Vernon Hills' Daniels loves his Notre Dame decision

It wasn't the "luck of the Irish" that helped Notre Dame this time.

It was the "love from the Irish."

That's what scored major points with DaVaris Daniels.

And that's what ultimately convinced the Vernon Hills senior, rated by many scouting services as the best high school wide receiver in the country, to say yes to Notre Dame.

On Tuesday night, Daniels ended a long and fierce recruiting battle for his services when he posted via Facebook that he had decided to commit to Notre Dame.

The Irish, he says, had simply won over his heart.

"Through all the recruiting, I've had my favorite schools," said Daniels, who ultimately chose Notre Dame over the University of Miami. "They all showed me love, but none of them showed me the love that Notre Dame did.

"Notre Dame just showed so much, from the coaches to the players to other high school players in my class who have committed to Notre Dame, to even the fans. There was love everywhere and I felt like I couldn't pass that up."

According to Daniels, Facebook was a catalyst for the love fest.

He says he has more than 2,500 Facebook "friends" and that if he had to guess, more than 1,000 are Notre Dame fans.

When Daniels posted his big news Tuesday night, word spread through Notre Dame Nation like wildfire.

"I'm on Facebook a lot and I was hearing from Notre Dame fans all the time about how bad they need me, things like that," Daniels said. "I've got a lot of Notre Dame Facebook friends, and I've gotten even more since I posted my decision."

But to Daniels, the friends who really count are those who sit in the Notre Dame football offices. He says he's built strong connections with the coaches there through many months of correspondences and conversations.

"The same love I was seeing from the fans-it was even more from Coach (Brian) Kelly and his staff," Daniels said. "I've been talking to the coaches there three to four times a week for a while now. I've established really strong relationships with all of them."

It was during one of his regular phone calls with a Notre Dame coach that Daniels rather spontaneously decided to commit.

Originally, Daniels had decided to wait until the end of the high school season to announce his college choice. But during the conversation Tuesday night, he felt compelled to end the suspense much earlier.

"Going into the conversation, I never thought about (committing)," Daniels said. "But we were talking and I just kind of got to the point where I was ready to do it.

"I guess I had known for awhile that I wanted to be at Notre Dame, but I felt like I had to make sure. I felt really good about it during the conversation and I just wanted to finally do it. It just kind of happened."

And now that it's happened, Daniels is experiencing a range of emotions. From relief to joy to a bit of shock.

"It just kind of hit me a few minutes ago that this is actually happening," said Daniels, whose cell phone has been jammed with people eager to congratulate him on his decision. "I'm really fired up."

Of course, the Irish are, too.

Daniels is big, fast and has great hands. In limited action (thanks to all of the lopsided victories for 5-0 Vernon Hills), Daniels has caught 9 passes for 221 yards so far this season. He's also scored 12 touchdowns, some by ground and some by air.

"This is a great decision for DaVaris," Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken said. "He's going to be a big part of bringing Notre Dame back. He's a great athlete and he'll be able to do a lot for them."

It might be in tag-team fashion at first.

Daniels says he is looking forward to teaming up with a familiar face. His cousin, TJ Jones, is a freshman wide receiver for the Irish.

"That wasn't the main reason I chose Notre Dame, but I thought about it," Daniels said. "TJ has had a lot of success this year, even as a freshman. They find ways to get him the ball and I can see myself doing the exact same thing next year.

"If you put us two together, we can hurt defenses in a lot of ways."