CINCINNATI - Colerain (Cincinnati) High School middle linebacker Jarrett Grace – one of the state’s top players in Ohio ’s Class of 2011 – made a verbal commitment today to play at Notre Dame.
Grace made the oral commitment to the Fighting Irish on the same day Notre Dame was to host the 81st annual Blue-Gold Game this afternoon. It is the first spring game in South Bend for Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who begins his first season with the Irish this fall.
Jarrett Grace (44) is headed to Notre Dame.
Photo by Wayne Littmer
While Kelly has yet to coach a regular-season game at Notre Dame, he has made a significant impact on recruiting the Cincinnati area early in his tenure.
Kelly, who coached the University of Cincinnati from 2007-09 and led the Bearcats to a 34-6 record during that time, was named the new Notre Dame coach on Dec. 10. His recruiting ties to Cincinnati-area high school programs have still been consistent since he took over in South Bend .
Despite his move to Notre Dame, Kelly was able to sign several key Cincinnati-area recruits in February from the 2010 class. Those players included Archbishop Moeller quarterback Andrew Hendrix, St. Xavier quarterback Luke Massa, Elder tight end Alex Welch and the late St. Xavier offensive lineman Matt James.
Kelly has known about Grace for quite some time. Grace, a 6-foor-4, 238-pound junior, received his first scholarship offer from the University of Cincinnati in late April 2009 while Kelly was still with the Bearcats.
Kelly and his Notre Dame staff offered Grace a scholarship on Jan. 7 this year as Grace’s stock was continuing to rise among some of the nations’ top college programs.
“Grace has one of the best frames of any linebacker in Ohio ,” says Mark Porter, director of ScoutingOhio.com. “He is like a giant standing at middle linebacker on the high school field; it looks like he can see right over the lineman.”
Grace attended Notre Dame’s Junior Day on an unofficial visit during the weekend of March 20. Grace, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, was impressed by Notre Dame’s academic facilities on the visit. He has shown interest in pre-med and a possible career in cardiology.
Grace also seriously considered the University of Cincinnati during his recruiting journey as the Bearcats were the first program to offer him as a sophomore. Grace had plenty of other scholarship offers, including Syracuse, Arizona, Stanford, Boston College, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, West Virginia, North Carolina State, Duke, Indiana, Northwestern, Kentucky and Colorado.
Grace is projected to be an inside or outside linebacker in college and Porter believes he could grow into 6 feet 5 or taller.
“As long as his athletic ability matches the guys he will be covering in college, you will see him play inside or outside linebacker,” Porter said. “There is chatter that he would make a nice defensive end down the road if he keeps growing.”
Grace was a Cincinnati Enquirer Division I all-area selection in 2009. He had 94 tackles (13 for loss), one sack and two interceptions for the Cardinals. He was second-team all-district and first-team all-Greater Miami Conference. He's believed to be the first Colerain football player to commit to play at Notre Dame, according to football coach Tom Bolden.
Bolden said Grace recently struggled with his college decision - trying to decide between Notre Dame and the hometown Bearcats. He said Grace recently went "back and forth" between Cincinnati and Notre Dame.
"I think it's great for Jarrett and great for Colerain football," Bolden told the Enquirer.
