2023 DE Mathias Barnwell "Blessed" By Notre Dame Offer, Ready To Visit

Mathias Barnwell‍ says he was “filled with excitement” when he learned he’d received a scholarship offer from Notre Dame earlier this week.

“My first football coach, he's actually a huge Notre Dame fan,” the 2023 Virginia prospect says.

“I've always known about Notre Dame because of him and another coach on my staff. Notre Dame means a lot to me, so I was filled with excitement and enjoy. I'm just really blessed to have the opportunity to receive an offer from Notre Dame.”

The 6-foot-7, 255-pounder has some offers as a tight end and some as a defensive end. Irish defensive line coach Mike Elston delivered the offer to Barnwell and let him know Notre Dame sees him as a defensive player.

“I'm willing to play either position,” says Barnwell. “I played d-end growing up, so I know everything about the position and everything like that. Coach was just like, 'We can teach you new techniques and everything like that and we'll offer you at d-end.'

“I've got a few offers at d-end, actually over the past few weeks. I'm willing to play either.”

The Riverbend High School standout and one-time Penn State commit also has offers from schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Maryland, Nebraska, Michigan State, Arizona, Arizona State, USC and Oregon among several others.

The Notre Dame offer certainly made an impact.

“I know it's a really good school academically and as a whole,” he says. “Athletically, I know that their football program is really good. I don't really know about any other sports, but I know the football program develops NFL players. So, I know it's a great school.”

Barnwell and Elston had been communicating for a couple weeks before the offer came.

“He's a really cool guy,” Barnwell says of Elston. “We have a pretty cool bond. We haven't known each other for that long, but I can already tell we're going to have a strong relationship. He's very welcoming.

“He talked to my mom, my family. He respects them and they respect him. They're happy to talk to him, so he's a great guy. We really enjoy having a good relationship with him.”

Barnwell immediately made plans to get to South Bend for a visit, which he’ll do on June 17th.

“I'm just hoping for a family environment, which they show on the phone, just the people to be great,” he says of what he’s looking to see. “I can't wait to meet the other commits and recruits and everything like that. I can't wait to meet Coach (Brian) Kelly and the whole staff and everybody. I'm really excited.”

He’ll also be making stops at Ohio State, Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan State next month.

Barnwell has plenty of time before he needs to make a decision, but has already identified some critical components.

“The most important factors will definitely be me improving not only as an athlete, but as a person and as a student. I want to major in Sports Broadcasting, so I have to find a school that has that major. That's what I want to do if football doesn't work out or after football so I can be prepared for that.”