Notre Dame got great news this week, as the newest commitment is in for the Fighting Irish in the 2021 class.
The latest prospect to pledge to Notre Dame is Mansfield (Texas) Legacy defensive end David Abiara, who picked the Irish over Alabama, Baylor, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Wisconsin and others.
Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston visited Abiara’s school on Thursday, Jan. 23 and extended an offer to him that day.
Notre Dame recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator Brian Polian visited Abiara’s school the following week, and Abiara made the trip up to South Bend for the Irish’s prospect day Feb. 1.
“It was fun; it was great,” Abiara told BlueandGold.com about his visit. “I loved the environment and coaching staff. The academics is second to none. We had a great time up there.
“The part that really stuck out to me was one of the professors of business sitting down to talk to us. He’s actually one of the inventors of the Keurig. That was really cool and stuck out to me.”
The 6-4, 240-pounder was blown away by his Notre Dame visit and nearly committed to the Fighting Irish in early February, but decided to hold off. He was going to return to South Bend for the March 20-22 weekend, but that visit was cancelled due to the NCAA enacting a dead period because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Abiara decided not to wait any longer and took to social media to announce his commitment to Notre Dame on Friday, March 27, 2020.
“We love the religious aspect of it,” Abiara said of Notre Dame. “The people there and the environment is just different. For as big of a brand that Notre Dame is, there’s only 8,000 undergrads on campus.”
Rivals ranks Abiara as the No. 42 prospect in Texas and the No. 21 strongside defensive end nationally.
Abiara was named to the District 6-5A Division I All-District first-team defense as a junior.
He has a 5.7 three-star recruit ranking by Rivals, which is described as a “potential all-conference candidate and a player deemed to have mid to low-end pro potential and ability to impact at the college level.”
Abiara joins the following prospects on the Notre Dame 2021 commit list: QB Tyler Buchner, WR Lorenzo Styles, TE Cane Berrong, OL Blake Fisher, DT Gabriel Rubio and S Justin Walters.
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