Notre Dame Football: Aaron Lynch Transfers from Irish to Return Home

Phenom sophomore defensive end Aaron Lynch is leaving Notre Dame at the conclusion of the spring semester to return home to Florida.

The initial reaction is that this is an out-of-nowhere shocker. Lynch was entrenched at Notre Dame and was going to start this fall at strong side DE for the Irish. He is a beast that, with the constant television exposure and media attention, would be a sure-fire first-round pick in a couple of years.

Now he is gone.

Rumblings surfaced a week ago after an on-field fight with a teammate ended his practice early. He was then absent from practice for the remainder of the week sorting out "personal issues."

All seemed normal when he returned to practice this Wednesday, and now, the news comes that he is indeed transferring back to Florida.

The news seems stunning. Like a sudden punch to the gut.

But is it really?

During his recruitment, Lynch backed out of his commitment to Notre Dame. He flirted with Florida State and took a long, hard look at local schools that would keep him where he felt more comfortable.

After some hard selling by Irish coach Brian Kelly, Lynch relented and joined the Irish.

Now, it seems the homeward pull that Lynch initially felt during his recruitment has become too strong to ignore.

This tale is certainly not unprecedented. Kids make decisions that often turn out to be wrong.

In my mind this is very similar, although much slower in development, to the recruitment of Gunner Kiel.

Kiel was never set on Indiana; then, after long courtships with Michigan, LSU and Notre Dame, he chose to go to Baton Rouge.

Still, throughout the recruitment, he expressed that being near home was very important to him. He seemed to separate from that sentiment in accepting the LSU offer, yet in the end, the emotional tug was too strong and Gunner collapsed.

His 11th-hour enrollment at Notre Dame seems to have put him at peace.

Deonte Greenberry and Tee Sheppard could be placed in the same category.

They wanted to want to be far away to buy what Notre Dame was selling, but in the end, the change was too great.

This is really a growing trend in college football, where national recruiting programs are pulling kids in from all corners of the country.

Often, it works, but there are many times that it doesn't.

Aaron Lynch's departure will be a painful blow to what looked like a dominant Notre Dame defense. As fans, we will tend to focus on that.

For Lynch, the decision had to be difficult.

He will surrender a year of eligibility to play in his home state. He will more than likely end up at a second-tier school and will face a harder, tougher path to the next level.

Still, in the end, if he wasn't comfortable at Notre Dame, there is no reason to remain. As difficult as it is to say, Lynch probably is making the right choice.