Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 31 2020

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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44 OCT. 31, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY MIKE SINGER " N o two recruitments are the same" is a common phrase thrown out, and every bit of it is true. Take Yolanda Jackson and Marc Spindler, for example. Jackson, the mother of Athens (Ga.) Academy wide receiver Deion Colzie, admittedly has been a fan of the Fighting Irish for years. As her son navigated the recruiting process, he knew where his moth- er's loyalties were. Even if he ended up at one of Notre Dame's rivals, Jackson was always go- ing to have an Irish flag flying in her driveway. Spindler, the father of Clarkston (Mich.) High offensive guard Rocco Spindler, lost to Notre Dame mul- tiple times as a Pittsburgh Panthers defensive lineman in the late 1980s. He had quite a different feeling to- ward the Irish compared to Jackson, although it changed when his son considered Notre Dame and went through the recruiting process. "Once I became a Pitt man, I was a Notre Dame hater," Spindler said. "I couldn't stand Notre Dame." The younger Spindler was raised in the backyard of the Michigan Wol- verines. Colzie currently lives in Ath- ens — just down the street from the Georgia Bulldogs — but grew up in the Atlanta suburbs. However, both Colzie and Spin- dler ended up in Notre Dame's 2021 recruiting class, spurning the local choices. Additionally, they were two of head coach Brian Kelly's most im- portant targets. Their backgrounds and journeys were completely different, but there is one distinctive similarity between the two recruitments. Even though both sets of parents wanted their son at Notre Dame, they ultimately de- sired what was best for him. "I told him that he can't make a bad choice, and I sincerely meant that," Marc Spindler said. "We told Deion that regardless of where he ended up, we were going to support him 100 percent. He has to be comfortable and happy with his decision," Jackson said. "He's the one who has to go to the school and put in the work." Colzie's Sept. 28 commitment to Notre Dame wasn't his first. He orig- inally pledged to the Irish in October 2019, but decommitted a few months later, citing that he rushed his initial decision. Just about every reporter in the recruiting industry felt he was des- tined to Georgia, but Notre Dame continued recruiting Colzie and were successful. "There was a time when Deion was not very responsive to Notre Dame at all," Jackson added. "They could've easily given up. There was a report [from Rivals] about Deion's top three, which Notre Dame was not a part of, but they stuck with it. I have a lot of respect for them be- cause of that. For me as a parent, it showed me that Deion is a good fit for Notre Dame, and Notre Dame is a good fit for Deion. "When I saw that, it amped up my love for the school even more. In my contact with them, they kept preach- ing that to me. Kudos to them for staying on top of that." Yolanda and Frank Jackson live in Augusta, Ga., a couple hours away from Athens, where Col- zie attends school. When he revealed his school of choice to his mother and stepfather via a video call, Yolanda just hap- pened to be wearing a blue Notre Dame t-shirt. "He said, 'Mom, do you want to know where I'm going?' He said to look down. So I started looking around on the floor, and then he started laughing," Jackson re- called. "I finally looked down at my shirt and said, 'Are you serious?' "Nothing on this earth could've spoiled that day for me after that. I was pretty happy." The elder Spindler admitted that he and his wife, Rochelle, thought that their son was going to Michigan. Rocco even told them as much, just to test them to get their true reaction. "He said, 'Mom and Dad, I'm go- ing to Michigan,'" Marc Spindler rec- ollected. "I congratulated him, and then he asked, 'What do you think about that?' "I said, 'Son, I think it's a great choice, but there's something stuck in my craw about Notre Dame, which might have been the better opportu- nity for you. Right as I got that out of my mouth, my wife said, 'I agree 100 percent.' "Then he said, 'Good, because I'm going to Notre Dame.'" Despite his prior allegiances, Marc Spindler will root just as hard for Notre Dame as anyone now. He signed off from his interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated by shouting, "Go Irish!" And look for Colzie's mother to be donning Fighting Irish gear inside stadiums across the country for years to come. "We are so stoked that we have already purchased our tickets and flights for every single game next year, home and away," she added with a laugh. ✦ In front of a predominately pro-Michigan crowd, Clarkston (Mich.) High's Rocco Spindler, the No. 3 offensive guard and No. 59 overall recruit nationally per Rivals, announced his commitment to Notre Dame next to his father, Marc. PHOTO BY CLAYTON SAYFIE Parents' Perspective On Two Of Notre Dame's Top Commits

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