Cincinnati Trio Takes In Notre Dame Spring Game

Last month, Mike Daniels brought Darrion Henry‍ out to South Bend to see Notre Dame and the 2020 Ohio defensive lineman left with an offer from the Irish.

On Saturday, Daniels brought two more of his Princeton High School standouts to see the place for the Irish’s spring game.

“I thought things went well,” said the Princeton High School head coach, who brought Henry along with 2020 linebacker Jaheim Thomas‍ and 2020 cornerback Elijah Eberhardt‍.

“The last time, Darrion experienced it by himself,” Daniels explained. “He saw a lot of the same things, but this time around he was able to go to the spring game and experience that with his teammates, his brothers.”

The Irish made another pitch to the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Henry, who also has offers from schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa among others.

“They want him to be a part of it,” said Daniels. “As he goes through the process of choosing and seeing what everybody has to offer, he’s kind of formulating his thought process in terms of what he actually wants in a school.

“This kind of helps with building that relationship and seeing how they coach and seeing if it’s a fit for him.”

Notre Dame is a school that will continue to have his attention moving forward.

“It’s the combination of elite education with elite football,” his coach said. “It has a unique place in the country. The history and story of Notre Dame is unique, so the combination of those two is what strikes the interest of Darrion. You add the simple fact of the after-football phase and the networking opportunities that would be there, just how wide and large and well-connected the alumni base is, it’s worldwide really.”

Daniels said Henry will “absolutely” be back.

“The Big Man Camp is the date that’s targeted to be able to get up and spend some quality time with Coach (Mike) Elston where there’s not so many people on campus,” the coach said. “We’ll find a time where he go through some drills and be coached up by Coach Elston and be able to spend some time with him over the summer, when it’s a little bit more relaxed.”

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Thomas already has a handful of offers including ones from schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Cincinnati and Kentucky while the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Eberhardt has an early offer from Western Michigan.

“I think they liked it,” said Daniels. “It went really well and I think as they continue go through the process and understand the value of that education at a place like that is even more exciting. It was really good. We got to have some really good time with coaches. For those kids, I think it was a successful visit.

“I think Jaheim and Elijah are both on the radar. Elijah probably has a little further to go to have elite academic institution grades and he knows that. But they both will play at that level, high-Big Ten, high-BCS schools. Teaching those guys to understand and appreciate the process and not rush it. The next step for both is probably camp.”

Daniels believes there is a good chance the Irish will continue to monitor both moving forward and maybe more.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one or both of them officially get an offer or be heavily recruited by Notre Dame,” he said.

The Cincinnati crew will continue to hit the road.

“Iowa is a place that we would get to and then also the Georgia/South Carolina area, we’ll try to get in that region to give the kids something to compare it to so they can have that experience as they go through this process,” he said.

And they’ll see South Bend again.

“We’ll definitely be back without a doubt.”