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Notre Dame recruiting: Cole Luke commits to Notre Dame over Texas, Okahoma

One of the top defensive backs in the Southwest rather unexpectedly ended his recruitment in a unique way on Thursday.

By SB Nation College News
Matt Cashore-US PRESSWIRE

In this age of social media, it's hardly surprising to see a recruit break the news of their commitment via Twitter. It is, however, unusual for a recruit to tell their friends, then retweet their congratulatory tweet to break the news, but such was the case for 2013 Chandler (AZ) cornerback Cole Luke on Thursday:

The news was confirmed several minutes later by Jason Sapp of Blue and Gold Illustrated, the Notre Dame 247Sports affiliate.

The 6-0, 170-pound Luke is a pure cornerback prospect with terrific ball skills considered a consensus four-star prospect by the services and one of the top players in Arizona, as well as one of the top 10-15 cornerbacks in the entire country.

Offered by at least 16 schools, Luke had narrowed his choices in recent weeks to Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Texas, with the Longhorns and Sooners thought to occupy the top several spots.

Interestingly enough, Luke had just taken his official visit to Oklahoma last weekend, where he saw the Sooners lose to the Fighting Irish. An October visit to Austin saw him take in the Texas-West Virginia game two weeks after traveling to South Bend, which was his second time in Indiana.

In the past, Luke has spoken about the connections he can make through the Fighting Irish alumni network as a major positive and wanted to find a place he felt comfortable.

A relatively quiet kid who didn't do many interviews during the recruiting process, it's difficult to tell what else played into the decision of Luke to pledge to Notre Dame, but the positive momentum built this season as the Irish have climbed back towards the top of the polls with a salty defense surely helped, especially in contrast to the struggles of the program since appearing in consecutive BCS Bowls following the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Of the 22 commits in the strong Irish class, only one other prospect is currently listed as a cornerback, so Luke fills a significant for head coach Brian Kelly in the 2013 cycle.

For the Sooners, it means that Bob Stoops and company will continue to explore options in the defensive backfield, especially at cornerback, after losing out on Luke and Livingston (TX) athlete Chevoski Collins.

Texas has several defensive backs committed in the class, but some believe that Bastrop (TX) cornerback Antwuan Davis will end up at safety, meaning that the 'Horns may not have a pure cornerback in the class. In that sense, losing Luke, who was thought by some who cover Texas recruiting to be something close to a lock to end up in Austin, is a significant blow to a class that has had little good news in the last several months.

This story was originally published on SBNation.com.