Add One Moore To The List | by Pat

Chalk up another recruit. ND is up to 12 in the current recruiting class with the latest announcement. North Carolina linebacker Kendall Moore picked ND as his school of choice at a presser this past weekend.

"It's just a whole bunch of things, a combination of things," said Moore about why he chose Notre Dame. "Academically and athletically it was the best choice for me."

Moore liked ND enough during his unofficial visit this summer that he committed to the staff before leaving, making the public announcement on Saturday. He's the first linebacker recruit in this class and gives the current tally an even split of six offensive recruits and six defensive recruits.

Rivals put the 6'3" 232 pound Moore in the 4-star category and the 167th overall recruit. He's also their 14th ranked outside linebacker. Scout thinks his future lies on the inside as they have him as a 3-star guy and the 17th ranked middle linebacker. ESPN handed out a 77 ranking and says he could potentially play either inside or outside. His offers included Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, and others. Credit Corwin Brown for pulling Moore out of ACC/SEC territory.

Highlights-wise, ESPN has free clips of Moore last season while Rivals has some up-close shots of Moore from a combine earlier in the spring. From first glance, Moore looks quick enough to play on the outside, but if he keeps growing and adding weight, he might wind up a middle linebacker candidate.

Something to keep an eye on though, Moore used his commitment presser to also mention he was still sorta, kinda looking around.

"Yes sir, definitely," Moore told Irish Illustrated. "I felt like this is the start of my decision. I'm still going to wait throughout the whole season and see what goes on. I haven't talked to coach Weis about it, but I think that's pretty much accurate."

On the one hand, let's wait until Moore has that chat with Charlie first. On the other hand, Moore is merely doing what many top recruits are going to do this season. They want to see first-hand how the ND team looks before jumping on board. Moore liked ND enough during his visit to pull the trigger, but it can't be too comforting that he's already giving himself an out. Still, until he starts taking visits, it's probably still safe to keep him in the "commit" pile. (It's also a safe assumption that ND is looking for other possible LB candidates.)

Here's the chart for all of the linebackers. Granted it might be a bit more precise if this was broken down into inside versus outside guys, but with Moore's ultimate position a bit up in the air, not to mention the same dilemma for a number of younger linebackers on the squad, here is the 2010 list for the entire linebacking position.

Fifth Year	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Freshman
	Brian Smith	Darius Fleming	Manti Te'o	Kendall Moore
		Steve Filer	Carlo Calabrese
		Anthony McDonald*	Zeke Motta
		David Posluszny*	Dan Fox

Some exciting names on there that could form a potentially stellar linebacking corp in 2010. There is also a noticeably big cluster of players in the junior and sophomore classes, which was needed given the lack of LBs in the 5th year and senior classes. It's possible that Te'o could be on a mission in 2010 and Zeke Motta might be listed with the safeties, so keep that in mind when taking the above table and mentally constructing a two-deep. Still, while Moore might be physically ready to play when he shows up, but his first crack at playing time might be on special teams given the returning list of players.