2021 DE Mattheus Carroll Talks Notre Dame Interest, Upcoming Visit

It’s still relatively early in Notre Dame’s recruitment of Mattheus Carroll‍, but the 2021 Maryland defensive end knows enough about the Irish to jump at the chance to visit South Bend.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder from Baltimore has received messages from Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston, defensive line graduate assistant David Kekuewa and head coach Brian Kelly.

“That started right before the Christmas break, so we’ve just been building a relationship,” said Carroll.

The message from Notre Dame was pretty clear.

“Basically, they have a few guys in their pool,” Carroll explained. “They’re still going through evaluations of me and those other guys, but they really like what they see. They like how my playing style would fit into their scheme. They seem to like me as a character guy.”

Carroll attends the prestigious Gilman School, where former Irish standouts Ambrose Wooden and Victor Abiamiri went as well as recent Notre Dame target Thomas Booker.

“Notre Dame, I look at that school as a school that has two sides to it,” said Carroll. “They have a really good football program with a rich, successful history and also, a Notre Dame degree holds a lot of weight. Obviously, Notre Dame is a really, really, really good school.”

The combination of academics and athletics is high on his list of priorities when it comes to evaluating schools.

“I really pride myself on those two things for sure,” he said. “It seems like a really good fit.”

Carroll currently has offers from schools like Duke, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati among other.

He will be in South Bend soon for a visit

“I’m 100 percent going up there Feb. 1st for their Junior Day,” he said.

“Just seeing if I can operate there on a day-to-day basis, so seeing facilities, more coaches and stuff like that, players, what kind of living space they’re in, just getting a feel for campus life and stuff like that.”

Prior to getting to Notre Dame, he’ll check out Duke’s Junior Day on Jan. 18th.

“That’s really all I have right now planned, but there’s definitely going to be some more I’m going to head out to this winter and spring,” he said.

During the fall, Carroll made stops at Maryland, Temple, Pittsburgh, Duke, Wake Forest, Stanford, Liberty and Penn State.

He’s grateful for the opportunities he currently has, but acknowledged the decision will be a difficult one.

“I can’t say any of those options are bad,” said Carroll. “I would say maybe some are better than others naturally, but it’s really tough having a choice of what you’re going to do which will make a huge impact on your life going forward is kind of tough. But if I really take this process and observe everything attentively, I think I can really make the right decision and benefit my life down the road for sure.”

He has enjoyed getting to know new people and coaches throughout the process and has appreciated the attention from others.

“Good problems,” he said.

Carroll is in no rush to make a decision.

“As it looks right now, I’m going to take my time for sure.”