Will Yeatman Not Talking This Week (Updated)

In one of the interesting stories this week, Will Yeatman will be taking on his former team as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish continue with their Ewing Theory season. Maryland announced in a written statement that Yeatman would not be available for comment this week. But the Baltimore Sun's Faceoff Blog repeated some comments from back in February:

"It was a very difficult situation mainly because when you’re at a college for 2½ years, you make so many bonds with so many great people and it’s hard to leave them," Yeatman said. "People have criticized me for saying this, but I was very unhappy, and I live my life to be a happy person. And I feel like if I’m unhappy, then there’s something wrong. I felt like at this time in my life, I needed a change, and I’m really happy I made the change to come to Maryland.

"I could have stayed at Notre Dame," he said a little later. "[But] I needed a fresh start in my life because I was pretty unhappy. I left a lot of people at Notre Dame that I generally do love, and it was hard for me to do that. But so far, I’ve been very happy that I made the change."

And Maryland Coach Dave Cottle had some comments as well:

"I think it is going to be a weird, unusual feeling. I think the thing to remember is that Will Yeatman cares a great deal about the Notre Dame friends that he has made over the years that he was there. He just happens to play for a different team, and he’s going over to play a lacrosse game. When the game is over, he’s got his friends from Notre Dame and he’s got his friends from Maryland. It’s probably going to be a very eerie feeling for him, but on the same end, he hasn’t stopped communicating with or caring about those guys. He’s just got a new set of friends, too. This game is not going to be about Will. It’s going to be about Maryland and Notre Dame. Both teams are going to prepare hard and play hard and we’ll see who wins."

I remember back in February when various pundits were talking about how much the Yeatman transfer would help Maryland and how Maryland would contend for their first national championship in decades. Pretty ironic that Notre Dame just finished an undefeated regular season and Maryland was lucky to get into the tournament at all.

Update: Notre Dame is willing to comment. From Lacrosse Magazine:

"When he first left, everyone was a little pissed off," said McDermott, who was Yeatman's roommate. "[But] if anything, it helped our team. It brought us together and made us realize we're a good team with or without Will."

McDermott said he hasn't been in touch with his old roommate since the matchup was announced, and once they get on the field, there probably won't be any trash-talking.

"It will be interesting seeing him in a different color," he said. "During any game, I don't talk to the attackman. I don't think I'll talk to him during the game, that's just how I am."