Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/296331
BY ANDREW OWENS Matt Farrell had a feeling he would eventually commit to Notre Dame af- ter head coach Mike Brey extended an offer March 9. His grandfather helped him decide to pull the trigger two days later. "My grandpa [a Notre Dame alum- nus] came over to my house today with a Notre Dame shirt on. I thought to my- self: 'What could be better than that?' I decided to do it today and feel good about it," Farrell said. The Point Pleasant Beach (N.J.) High School point guard became the third member of Notre Dame's 2014 recruit- ing class March 11 when he informed Brey he had made up his mind. "I've been around Notre Dame ever since I was a little kid," said Farrell, who is a family friend of former Irish running back Theo Riddick. "Our fam- ily has known people that have gone through there, and we've been out there a bunch of times. I'm familiar with the campus. I knew it was a spe- cial place. "Every time I go out there it's just beautiful. Knowing that I could go there and play basketball, I thought it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up." New Jersey Point Guard Decides To Join The Irish COMMITMENT PROFILE MATT FARRELL PROSPECT ANALYSIS: MATT FARRELL 247Sports recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer called Farrell a "solid" point guard who developed a high basketball IQ as a coach's son. (His father, Bob, is an assistant at St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey.) "He's a very intelligent and skilled player and one who you can put players around him and there's not too much pressure for him to do too much," Meyer said. "He can help a team be successful. "He's an average athlete at the ACC level. That would be the question mark on him. … He plays on the edge, is hard-nosed and has a balanced game. If you put the right pieces around him, I think he can be a glue point guard and hold things together and make players around him better." Meyer added that Farrell benefited from a breakout senior season and is hitting his stride now, even if he does not project as a point guard who will take over a game and be the focal point of an offense. "I think he fits in the Notre Dame offense because he has a balanced game and he can shoot the ball. I'd probably categorize him as an above average three-point shooter," Meyer said. "I wouldn't say he's a great shooter, but he can keep the defense honest and make shots. He's intelligent and knows how to distribute the ball. I like the balance to his game." Farrell meets Meyer's profile of a typical coach's son. "It's kind of what we expect from guys who grow up in a basketball coach's family," Meyer said. "They're going to be intense competitors just because of the way they were brought up and were influ- enced by their father." — Andrew Owens