Another Quick Decision | by Pat

The first offensive lineman of the 2007 recruiting class entered the fold last Wednesday when Andrew Nuss of Virginia committed to ND after an unofficial visit to campus. Overall, Nuss is the eighth commit of this current recruiting cycle. And like previous commits Kerry Neal, Aaron Nagel, and Steve Paskorz, the interval from official offer to commitment was very short. In Nuss' case, he showed up to the early June football camp where the coaches got a chance to watch him work out in person. Shortly after that they sent along the official written scholarship offer and a week later, Nuss committed.

"I grew up since I was 7 years old saying I wanted to go to Notre Dame and play football," Nuss said. "I didn't know what I was talking about, but I said it anyway. When I got my first mail from them I thought, 'Wow, it's Notre Dame.' It's a dream come true for me.

Although he's projected as a future offensive guard or tackle right now, the 6'5" 285-lb Nuss also plays defensive tackle for his high school and according to his coach, Mickey Thompson, will play even more on the defensive side of the ball his senior year.

"Andrew played both for us last year," Thompson said. "He has a lot of potential on the defensive line. The way our team was made up, when he took a break, it was on defense. This year we'd like to have him take his breaks on offense."

It's way too early to say now if Nuss will ever play defense for ND, but that kind of versatility is never a bad thing. In selecting Notre Dame, Nuss chose the Irish over a host of schools that have put out quality offensive lines lately. Georgia, Virginia, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Purdue, North Carolina State, and Maryland are among some of the schools that offered the high school junior. It's looking like Notre Dame might try to grab another five offensive lineman this year to complement last year's big class and bring depth back to the depleted OL ranks. As a guard/tackle prospect with experience on defense, Nuss sounds like a solid first step.