The Notre Dame football team is ramping up its recruiting once more as spring practice wraps up. Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish have one of the best teams in the 2026 class and that’s before they make some of the best defensive players in the country part of that group.
One of the prospects Notre Dame is looking at is 4-star defensive lineman Elijah Golden. While there’s still going to be a heck of a battle for the Cardinal Mooney product, it’s pretty clear that the Blue and Gold have made a lasting impression.
Golden has already taken four unofficial visits to South Bend. That includes a trip just last week. And as always, the defender came away feeling pretty good about where Notre Dame football stands in the grand scheme of things. That’s big news considering there was a time last summer when Freeman’s group looked as though they had fallen out of favor.
If the Irish were on the brink of falling out of the running, there was one thing that kept them alive. When talking to Irish Sports Daily, Golden mentioned something that the Golden Domers can offer that few others can.
Notre Dame football pushing hard to land 4-star DL Elijah Golden
“I feel like academics are very big over there and academics are very big for me.”
“I had a great time spending time with the coaches, players and staff,” the 6-foot-4, 275-pounder told Blue and Gold News. “I was able to dive deep into the school and talk to the counselors.”
Golden has locked down his official visits for this summer and it’s likely that he’ll then pull the trigger on a commitment just ahead of the 2025 season. The defensive lineman has laid out a schedule that includes Virginia Tech on May 30, Oklahoma on June 6, Alabama on June 13, and then Notre Dame on June 20. He was previously scheduled to officially visit Florida, but that trip is off.
The Irish might have a bit of an in, considering that the defender’s high school coach Jared Clark was a member of the Notre Dame football team from 2000-2004.
The Notre Dame football team will find out just how much of an “in” that really is later this summer.