Why Notre Dame Shouldn't Worry 4-Star LB Alex Anzalone Canceled His Visit

Four-star linebacker and current Notre Dame commit Alex Anzalone will not be in South Bend this weekend to watch the Fighting Irish take on BYU.

According to Jason Sapp of 247Sports, Anzalone has canceled his scheduled visit:

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There were a few more details that needed figured out, however, as Anzalone decided to cancel the trip all together.

"My game is too far away tonight and my dad has to get back to work the next day," the nation's No. 5 outside linebacker, No. 4 player in Pennsylvania and the No. 43 overall player in the land according to 247Sports said on Friday morning, whose team is currently 7-0 heading into tonight's matchup.

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When reporting this news himself via Twitter, Mike Farrell of Rivals.com wondered if this was an indication of the University of Florida gaining an edge with Anzalone:

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Alex Anzalone cancels #NotreDame visit according to sources, sign no 2 he's destined to #Gators ?

— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) October 19, 2012"

Should Notre Dame and their fanbase be worried about Anzlone flipping?

Frankly, I don't see much to fret about in this instance. Let's not make too big of a deal out of this.

While it's never encouraging news to hear that a recruit had to cancel a visit, especially a recruit that has already decommited from a school once before, there's not much to worry about in this case.

If this were an official visit than it would be a different story, but this visit wasn't going to be an official one for Anzalone, and at least according to his quotes, it just didn't work out.

Let's not forget that unofficial visits can be quite a burden on the family of recruits, and that most of these players have their own games to worry about the night before. It can be quite a hassle to take an unofficial visit, and at least in this case, it looks like it was just too much for Anzalone. 

Just because he's is a 4-star recruit, that doesn't change the fact that he's susceptible to having his plans not work out, just like the rest of us. The fact that he went to a Florida camp and has visited Gainsville before shouldn't have a role in this story at all.

I can almost assure you that this was not an elaborate plot by Will Muschamp and the Gators to keep him away from Notre Dame. I don't see Muschamp having the power to impact Anzalone's high school football games or his father's work schedule.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has done a great job of recruiting and his 2013 class is extremely impressive, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Anzalone is going to be a big part of their success on defense moving forward, and for now, there's no reason to worry about his commitment to the Fighting Irish changing.

At least not because he canceled this visit.