UPDATE: Notre Dame confirmed that Tyler Luatua will return to the program. Both Luatua and Kelly released statements, as you can read below.
Junior TE Tyler Luatua will rejoin @NDFootball. Statements from head coach Brian Kelly and Luatua on the decision... pic.twitter.com/7VWUvAyJXW
— Michael Bertsch (@SteelersPRMike) May 13, 2016
Notre Dame’s tight end depth chart might not be losing a man after all. Rising junior Tyler Luatua is reportedly reconsidering his decision to leave the Irish football program after announcing his intentions to transfer to BYU.
Luatua sat out spring football but stayed in school to finish the semester. But multiple outlets yesterday began to catch wind that the California native was reconsidering the decision, with classmate Andrew Trumbetti throwing gas on the first with this post:
RE: the reports that Tyler Luatua is NOT transferring from Notre Dame, here is what Andrew Trumbetti posted on IG. pic.twitter.com/EauRqScUD1
— Mike Vorel (@mikevorel) May 12, 2016
Bringing Luatua back might not be a huge boost to the stat sheet, but he will be a nice cog in the running game as an attached blocker. (Our friends at Blue and Gold went deep on Luatua’s skill-set here.) While Durham Smythe—assuming he’s healthy—should have the bulk to hang tough in the trenches, that job now relies on converted defensive lineman Jacob Matuska, with Alizé Jones taking reps mostly at boundary receiver by the end of spring and Nic Weishar not there yet physically.
Luatua played in 10 games each of the past two seasons. Notre Dame has room in their scholarship count for him still, and doesn’t have an incoming tight end until the class of 2017 when Brock Wright and Cole Kmet are pledged to join the program.