2026 DE Braeden Jones Enjoys Another Notre Dame Visit
After receiving an offer from Notre Dame last month, Braeden Jones made his way to South Bend in early-April.
The 2026 Chicago edge defender returned this past weekend for the Irish’s Blue-Gold Game and once again left impressed.
“It was great,” the Mount Carmel star told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “We arrived on campus, got some food, talked, walked around for a little bit.
“I got to meet Miles Boykin. It was great to talk to him. He loved his time there. I met a national champion from the '77 team.”
After some more food, the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder was able to watch the spring game.
“I loved the game,” Jones said. “The atmosphere was crazy for a spring game scrimmage. It was crazy for me. I definitely didn't expect it to be like that. I can't imagine what it's like on an actual game day.
He said the defensive ends “looked great.”
“I definitely love the rush ends,” he added. “Number 47 (Jason Onye) had a really good game, for sure.”
After the game, Jones - who also has offers from schools like Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue, Auburn and Florida among others - had some more food.
“There's some lounge area where they had lunch for all their recruits, the '24s and '25 recruits,” he said. “I got to talk to a couple people. I talked to Chris Burgess for a little bit. I got to meet Coach (Marcus) Freeman again. talked to Coach (Al) Washington, who was on the winning team.”
Freeman and Washington expressed how grateful they were that Jones made it back.
“(Freeman) said it was great to have me back,” said Jones. “He wants to get down more often, and he appreciates having me there.
“(Washington) talked about how much they appreciate me and how much they want to get me here. He showed me how they are d-line-wise in the game, and I finally got to see how he is as a coach in-game.”
Jones said being such a priority for Notre Dame “feels different.”
“I definitely appreciate everything that they say to me,” he said. “I don't know, it's just wild to me, especially growing up watching them.”
He also appreciated the chance to speak with Boykin and Burgess, two Chicago area players who both chose Notre Dame.
“It's definitely great to get to know how they feel about the school, and it kind of persuades me in a way to maybe make a commitment there one day,” he said.
But no commitment is imminent at this point. The next step is another visit in a couple months.
“There's some camp that they have coming up in the summertime. I'll probably be back around for that, and then for sure, I'll be back in the fall for a game.”
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