2026 DL Elijah Golden Returns To Notre Dame
Elijah Golden camped at Notre Dame last summer.
The 2026 IMG Academy defensive lineman felt he performed well enough to earn offer from the Irish at some point.
That offer came on St. Patrick’s Day, when he landed an offer from the Irish on Pot of Gold Day.
Golden returned to South Bend this weekend for the Blue-Gold Game.
“Notre Dame went very well,” he told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “It felt good to be back on campus.
“I got to see a lot. The food there was very good. I was talking to one of the recruiting guys most of the time. He was taking us around campus.”
Golden was impressed with what he saw during the tour.
“The campus is very beautiful,” the 6-foot-4, 260-pounder explained. “ I actually like the Golden Dome that they have. I really liked that and I liked Touchdown Jesus.”
He also enjoyed watching the spring game.
“Their defensive ends are very good,” Golden said. “I liked the way they move and how to use their hands on run plays and pass plays.”
Golden also has offers from schools like North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Pitt and West Virginia among others.
While in town, he had the opportunity to speak with Marcus Freeman, Al Golden, Al Washington, Nick Sebastian and Chad Bowden.
“Coach Freeman was talking about how Notre Dame is one of the best places to be,” Golden said. “How they have the number one school where the football players graduate from there. How Notre Dame sets you up for your future, not only for football, but after.”
The others echoed that sentiment.
“Mostly the same thing and how I look good, my size looks good,” Golden recounted. “They were just excited to see me there.
“It felt good because I was planning on coming back down anyway and I wanted to come down for a spring game. I definitely want to come down for a game day visit to see how it is during the game day.”
But he’s planning to be back even before the fall.
“For the summer I'll be heading back here to South Bend. I might be hitting Virginia Tech and Indiana as well, and other schools that are in the area and UNC as well.”
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