College football: WR Greenberry decommits, leaves Irish with 16-player class

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Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, center, and staff stand in the bench area during the closing seconds of the fourth quarter an NCAA college football game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. Michigan defeated Notre Dame, 35-31. (AP Photo/Bill Fundaro)

Updated: March 3, 2012 11:41AM

The typical signing day euphoria for Notre Dame was muted by one of the must-have players that got away.

In a stunning turnaround, partially because he picked Houston (not USC, Alabama or Washington, all of which he had offers from) Deontay Greenberry a four-star wide receiver signed a letter of intent with Houston on Wednesday. Greenberry had verbally committed to play with the Irish, along with his cousin Tee Shepherd, a highly ranked cornerback.

Greenbery, at 6-foot-3 187 pounds, was pegged to be a big receiver to counter the loss of Michael Floyd. The Irish, short of playmakers on offense, need depth at the wide receiver position to run Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly’s spread offense

They signed just two receivers —Justin Ferguson and Chris Brown.

Kelly said he found out about Greenberry’s change of heart Wednesday through his high school coach. Greenberry, who took a surprise visit to Houston last week, was the third verbal commitment the Irish lost in the last three weeks. The other two were Ronald Darby, a five-star cornerback who signed with Florida State and Taylor Decker, a tackle, who followed former ND offensive line coach Ed Warinner to Ohio State. Warinner was hired as the co-offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes.

Kelly brushed of the decommitment from Greenberry, saying he wanted to coach players who wanted to be at Notre Dame.

“It’s hard to be disappointed about something you never had or never coached,” Kelly said. “I’m more excited about the guys that signed because they are the right kind of guys.”

Sixteen players signed with the Irish during the recruiting period. One player, Amir Carlisle, a running back transfer from USC, will be eligible to play in 2013 after sitting out a season.

The Irish addressed needs at running back, signing Will Mahone, a Rivals.com top 250 running back and KeiVarae Russell, a Max Preps top 200 running back.

They also added depth along the defensive line with the addition of Jarron Jones, Sheldon Day and Romeo Okwara. They also added three safeties — John Turner, Elijah Shumate and CJ Prosise.

Kelly said he was confident that Gunner Kiel, who is a classic drop back pro-style quarterback, will be comfortable in the spread. Kiel had seen Notre Dame play plenty of times.

“One of the reasons he decided to come to Notre Dame was because of the foot from a football standpoint,” Kelly said.

Irish Illustrated ranked the class No. 21 in the nation.