Jayden Bell didn’t get the chance to speak to Irish defensive line coach Al Washington before Notre Dame’s 49-10 win over Navy on Saturday night, but the 2028 Michigan defensive end had an important conversation with him afterward.
“I went in and I talked to him for a minute and he said, 'Just keep working,'” Bell explained.
“And then, he said that he wanted to offer me.”
The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder already boosted an offer sheet that included schools like Alabama, Michigan State, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Purdue, Pitt and Vanderbilt among others, but the offer from Notre Dame had him fired up.
“I was very happy because it's a pretty big offer,” Bell said. “I was pretty shocked. Notre Dame doesn't really offer a lot of 28s, so that's why.”
Washington has made a strong impression on Bell over the past year or so.
“He's a great guy,” said Bell. “I met him before when I went down to the camp earlier. That was my freshman year, though.”
Bell enjoyed the atmosphere for Saturday night’s win over the Midshipmen.
“I liked it,” he said. “It was pretty fun. It was a little cold though, but besides that, I'd say the atmosphere was great. It's a great school. They were very welcoming.”
And the Brother Rice High School star was impressed with the Irish’s performance.
“They played great,” he said. “In the third quarter, the game was pretty much pretty done, so they started putting the backups in. I enjoyed the game.”
He was watching his own position closely and liked what he saw.
“I feel like I would fit in great because their defensive ends, they do a lot of what I'm doing right now at Brother Rice right now; rushing off the edge and they move them around a lot,” he said.
Bell is looking forward to continuing the process with the Irish.
“I'll probably just build my relationship with them and come back a couple times,” he said, noting he could be back as soon as later this month for Notre Dame’s home finale against Syracuse.
He’s already been to Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Purdue this fall and expects to make it down to Indiana soon as well.
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