Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Gunner Kiel Would Reverse ND's 2012 Fortunes

The month of January was shaping up to be a horrible start for the Notre Dame football team.

Well, it was until Monday.

Five-star quarterback prospect Gunner Kiel has decommitted from LSU and reportedly plans to stay in his home state and play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish according to numerous reports.

Considering he has already told Indiana in addition to LSU that he plans to go there, take today’s news with a grain of salt.

But it’s hard to not get excited if you’re an Irish fan. He has a strong arm and the mobility to avoid the pass rush, yet is still the pocket passer who fits Kelly’s offensive philosophies.

With the prospect of head coach Brian Kelly having to decide between Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendriz and Everett Golson, bringing in a 5-star recruit like Kiel would completely change the fortunes of what was turning out to be a terrible recruiting period for Notre Dame.

On Sunday 4-star offensive line recruit Taylor Decker informed the South Bend Tribune that he had changed his mind and now plans on attending Ohio State. That knocked the O-line commitments down to two and the overall total of the 2012 class to 16.

This comes just days after cornerback Ronald Darby decided to take back is commitment to Notre Dame to instead play at Florida State.

The progress made in the class of 2012 was supposed to be significant after Notre Dame extended coach Kelly through the 2016 season. Instead, it was nothing but gloom and doom.

Until Monday.

So cross your fingers Irish fans, as long as Kiel doesn’t change his mind yet again, you officially have the best QB prospect to hit South Bend since Brady Quinn.