Notre Dame In Hot Pursuit Of 2022 LB Snelling, A Stanford Baseball Commit
Robby Snelling’s recruiting process is already quite interesting.
The 6-3, 208-pounder from Reno (Nev.) McQueen started getting recruited by tons of college baseball programs going into his freshman year. Snelling, a class of 2022 prospect, felt comfortable with Stanford and made a commitment to the Cardinal on the diamond during the summer of 2019.
“That halted all of the offers for baseball,” Snelling said. “They have a gentleman’s agreement that you don’t talk to another school’s commit.”
At that point, Snelling had no idea he’d ever get looks for football. He played his first year of varsity ball as a sophomore in 2019 and posted 79 total tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four hurries, two interceptions, three pass deflections and two forced fumbles from his hybrid strong safety position.
“We didn’t know that recruiting would get as crazy as it has for football, which I’m very thankful for,” Snelling said. “It’s opened a lot of new doors for me.”
San Diego State offered Snelling following his sophomore season and has picked up offers from the likes of Mississippi, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA and others. Even the Stanford football program has offered Snelling, and again, he’s verbally committed to the Cardinal on a baseball scholarship.
Snelling is in quite the interesting position as he’s committed to Stanford for baseball and has an offer from the Cardinal football staff but hasn’t given a verbal to play both sports in Palo Alto. By all indications, he does plan to play both sports at the next level too.
He is in close communication with the Stanford staff about the latest in his overall recruitment.
“We’re not ready to get tied down to a school for football right now,” Snelling said. “There’s a lot that can change. We’re just feeling things out right now.”
A school that has caught Snelling’s attention is Notre Dame, which offered him August 10. Snelling was on his way home from a camping trip when he got into contact with Irish defensive analyst Nick Lezynski about playing baseball and football for Notre Dame.
“We had a good talk,” Snelling said. “He told me about the academics at Notre Dame and asked what I’d want I’d be interested in studying and talked about the dual-sport players that have come through Notre Dame, like Golden Tate, Jeff Samardzija and all of those names.
“He made sure that if I were to commit there that I’d be comfortable with the distance and feeling things out about what type of kid I was.”
Snelling spoke to Lezynski for about 30 minutes, which was his first contact with the Notre Dame staff. But then later that day, Snelling got on a call with Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Brian Polian.
“He talked about some of the same things – the location, storied program and how successful they’ve been,” Snelling recalled. “He talked about their new baseball coach and how at the beginning of this year, Coach Link Jarrett led the team really well. He asked if I would be prepared to mainly focus on pitching if I were to go there for football and baseball, because I would have to be balancing a lot playing both sports.
“I told him that as a family, we’ve already thought about that, and I’ve come to terms that being a pitcher is what I’m better at and where I’d make my money if anything happens in baseball.
“I told him that I would be prepared for that. He extended the offer to me, and I was shocked. It all happened so fast just within a day. It was crazy but definitely really cool.”
Snelling is listed as an outside linebacker, which in modern football could mean a number of different things. Notre Dame is recruiting him as an inside linebacker/rover and has been in contact with Lenzynski and defensive coordinator Clark Lea in recent weeks, as well as the Irish baseball staff.
Rivals ranks Snelling as a four-star prospect and the No. 23 outside linebacker nationally.
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