Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Can the Irish Win Back Ronald Darby on NSD?

Notre Dame has always produced solid recruiting classes and under head coach Brian Kelly, it's been no different. This season they have one of the top recruiting classes and some of the most talented players at each position. They've filled several of their needs on both sides of the ball, but there is still one major need that needs to be addressed.

Of course that need is the secondary as the Irish are going to be hit hard in that department. In fact, all of last year's starters will be graduating this season, which means Kelly and company have a lot of work to do trying to fill in these holes. Players like Gary Gray, Harrison Smith and Robert Blanton will not be on this team next year. This can't be good news for a team that has BCS hopes every season and is trying to get back to their winning tradition.

The Irish have recruited well in the secondary so far, but they need all the help they can get. They've landed players like top cornerback Tee Shepard and some of this year's top safeties, including C.J. Promise and Elijah Shumate.

They also landed another top cornerback in Ronald Darby, but he ended up de-committing from Notre Dame to further explore his options. He began looking at other schools such as Auburn, Florida State and Clemson. LSU, Florida and Maryland are also schools that have an outside chance at the top corner.

Now that Irish fans have spent the last month or so waiting to see what his decision will be, they now have more information than they've had in recent weeks. Darby will make his decision on National Signing Day. We don't know which teams are still on his radar, as he's keeping everything close to the vest, but we do at least have a date set.

So what are the chances he ends up in a Notre Dame uniform?

I still think they're as good as anybodies. It's hard to imagine him picking a team like Maryland over Notre Dame, despite the fact he is from there. Also, the fact that he'll have the opportunity to start right away has to be very tempting for the young man. Schools like LSU, Florida State and even Florida don't guarantee quality minutes as a true freshman. And being able to play with talented players like Shepard across from him, could help create one of the most talented cornerback tandems in the country.

Darby has a lot of offers from some very respected programs, it was only right to explore more of his options before making this decision. But don't be surprised if he's back on board with the Irish when it's all said and done.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]