2022 F Elijah Saunders Enjoys Notre Dame Official

Elijah Saunders‍ took an official visit to Notre Dame last weekend and the 2022 Arizona power forward left impressed.

“It was really good,” the 6-foot-8, 220-pounder told Irish Sports Daily. “It was cool to finally see it in person and see the coaches in person.”

The Sunnyslope High School standout got the full tour.

“We saw everything there was to see,” he said. “Obviously, we saw the basketball facilities and everything like that. We saw inside the dorms, met some academic advisors, met with a professor. Met with all of the academics people and then was just toured the campus.

“We went around and looked at all of the things there was to see. It was good.”

Saunders recently cut his list to five schools; Notre Dame, San Diego State, Virginia Tech, Miami and South Carolina. He took an official to San Diego State the week before South Bend.

Mike Brey and his staff are pitching Saunders on the opportunity to get on the floor.

“They're just telling me I could come in and contribute early,” he said. “They have senior forwards right now, so Coach Brey believes when they're gone next year, I'll have a shot to come in and compete for minutes early as a freshman.”

Saunders is planning to take officials to his remaining top schools in the coming weeks ahead of his commitment.

“I plan to commit to mid-October,” he said. “Once I get back, I'll judge everything and then hopefully commit around that.”

Notre Dame certainly left an impression.

“It is beautiful. The campus is really nice. The facilities are amazing. It's a unique place. I thought that on my visit. It's a cool town, different than a lot of other places, I feel like.”