Little's change of heart, was all heart

By Jeff Baumhower for Scout.com

Posted Jan 12, 2007

Notre Dame landed commitment No 17 when offensive lineman Chris Little of Twiggs County High School (Jeffersonville, Ga.) elected to de-commit from Florida State and pick the Irish.

Chris Little named his school during the U.S. Army All-American game last Saturday, but it wasn’t a decision he was entirely comfortable. After speaking with his parents at length, the offensive lineman decided it was in his best interest to change his selection.

“I’ve had a lot of phone calls coming in,” Little responded when asked about his latest decision. “I did de-commit from Florida State and committed to Notre Dame.

“I talked to the coaches Wednesday night, and everything went good. I told them how I wasn’t really feeling Florida State and that I wanted to come to Notre Dame. I talked to coach Lewis first and then I talked to coach Weis. They were very, very elated about it.

“Coach Lewis sent me a text message earlier that day. He just told me congratulations on my decision. He said that even though he was disappointed that he wished the best for me. He let me know if anything changed that I would always have a place at Notre Dame. So when I got home from school I called him and told him that I had really been feeling Notre Dame when I got my offer and that I was really feeling them more after my official visit. He was very happy to here that I still wanted to go to Notre Dame.

“Coach Lewis called coach Weis and told him,” little explained. “Coach Weis wanted to call for himself and hear it from me, so he called me and we talked it. I told him the same things that I told coach Lewis and he was also very elated about it.”

Leading up to his decision Little had indicated that Notre Dame had a very good chance of signing him, but when it came time to make his choice during there U.S. Army All-American Bowl, he selected Florida State.

“My parents really wanted me to stay close to home, so I kind of felt pressured to that,” Little said. “I probably would have picked Georgia, but with them having so many offensive line commitments I really didn’t want to do that, so I picked Florida State.

“After the game Saturday I got back to my hotel room and talked to my parents. We talked about my decision and that it is going to be my four years of school. I had to deal with it and not them. Then I talked to them again about it on Sunday and then again on Monday when we got back from Texas. At that time we decided that I needed to go where my heart felt comfortable. They said, ‘all right.’”