2028 OL Kajus Muralis Looking To Learn More About Notre Dame's Interest

Kajus Muralis‍ already knows how he feels about Notre Dame.

This weekend, the 2028 Illinois offensive lineman hopes to get a better feel for how the Irish feel about him.

Muralis will return to South Bend for Notre Dame's game against Stanford on Saturday, his first opportunity to experience a gameday inside Notre Dame Stadium.

The Waubonsie Valley High School standout camped with the Irish in June and earned an offer following his performance. He has remained in contact with offensive line coach Joe Rudolph since then, although the communication hasn't been as frequent as it has been with some other programs.

“It's been on and off,” Muralis said. “I've talked to Coach Rudolph a couple times, but that's really it.”

Those conversations have included more about Notre Dame and plans for this weekend's visit.

The 6-foot-7, 255-pounder is looking forward to spending more time in South Bend and with the Irish coaches.

“I'm just excited to see the campus more and then I want to meet the coaches more,” he said.

Muralis has never attended a Notre Dame game. In fact, this fall has provided his first opportunities to experience college football games in person.

While Muralis didn't necessarily grow up a Notre Dame fan, the Irish became one of the programs he followed when he started getting more interested in football during middle school.

“I feel it's going to be great,” he said of Saturday's visit. “I haven't been to many college football games before, and especially a Notre Dame game. They have a big stadium and I feel the atmosphere is going to be crazy.

“So I'm just excited for that.”

Muralis has already made gameday visits to Purdue and Illinois this fall. He enjoyed watching both games, but much of the value came from getting additional time around the respective coaching staffs.

His schedule will remain busy after Notre Dame.

Muralis plans to visit Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa.

“I think it's going to help me decide which schools actually do want me and which schools don't want me,” he said of the visits. “Then it's going to be just, ‘Do I want to play in this environment or do I not want to play in this environment?’”

That first part is particularly important when it comes to Notre Dame.

Muralis called Notre Dame his dream school this summer and identified the Irish as his early leader. At the time, though, he also made it clear he wanted to see how strongly Notre Dame would continue recruiting him before making any decisions.

That hasn't changed.

“I still really like Notre Dame as a school, but that still sort of is the case,” he said. “Other schools have been showing more interest, so we'll see.”

Muralis isn't ready to make any definitive judgments yet.

With several visits still ahead, he expects to begin narrowing his recruitment after his junior season, while remaining open to potential new opportunities.

“I'll probably start narrowing my list down after the season, but then again, a new opportunity can appear out of nowhere. So I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'll probably start narrowing down my list after the season.”

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