Four-star safety Chaz Ah You 'loved' Notre Dame visit
A broken cell phone prevented Chaz Ah You from knowing what he learned on Saturday.
Notre Dame wanted to offer him. The Irish just had to wait until he got on campus to do it.
Defensive backs coach Todd Lyght shared the news with the 6-foot-1, 185-pound safety recruit while visiting for Notre Dame’s junior day.
“Coach Lyght pulled me into his office and he talked to me a little bit about what he was looking for in an athlete,” Ah You said. “He said I fit the qualities that are needed and that he wanted to extend an offer to me.”
Lyght had wanted to tell Ah You before the trip, but the junior at Sarasota Springs (Utah) Westlake has been sans phone while he waits for a new one to arrive.
Aside from the hampered communication, Ah You’s visit to Notre Dame couldn’t have gone much better.
“I loved it,” Ah You said using his father’s phone. “Notre Dame is beautiful so it was a lot of fun.”
Family is important to Ah You. That’s why his father, Jasen, accompanied him on the trip to South Bend. Jasen Ah You coached his son at Westlake before being hired as BYU’s director of football athletic relations. Jasen Ah You, his two brothers and his father all attended BYU.
At Notre Dame, Chaz Ah You found a family feeling that transcended bloodlines.
“I’ve always heard that Notre Dame is a family and how everyone loves each other and they’re all on the same page,” Ah You said. “When I was there, I was able to feel that by watching the players and the coaches and everything they did. You could tell that they were a family.”
The four-star safety has a number of options beyond Notre Dame and BYU. Stanford, Michigan, UCLA and Oregon are among the other schools to have offered Ah You.
Ah You did a little bit of everything in his junior season. He recorded 48 tackles, seven pass breakups, three sacks and two interceptions on defense, and tallied 26 catches for 352 yards and four touchdowns and 25 carries for 167 yards on offense.
247Sports slates Ah You as the No. 10 safety in the 2017 class. Rivals ranks him No. 11 at the position.
Ah You plans to make more visits as he tries to figure out his destination. A trip to Stanford is penciled in for May.
“I’m looking for a well-rounded school that can get everything out of me; push me in the classroom and push me on the field,” Ah You said. “I won’t let one thing trump the other. I’m not focusing on one thing more than others. I just want to be a well-rounded student-athlete.”
Ah You isn’t in a hurry to make a decision. He will likely narrow down his offers to a top list of 5 or 10 by the time his senior season starts. Official visits in the fall or winter are a possibility, including Notre Dame.
“Nothing’s for sure,” Ah You said, “but I would love to go back and take an official visit.”
tjames@ndinsider.com
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Twitter: @TJamesNDI
