Notre Dame will be hosting one of the top running backs in the Class of 2027 next week, when California’s Jaxsen Stokes makes the trip to South Bend.
“I think he has a lot of the traits that somebody's looking for in a running back with great vision, toughness, but then combined with world-class speed,” Sierra Canyon head coach Jon Ellinghouse tells Irish Sports Daily.
“It just makes him one of those super-elite type of guys. He's dangerous and anytime he gets the ball in his hands, he can go.”
The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder has more than a dozen offers from schools like Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Penn State among several others.
Stokes still has room to grow, but he’s pretty good already, according to Ellingouse.
“Just continuing to learn the vision of the game and putting himself in positions to make elite level cuts and that sort of stuff,” the coach says of where he can improve.
“But yeah, he's as good as I've ever had.”
Off the field, Ellinghouse says Stokes checks plenty of boxes.
“He is kind of a no-nonsense kid,” the coach says. “There's not a lot of flash to him. He's kind of quiet and just loves football, which is an awesome thing. He's all ball and works his ass off. He's kind of a coach's dream; does everything you would want without any of the ridiculous stuff.”
That “absolutely” helps reinforces the culture Sierra Canyon has already established.
“He is the guy that's always going to be doing his job, always going to be working hard and obviously anytime you have that, that makes your team better,” Ellinghouse says.
Stokes is also expected to make trips to USC, Oregon, Tennessee and Arizona State this fall
Ellinghouse says Stokes is high on the Irish.
“I think probably more than anything, he wants to play at the highest level,” the coach says. “He wants to play elite football. Education is important to him. He is a smart kid, so obviously when you talk about Notre Dame, you check a lot of boxes.
“I think any kid would be a fool not to strongly consider Notre Dame and I think he definitely is. The fact that he's going out there on a visit tells you a lot too. I think Notre Dame is definitely right there in the hunt with him.”
Ellinghouse does see some similarities between Sierra Canyon and Notre Dame.
“Playing a good brand of football combined with great academics, I think that's kind of what he is used to at the high school level,” he says. “We're kind of a Stanford of high school when it comes to academics. I know Notre Dame's right there too.
“This is not an easy place to go to school. Here, we tend to play a pretty good level of football and then obviously combine it with a world-class education. To me, that's very similar to what Notre Dame does.”
Plus, that offer from the Nittany Lions was delivered when Ja’Juan Seider (pictured above) was still at Penn State. Seider is now coaching running backs in South Bend.
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