Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Family Decision For Four-Star Defensive End BY JASON SAPP McDonough (Ga.) Eagle's Landing Chris- tian Academy when he visited Notre Dame on April 2 for spring practice and quickly named the Irish his leader, but he was only "99 percent" certain on his deci- sion at that point. I COMMITMENT PROFILE ISAAC ROCHELL was amazing, but I wanted to make sure everything wasn't just glamorized for my first trip out there," the 6-5, 260-pound four-star recruit said. "My mom and dad were pretty sold, but it wasn't a full 100 percent as a family yet." The final piece of the puzzle was for "When I went up there the first time it Rochell's brother, Matt, a sophomore of- fensive lineman at Air Force, to sign off on the decision and take in the experience at Notre Dame. "My brother came up there with me the second time [on June 4] ,and as a family we all felt comfortable at that point with everything," the younger Rochell said of his decision to commit to Notre Dame just two days after that visit. "It's something different about Notre Dame, and I easily saw myself playing there. It got to a point where I knew it was the place for me, and I was ready to offi- cially get that done." Programs like Alabama, Auburn, Clem- son, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ten- t appeared as though it was love at first sight for defensive end Isaac Rochell of Rochell, the No. 6 strongside defensive end in the coun- try according to 247Sports, recorded 97 total stops, 24 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a junior. PHOTO COURTESY 247SPORTS nessee, Virginia Tech and many others had all courted the services of the na- tion's No. 6 strongside defensive end, the No. 10 player in Georgia and the No. 110 overall prospect in the land according to 247Sports. The support of the current Irish pledges helped guide Rochell to what would turn out to be his final choice. "Even before I committed there were already commits reaching out to me, and it already felt like a family," he shared. "It made it easy and made me comfortable with my decision. "We've all kept in touch since then, and it's cool knowing that you're already close AUGUST 2012 74