ND Checks All The Boxes For Hicks

“Elijah is the type of kid who isn’t worried about the athletic part, he says that’s easy,” his father, Tony Hicks, told Irish Sports Daily.

“He takes the college experience on the 40-year plan, not a four-year plan. He believes in God quite a bit. He says, ‘If God wills me to go to the NFL, that’s going to happen. My main concern is my education.’”

With the emphasis on education, the 6-foot, 180-pounder from La Mirada High School had no problem making the decision to commit to Notre Dame following his official visit to South Bend this past weekend.

“Number one, the undergraduate business school, how they’re ranked,” Hicks’ father said of the reasons to choose Notre Dame. “Number two, Coach (Brian) Kelly. I’m a football coach myself and once you get a chance to talk with him and the staff, you feel 100 percent confident that they’re very competent. They’re the type of coaches that a coach like myself would want their son being coached by.

“Of course, the alumni base is strong. Those are the little things we felt comfortable with at Notre Dame. We’re in California. Notre Dame is the second-largest alumni network in California. USC is number one.”

Hicks had offers from schools like Michigan, UCLA, Oregon, Northwestern, Cal, Washington and dozens of others, but the list was shortened to about five when academics and life after football were factored in.

“We put more weight on the alumni network first and the academics and then football,” Tony Hicks said. “When you do that, that narrows those 34 offers down to maybe five. Of those five, I think the last determining factor was that Notre Dame is on TV every Saturday.

“Elijah is a little different than anybody else. Elijah is the type of kid who is like, ‘OK, how strong is the alumni network? How do they tap into the alumni network? What are you guys doing for the football players so you’re sure the alumni network actually works?’”

Mr. Hicks can see why some are intimidated by the academic challenges in South Bend, but that was an attraction for his son.

“Notre Dame seems to be very, very high in all aspects,” he said. “I understand why a lot of kids don’t go to Notre Dame – either because the academic part scares them or what. But when you’ve got someone like Elijah who is a 4.0-student and a great athlete, Notre Dame is the best in the country.”

Hicks got a good feel for his future position coach, Todd Lyght, but was also able to hear from one of Lyght’s own pupils.

“You don’t know how a coach really coaches until you’re coached by him,” said Mr. Hicks, who pointed out that his son spent a year at St. John Bosco with current Irish defensive back D.J. Morgan.

“DJ was able to talk to him about Coach Lyght quite a bit and he felt comfortable that Coach Lyght is a great coach.

“Those were the reasons why.”