Notre Dame lands former Texas commit
Durham Smythe, who had previously committed to in-state Texas, has given his verbal pledge to Notre Dame.
The Belton High School (Belton, Texas) tight end, who is the third verbal commit out of Texas for the Irish in this haul (wide receivers Corey Robinson and Torii Hunter Jr. are the others) came down to Stanford, Michigan and the Irish after decommiting from the Longhorns in December. The 6-5, 230-pounder is commit No. 23 for the Irish in the Class of 2013.
Smythe, who announced his decision on Twitter this afternoon, was on an official visit to South Bend this weekend with other top prospects.
As we've seen under Brian Kelly, tight ends are a focus of the Irish offense. Tyler Eifert led the team with 685 receiving yards and four touchdowns this past season, and those numbers would have been higher if not for the ups and downs of young quarterback Everett Golson. Smythe is one of three tight end recruits in ND's 2013 class along with Mike Heuerman and Jacob Matuska.
