Notre Dame Football: Irish land tight end Eli Raridon
By Carlee North
The Notre Dame Football program continues to add to their impressive group of tight ends, this time landing a huge recruit in Eli Raridon.
After a weekend of seeing the Notre Dame football team get back on the field for their spring game, the Irish got some great news on Sunday with a commitment from 2022 tight end Eli Raridon, out of Iowa. Eli is a legacy, with his dad being a former offensive lineman for Notre Dame in the early 2000s.
So there is no doubt that once the Irish offered back in February they were going to move right toward the top, not only because there are school ties, but because of the tight end history for Notre Dame. He took a self-guided visit a couple of weeks ago which shows how much interest he really has.
The Irish jumped at the opportunity to get him in the class and made him one of their top 2 options for tight end spots in 2022. Raridon wasn’t going to pass up the chance to play for the Irish, even though Iowa and a dark horse team in Arizona State didn’t make it easy.
He made it officially public on Sunday afternoon. Raridon has 21 offers from the likes of Auburn, Iowa, Tennessee, and many more.
What will Raridon bring to the Notre Dame Football Program?
The 6’6 225-pound tight end will be bringing major catching ability and length to the tight end room. He has an outstanding catch radius and his arms are very long. Any ball that comes his way he goes up and brings in.
He’s a matchup nightmare because of those very reasons and with him having the athletic ability to move as he does, he could absolutely be added to the long line of tight ends that has a great Notre Dame career and moves on to the next level with a lot more success in front of him.
Once Raridon adds more weight and muscle he will be able to work more on his run blocking and be much more consistent in the run game but he has the technique and skills, just needs more reps as well. His ceiling is very high and that should excite most fans. This kid is going to be very good and I can’t wait until he gets to campus and starts working with strength coach Matt Balis.
With Raridon committing on this weekend the Irish class has 12 total pledges, with six now being on offense and 6 on defense. With tight end Jack Nickel de-committing from the Irish a few weeks ago, which seemed to be mutual with the staff showing a ton of interest in a few tight ends that weren’t named Nickel, Eli Raridon is the lone tight end at the moment in the class.
However, the Irish staff definitely plans to add another one to the class and they are all hoping that it’s very soon. This is a great pick-up by the Irish staff. I don’t see the tight end success in South Bend ending any time soon at all.