2020 German DE Alexander Ehrensberger Breaks Down Irish Commitment

Alexander Ehrenesberger’s visit to Notre Dame last fall resulted in the 2020 German defensive end landing a scholarship offer from the Irish.

And that offer resulted in the Irish landing a verbal commitment from the 6-foot-7, 240-pound junior earlier this week.

“It was just the mentality and vibe on campus when I was on campus in November, 2018,” Ehrensberger said. “It just felt different and felt like home. It felt like I’m supposed to be there.”

The Dusseldorf native said he knew the basics about Notre Dame prior to the trip, but learned much more afterward.

Mike Elston helped school the German on the Irish.

“I just like him a lot,” Ehrensberger said of the Notre Dame defensive line coach. “He’s a very nice dude. It’s just nice to be around him. He’s calm, but focused.”

Elston made the trip over to Europe to check in on Ehrensberger earlier in the week.

“I appreciated it a lot,” the junior defender said. “It helped close the deal. It showed that I’m of high interest for him. I think I was the first one he ever visited in Europe. It was great to be the one.”

Ehrensberger is looking forward to helping Notre Dame when he arrives prior to the 2020 season.

“I think I might be able to bring a different mindset from Germany, from Europe; a mentality, leadership, physicality, hard work and work ethic,” he said.

He spent about six months in the United States as a 10th-grader at Fryeburg Academy in Maine, so he has experience playing against Americans.

“I think the change won’t too tough for me, but will definitely be something I’ll get used to,” he said.

He also said he doesn’t think the differences between playing in the States and in Europe are as great as some may think.

“You can compete in Germany on a high level of football and the differences aren’t tremendous,” he said.

There has been an influx of European players in the college game recently and Ehrensberger is hoping to help put Germany on the college football map.

“Definitely,” he said. “College football has to grow in Germany. We can see how the NFL grows daily in Germany and is getting bigger and bigger. It’s just a matter of time before college football is huge over here too.”

Brandon Collier and his company, PPI Recruits, have helped Ehrensberger and several other players overseas learn the game and gain exposure.

“Brandon and PPI have been a huge part of this and made all of this possible,” Ehrensberger said. “They had the right contacts. He helped me individually a lot, giving me great advice when I needed it. Also, from a football perspective, he let me develop my game tremendously and improve a lot. I worked a lot with him and he taught me a lot of the stuff he used to be taught.”

2020 Irish quarterback commit Drew Pyne has already reached out to Ehrensberger, who is looking forward to building relationships with his future teammates.

He’s followed college and pro games in America.

“You can watch it live, but it’s not on regular TV, so you have to pay for it,” he said. “Depending on the game and how big the game is, it might be on regular TV.”

His favorite player is Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa and his favorite team is the Los Angeles Rams, so he’s excited for the Super Bowl, which he will “no doubt” watch.

“I will watch it live, but it will be half past three in the morning.”