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Nick Tausch received a scholarship offer Tuesday afternoon from Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis.
Minutes later, he became the Irish's ninth non-binding oral commitment of the Class of 2009.
Tausch, a kicker from Dallas, had been waiting for Notre Dame's offer all along.
"He said he had one question for me," Tausch said, recalling his conversation with Weis. "That if he offered me a scholarship, would I take it?
"I told him I would."
Tausch, though, initially had to wait. Notre Dame had offered kicker Dustin Hopkins out of Houston, but Tausch said when the Irish hadn't heard back from Hopkins by the pre-appointed deadline, they moved to Tausch, who has made field goals from 63 yards in practice and 48 yards in a game.
"It was somewhat stressful, I thought," Tausch said. "I just kind of thought that just sitting there waiting, I just kind of hoped that I would have an opportunity to go to Notre Dame and fortunately it (happened) and I'm going there now and I'm thrilled."
Notre Dame's tradition attracted Tausch out of Texas and to Northern Indiana, along with the coaching staff and academics.
One thing that Tausch couldn't say was a factor was location -- he has yet to visit the South Bend school. He expects to go up in a couple weeks to see Notre Dame and to talk with the coaching staff about his specific role.
Tausch described himself as an all-around kicker.
"I think I'm good at both," Tausch said. "I don't think there is one that totally stands out in front of the other. I have a combination of a really strong leg with a lot of accuracy."
He chose Notre Dame -- his first official offer -- over Baylor, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Louisiana Tech, all of which had shown interest. It also likely wraps up Notre Dame's specialist recruiting for a while as the Irish have now signed a kicker (Tausch) and a punter (Ben Turk) for 2009, when current kicker Brandon Walker will be a junior.
