This time, Kiel is ditching LSU for a last-second defection to Notre Dame, according to the Notre Dame Observer, which confirmed an afternoon of rampant speculation with a university staffer on Monday night. Kiel is expected to enroll in South Bend by the end of the week — possibly as soon as Tuesday, the first day of classes for the spring semester — putting him on pace to join a crowded depth chart in spring practice.
The recruiting rumor mill went into red-siren mode Monday when Kiel was nowhere to be found among LSU's crop of early enrollees, but at this rate, the plot remains subject to change at a moment's notice. In August, Kiel initially pledged his loyalty to Indiana, where his brother, Dusty, was a backup quarterback who wound up starting the Hoosiers' first two Big Ten games before being relegated to the bench for the second half of the season. Gunner Kiel subsequently backed out of his commitment to IU in October, just after big bro had been yanked from the lineup for good (as of last weekend, Dusty Kiel is no longer a Hoosier, either), and eventually settled on LSU instead on Dec. 27. If it's over — and there is every indication that it is — his stint as a Tiger lasted just 20 days.
At any rate, his fate won't remain secret for long: Kiel is down to just a few days to get into classes at Notre Dame, which will allow him to join sophomore Andrew Hendrix in the race to unseat incumbent starter Tommy Rees in spring practice. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Kiel already has the look of a first-round draft pick, and has already drawn explicit comparisons from scouts to the local NFL hero, Peyton Manning. With that kind of hype following him to whatever campus he finally strides onto, for his sake, I hope he's more decisive in the pocket than he is on his choice of schools.
Note: This is not Gunner Kiel's mom dancing with the groom
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