Notre Dame football gained some much-needed good news this Friday afternoon, as defensive end David Abiara has decided to verbally commit to the Fighting Irish. The 6’4″/250-pounder out of Mansfield, TX is the 3rd defensive commit in Notre Dame’s class of 2021, joining defensive tackle Gabe Rubio and safety Justin Walters.

David first received his Notre Dame offer back on January 23rd and quickly set up a visit for the Junior Day event that occurred a little over a week later. The quick turnaround from offer to visit made it clear his interest in ND was legit. That visit to South Bend almost led to him committing to the Fighting Irish a few days later. After speaking with those close to him, he decided to hold off just a bit longer to make sure he wasn’t taking things too fast. Those who have been following his recruitment closely knew Notre Dame was in the lead spot for him, but there was no expected commitment from him today so this still comes as a welcome surprise.

Recruiting Service Rankings

Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #21 SDE, #42 in TX

ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), #293 overall, #34 DE, #45 in TX

247Sports — 3 star (89 rating), NR overall, #18 SDE, #44 in TX

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8900), #345 overall, #23 SDE, #51 in TX

Irish Sports Daily — 3 star (89 rating)

Cohort

David chose the Irish over other offers from Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and others. Quite the offer list. His decision ultimately came down to Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

Highlights

David’s junior highlights show a powerful player who possesses ideal length and a ton of potential to boot. He’s got really long arms that he uses well to keep opposing tackles from locking in on him. He’s a strong kid, possesses all the tools he will need to develop into a multi-year starter.

Jamie over at ISD always does a great job with his film review posts so if you’re interested, take a look at his film review on Abiara here (free).

Impact

Abiara is a really good pickup who has some blue bloods knocking down his door. But honestly, the biggest impact his commitment probably has right now is on the perception of the state of Notre Dame recruiting right now. March was supposed to be a huge month for Notre Dame, with the staff set to host the biggest recruiting event in years last weekend. It was to be the weekend to make a big move on all the elite guys that had ND in their top group.

Unfortunately COVID-19 had other plans and all NCAA recruiting is currently in a dead period.

Deion Colzie, who was supposed to be in South Bend this past weekend, instead decided to re-open his recruitment on Saturday. His family is still reportedly in ND’s corner so we’re not out of it, but it’s certainly a worse spot to be in than having him in the fold as a solid commit.

Then earlier this week elite offensive lineman Landon Tengwall announced a Top 2 of Notre Dame and Penn State, and set a commitment date for Thursday. This probably would have been good for ND if he had been able to visit last weekend — but the fact that he hadn’t been to ND in months and had visited Penn State numerous times since the fall made his Penn State commitment the least surprising thing ever.

So yeah, it’s kind of been a rough week for ND. But this commitment from Abiara, a defensive end with a legitimately elite offer list, has been a huge pick-me-up. Sort of makes one feel as if the sky isn’t falling after all.

 

So thank you, David, and welcome to the Irish family!