Notre Dame's recruiting class upset after fellow recruit's late switch

Linebacker recruit Alex Anzalone was once committed to Ohio State, but he backed out of his verbal commitment to the Buckeyes after a convicted sex offender posted a picture on the Internet of himself with Anzalone during the prospect's official visit to Columbus in April.

It's hard to top that recruiting story, but Anzalone's recruitment took another strange turn on Thursday, when he decided to sign with Florida after a months-long commitment to Notre Dame. Anzalone, an early recruit who was set to enroll at Notre Dame in January, was only a day away from signing his official Letter of Intent.

Per Mike Farrell, the national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com, Anzalone flipped to Florida because of Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly's interview with the Philadelphia Eagles.

With that, Anzalone's long and laborious recruiting process comes to a close (we think). But while Anzalone seems at peace with his decision, several members of Notre Dame's current recruiting class are taking it hard.

Devin Butler, a cornerback recruit from Washington, D.C., who committed to the Irish in April, had a series of tweets on Anzalone's late flip (I combined them into one paragraph):

"Honestly just lost a lot of respect for this dude. Thought it was a close friendship… I'm not gonna bash him because regardless he is a close friend of mine but it does hurt that he didn't have the decency to tell me… I found out thru other people. Why couldn't you stick it out and wait for a decision like everybody else? What makes you so special?… Ok I'm done because I will rant for days… #SeeYaAtTheTop homie @AlexAnzalone_24"

Malik Zaire, a quarterback recruit, said much of the same on his Twitter account:

"Man what the hell Alex that was low. 2 days before you report u go somewhere else? Its all good well see you down the road"

Linebacker Jaylon Smith, a five-star prospect and one of the gems of Notre Dame's class, seemed more shocked than upset:

"Just heard Alex switched, like forreal tho."

Wide receiver recruit Corey Robinson was extremely sensible:

"Best of luck to my bro @AlexAnzalone_24 . Sad to see you leave the #Mob but hope you do great things at Florida"

The immediate impact of Anzalone's late switch? According to Rivals.com, Florida now has the top-ranked class in the country; Notre Dame drops to second.