Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington and defensive line assistant Nick Sebastian extended an offer to Elija Harmon on Monday and let the 2027 California defensive lineman know why.
“They basically said, I'm doing all the things right on the field and in the classroom and I deserved it,” Harmon said. “They said that I was kind of on the top of their list in this class. They're going to make a real hard push for me.”
Harmon’s growing list of scholarship offers already included schools like USC, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and Auburn among others.
He was “very thankful” to add the Irish to the list.
“I don't know the word for it, but it's like a testament to how hard I've been working,” the 6-foot-3, 285-pounder said.
“I know they've got a really good football program as far as winning football games and just the tradition and then they have great academics also.”
Next up for Harmon is getting there.
“I definitely want to get to South Bend this spring or summer,” he said. “I'll have to set that up. That's definitely the next step.
“I want to see practice. I want to see how the coaches coach their players, how the players respond to it, stuff like that, how meetings go.”
He’s already made trips to USC, UCLA, Cal and Stanford and has a few more planned.
“I'll probably go back to USC and UCLA once their spring starts and then I think I might be going to Oregon this spring,” he said. “I haven't set up a date yet, but I plan on getting down there.”
Location doesn’t matter as Harmon said he’s open to leaving the West Coast, but he has identified other factors that will matter.
“My main thing is development, not only as a player but as a man. I want to be developed into a great man, a great husband, stuff like that, and also a good football player. My second thing is good academics. I've got to go to a school that could get me somewhere for after football, get me set up for life after football. And then my third thing is I want to win a national championship, so I want to go to a school that could get me there.”
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