BREAKING: Takacs Commits To Notre Dame
Ever since Notre Dame offered George Takacs back in March, it seemed like the Irish would be a great fit for the 2018 Florida tight end given his positions and family ties to the state and the University.
Today, Takacs made it official, giving the Irish his verbal commitment following a weekend visit to South Bend.
The 6-foot-7, 235-pounder from Naples gives Notre Dame 12 pledges in the Class of 2018 and its first tight end. After signing a pair of the nation’s tight ends in the Class of 2017 in Brock Wright and Cole Kmet, it seems likely Takacs is the only player at the position the Irish will bring in this cycle.
The Gulf Coast High School standout chose Notre Dame over a host of others offers, including Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin, the other schools in his top four.
Takacs participated in last year’s Irish Invasion and returned to South Bend shortly after receiving his offer from Notre Dame. He was back on campus this weekend and this trip sewed up his recruitment.
Takacs’ mother attended graduate school at Notre Dame he still has family in the state.
A kid who is seriously focused on academics, Takacs is also a leader on his team, according to Gulf Coast head coach Pete Fominaya.
“When your best players are your hardest workers, that’s usually when you have the most success,” Fominaya told Irish Sports Daily. “George is such a great leader for us. He does everything in the right way. He’s really been such a model for the other students to follow.
“When they see he’s working really hard and getting all of this success, ‘I should work hard too.’ He’s been a real blessing to our program. He makes our job a lot easier as coaches.”
But it’s Takacs’ frame and abilities that first caught the attention of Notre Dame and other top programs.
“When you have a young man who is 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds and who runs the way he does, you’re talking about an elite prospect,” the coach said. “Not only is that young man skilled physically like he is, he’s also an incredibly hard worker and an incredibly detailed young man.
Fominaya says is “your traditional in-line tight end” who can present match=up problems for defenses.
“With the frame he has and the size he has, he can be a threat in the box to block, but he can also be a vertical threat down the field because he’s got such great leaping ability and, in my opinion, he’s got elite-level hands,” Fominaya told ISD.
“He’s really a matchup problem for any linebacker or safety who tries to cover him.”
Stay tuned to Irish Sports Daily for more on this breaking story.