Jordan Cowart, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound long snapper from St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., scrambled to call Weis back.
“He said Jordan, do you realize what was just happening on the phone,” Cowart began. “I said I have a good idea, but do you mind saying it again? He said I was offering you a scholarship to play football at Notre Dame. Then we started laughing about it.
“Within two days I committed.”
Cowart becomes the 18th player to commit to Weis in the class of 2009, and was receiving interest from Georgia, Florida, Ohio State and Rutgers. His current prep teammate, punter Ben Turk, is also verbally committed to the Irish.
“Actually, Ben Turk was eating dinner at my house,” Cowart said. “I thought it was pretty cool he was there when I got offered. Pretty much everyone dropped what they were doing and was going crazy, that kind of stuff.
“That’s good I’m getting to go up there with somebody I already know. Somebody I’ve been working with for four years.”
Heading into his freshman season, Cowart worked out with a local coach to prepare him for big-time high school football in the state of Florida.
“I was doing tight end training with a friend of mine that coaches, and he asked me whether or not I want to try long-snapping,” Cowart explained. “At the time, I didn’t know what it was, and I tried it from there, and we just continued from there. Twice a week, I’d go out with him and do some tight end training, and long-snap training, and over the years I’ve gotten better and better.”
Cowart, who is also from the same school as current Irish offensive linemen Dan Wenger and Sam Young, got moved up to the Aquinas varsity as a freshman, and has muffed just one punt snap, and zero field goal or extra point attempts since.
The muffed punt is debatable according to Cowart, sending some of the blame to his buddy Turk.
“It was during the Miramar game (this season). We were playing on the worst turf I’ve ever played on. It was pretty much like a dirt bowl.
“It was a high snap. He caught it too. He said he saw people coming at him so he decided to kick it out of bounds. I said you should’ve rugby punted it, and he said he didn’t want to mess up his average.”
Verbally committing to Notre Dame was an easy decision for Cowart.
“The fact that going there, if something were to happen with me athletically with football, that I know I’d be able to get a good education and a good career,” Cowart said.
He will visit Notre Dame for the first time in January.
“I want to give special thanks to my father Gary Cowart, coach Tim Conrad, coach Sam Caucci, coach George Smith, cousin Paul Pellicio and coach Tommy Waters.”