Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
early January — and opened up his recruiting. Even prior to that, Vanderdoes took an official visit to rising UCLA (Nov. 23) and then Washington (Dec. 14), whose defensive line coach, Tosh Lupoi, is one of the nation's most revered recruiters. He still took his official visit to USC on Jan. 18, but added Notre Dame (Jan. 25) and national champ Alabama (Feb. 1) to the docket. Just like during the football season, the Irish had come out of nowhere with Vanderdoes. "The tipping point was that it's Notre Dame — it's hard to ignore," Vanderdoes said. "You can't ignore the education; you can't ignore the football program. The rise that they've been on this year … it was more like, 'Why wouldn't I take an official visit to Notre Dame?'" Once he did on a typically snowy, freezing January day in South Bend, Ind., he and his parents instantly felt at home. "It was a family feeling down there that was second to none," Vanderdoes said. "It's not an area that is just Indiana people or people from the East … it's people all around the United States. The players, the students, it's just a great community out there, and the academics speak for themselves. Plus I have a great opportunity to come in and compete early." His hosts included a couple of fellow defensive linemen, freshman Jarron Jones (from New York) and sophomore Louis Nix III (from Florida), plus freshman outside linebacker Romeo Okwara (from North Carolina). He especially