saw over the weekend, it seems Stanford has survived as his leader.
For now, anyway.
The four-star tight end says that the top spot in his recruitment is suddenly subject to change. The Irish didn't outright topple the Cardinal - doing that will take time, but that's not to say his weekend trip to South Bend didn't make an impact. Schultz, it seems, suddenly has some thinking to do.
"I still say Stanford is on top, but this week definitely made it a lot closer," he said.
Schultz admits that his official visit to Notre Dame surprised him. It's not that he expected the campus to be a dump or the program to be totally out of sorts - he had high expectations for the trip. Yet somehow, they were exceeded.
"It was awesome," Schultz said. "It was so much fun. I didn't expect it to be the way it was. I expected it to be pretty cool and older with a lot of tradition and blah, blah, blah. But it was so much more than that.
"The community and the support stood out for me. Everybody is focused on one thing, and that's Notre Dame football."
Trips to Stanford and Utah remain on his schedule, but it seems that Schultz' recruitment is, at least for now, a two-team battle. At one point not so long ago, Schultz assumed he would have his mind made up by now, but that's not the case these days.
Official visits have a way of changing things.
"I thought I would know already," Schultz said. "I really did. But at this point, I really don't know anymore."
The visit itself was the usual song and dance. There was a campus tour and some meetings with coaches and advisors. Schultz saw the faculties and ate a couple of free meals. He perked up, however, when he recounted the football conversation he had with the Notre Dame staff.
His potential role in the offense matters to him, and he loved what he heard on that front.
"They said that I fit in perfectly with what the do," Schultz said. "They want me to do what Tyler Eifert did."
The No. 2-ranked tight end in America and the No. 117 prospect in his class, Schultz recently wrapped up his high school career at South Jordan (Utah) Bingham High School, which Schultz helped lead to a state title this season.
Schultz narrowed his laundry list offers down to Notre Dame, Stanford, Utah, Oregon State and Washington earlier this year.
Rob Cassidy is a West Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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