Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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and San Francisco Giants, Vanderdoes Jr., with the blessing of his father, made his career change after his sophomore year when he recognized that his long-range potential in football might be greater. He made firstteam all-league and allmetro, and was honored to receive his first football scholarship offer — from San Jose State — the summer prior to his junior year. Vanderdoes' focus on football became so intense that he opted to not attend baseball showcase events. This too was fine with the father because he has seen what can happen to young pitching prospects who devote their energies to the sport in the minor leagues, but often don't have a contingency option. "If you want to play at the next level in football, you have to go to college," Vanderdoes Sr. noted. "With football, especially at Notre Dame, the worst that you could ever possibly do is get a degree from Notre Dame, whereas in baseball there are a lot of other negatives that can happen just out of high school. "I supported the foot- ball way because he's way more passionate in football than he is baseball. He hasn't really had to work at baseball. He works really hard in football." Last July 5-7, Vanderdoes attended The Opening, an elite summer camp sponsored by Nike in Beaverton, Ore., that also included Notre Dame prized outside linebacker commit Jaylon Smith. At the end of the camp in which he was named MVP of the defensive line, Vanderdoes had narrowed his final list of schools to 10: Baylor, Cal, Florida, LSU, Nebraska, Oregon, Penn State, UCLA, USC and Washington. A few days later, he verbally committed to USC. It was hardly an accident. Eight USC verbal commits, including quarterback Max Browne and running back Ty Isaac, were at The Opening and had already committed to the Trojans. Vanderdoes was specifically targeted to join the fold. Notre Dame got back in contention for Vanderdoes through the confluence of a number of factors. One was a Fighting Irish coaching staff that opened up its communication with Vanderdoes first through Facebook, then via the telephone and finally face-to-face. Step one was feeling out if there was still any interest on his part. Given the rise of the program in the first month of the season, there was. "It was definitely a big part of it," Vanderdoes said of Notre Dame climbing from unranked to the top 20, 15, 10 … and even No. 1 by the end of November. "The coaching staff had all these questions last year. Having a great year just solidified the coaching staff being there for as long as they want to be." While Notre Dame was rising, Troy was burning. The preseason No. 1 was the top disappointment of the 2012 campaign with a 7-6 finish, and it was head coach Lane Kiffin whose coaching future was suddenly in question, especially with shakeups among the assistants and recruits gradually shying away. On Dec. 27, Vanderdoes officially "decommited" from USC — soon to be followed by others, including five-star safety Max Redfied, who would opt for Notre Dame in