He was going back and forth for quite some time with his decision, but Will Yeatman is officially transferring from the University of Notre Dame. While he has made up his mind of leaving, there are still a few other entanglements involved here.
As we all know Yeatman is a good football player and an exceptional Lacrosse player, where he earned All-America honors as a Freshman. He requested permission to talk to some schools on this past Monday, Dec. 15, and was granted that permission to do so.
Will's indecisiveness has been going on since December 5th and has been in talks with both coaches and administrators about possibilities. There were a lot of NCAA rules he had to navigate, as well as, some Notre Dame policies which will make any one's head spin.
He definitely will be playing both football and lacrosse at some institution in the near future. The question now will be how soon?
Many will be wondering if whether his decision was based on the coaches or his teammates. Rest a assure that Yeatman's decision was 100% based on the non-athletic related issues. Basically what happened is that Will feels that both sets of coaches and teammates were extremely supportive. What he can't get past and what tried to do was serve his suspension and move forward. Yeatman is not a kid that is trying to duck any punishment.
He just felt like that he couldn't start over. He did take it upon himself and said numerous times to everyone that he wanted to start over and show everyone that he's of good character and can make significant contributions to the university on and off the fields. But there were other folks on campus that wouldn't let Will do that (Student Affairs and Residence Life Offices).
So Will thought maybe a fresh start is what everybody needs so that's when he decided to talk to his respective coaches. Coach Weis was very understanding and knew that North Carolina was a school that he always wanted to go to. In fact, when Yeatman was on his recruiting trip to Chapel Hill, Charlie called him and convinced him to come to Notre Dame. So UNC is the top school of where he wants to be.
The stickiness is that North Carolina is also a powerhouse in lacrosse, which happens to be on the Fighting Irish's schedule this spring. There are not a lot of schools, in fact there's 11 of them that play high level football and lacrosse. So once you take Notre Dame out of the mix, then the list narrows down to 10, and then you look at both the Irish's lacrosse and football schedules. After that, then you're pinpointing to 4 schools, which I'm not sure is real fair.
Banned List for Football
Navy: Definitely out because ND and the Middies play every year
Army: Play the Irish at Solider Field in 2010
Syracuse: Details are in the works, but definitely out as well
Banned List for Lacrosse
Air Force
Penn State
Ohio State
North Carolina
All of these schools play the Irish this season
Schools Left
Duke
Maryland
Rutgers
Virginia
This decision was something that came to Yeatman fairly recently. When everything came down originally after his latest arrest, which those charges were never filed for mind you, his first instincts were he should have left South Bend on the next plane. Instead he decided he's not going to run away from this and serve his punishment and try to start all over again here at Notre Dame. Basically he was taking his medicine and seeing how this thing wold play out.
But once October turned to November and November turned into December, the same kind of negative attitudes were coming at him. He felt that he could never start over again here, so then he decided why not go someplace where he can be happy at.
Again it had nothing to do with the football coaches or his teammates. They couldn't have been more supportive throughout this entire ordeal. Yeatman felt that another place of scenery would be the best for his well being. That's when he got the ball rolling on December 5th and met with both coaches. Coach Weis told him that he wouldn't stand in his way whatsoever.
But again there might be some entanglements that won't allow him to play lacrosse this spring and sit out another year. This will be the second year that Yeatman will be away from his best sport.
When he did speak with Coach Corrigan, there was a lot of tension because Corrigan stated a number of reasons why he should continue and stay in South Bend. Coming into this meeting, Yeatman was still undecided on whether or not he was leaving for another school. But after his meeting with Corrigan, he made up his mind and decided on another program.
When reached for comment yesterday, Coach Corrigan did not release anything about Will's status and North Carolina, except that he said this issue is still not over. So you can decide for yourself how he feels about Yeatman's decision.
Make no mistake about it, Will Yeatman loves Notre Dame, but he felt that this is not a good fit for him anymore. This was finally one of the better decisions he has made since he arrived to South Bend.
Best of luck Will on your future endeavors.
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