Tag: Mike Elston

Mike Moon hired as Notre Dame assistant defensive line coach

Notre Dame always is looking for the next member of its coaching staff to help maintain its tradition of excellence.

Notre Dame always is looking for the next member of its coaching staff to help maintain its tradition of excellence. Irish defensive line coach Mike Elston decided he needed some young blood to assist with his unit. He’s found it in Mike Moon:

This is an abrupt switch for Moon, who recently accepted the defensive line coach job at Fairmont State. Apparently, the chance to coach at Notre Dame was too tempting. Plus, someone accepting one job only to have a greater opportunity suddenly come along surely has happened more in the real world than we know.

Before that, he was a graduate assistant for the defensive line at Old Dominion. He didn’t get a chance to show off his coaching skills this past season as Old Dominion canceled its fall sports season in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. That made the Monarchs one of the few Football Bowl Subdivision programs not to compete in 2020.

Notre Dame Lands Three-Star Defensive End Recruit Aiden Gobaira

Notre Dame’s defensive line just landed a very solid recruit for its future.

Notre Dame’s defensive line just landed a very solid recruit for its future. Weak-side defensive end Aiden Gobaira, weighing in at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, has announced his commitment to the Irish. Penn State was the only other major player for the three-star recruit, so it’s not like there was serious competition for him. Still, the Irish will be happy to have the Chantilly, Virginia, native that Mike Elston and Marcus Freeman have high hopes for.

Gobaira has received offers from schools as far back as April, including one from the Irish in May. Per 247Sports, he made an unofficial visit to Notre Dame on Tuesday. Whatever happened during that visit obviously won him over because only a few days later, he knows what his future holds after he completes his prep senior season in the fall. Oh, and his mother is thrilled with his decision, too, which is enough to melt the iciest heart (We’ll forgive the typo):

 

Notre Dame football: defensive end enters transfer portal

Notre Dame has a lost a defensive end to the transfer portal as a reserve player announced his decision on Tuesday.

Defensive end Kofi Wardlow appears to have played football for Notre Dame for the final time as the senior entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.

Wardlow has been buried on the depth chart during his entire career, making just one career tackle which came in the 40-7 blowout victory over Boston College last season.

Wardlow took to social media to announce his decision on Tuesday.

Wardlow came to Notre Dame as a member of the 2017 recruiting class out of Washington, DC.  He spent spent time on the scout team in 2017 before seeing action in the Virginia Tech game a year later.

Wardlow appeared in the New Mexico and Boston College games in 2019, recording one career tackle along the way.

All the best to Wardlow as he’s set to graduate this fall and have two years of eligibility remaining wherever he may end up next.

Recruiting: Virtual Visit for One of Notre Dame’s Newest Offers

The Irish try to make an impression with a virtual visit to Notre Dame with one of their newest offered prospects.

With the NCAA extending the recruiting mandatory dead-period through the end of July, many teams continue to hold prospects to visit their campuses virtually. On Friday that happened with Iowa’s TJ Bollers, who was offered earlier this week.

Bollers interaction with the Irish staff has heated significantly this week and that bodes well for Brian Kelly and Mike Elston. Although late to the party with Bollers, getting him to visit virtually almost immediately after the offer confirms interest on both sides.

The one of the Irish’s biggest recruiters is commit Gabriel Rubio, who uses his social media account to try and entice Notre Dame prospects to join him in the 2021 class. Rubio seems pretty confident the Irish can get a commitment from the talented defensive end.

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At the moment the 2021 Notre Dame class features three commits on the defensive line, Rubio, Texas’ David Abiara and Rhode Island’s Jason Onye. Rubio, from Missouri, is the tackle in the class, with Abiara and Onye playing on the edge. There have been rumors of Abiara flipping to Oklahoma, so going after Bollers makes plenty of sense. Bollers relationship with Notre Dame has evolved quickly and I feel like that’s a great sign for the Irish going forward.

Watch: Notre Dame Signee Surfs to Celebrate High School Graduation

Aidan Keannaina will begin a nice career with Notre Dame in the fall. At least it should be.

Aidan Keannaina will begin a nice career with Notre Dame in the fall. At least it should be. The 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle is one the highest ranked recruits in Colorado. In January, he played in the Polynesian Bowl with fellow Irish commits Tosh Baker, Kevin Bauman, Michael Carmody and Chris Tyree.

Before hitting the gridiron in South Bend, however, Keanaaina had to graduate from high school. Like every other student taking the next step in life this year, he needed to mark the occasion in his own fashion. Though Colorado is known for its mountains, Keannaina has Hawaiian blood, so there only was one way he could celebrate. That was by wakeboarding in full cap and gown and taking his graduation garb off while doing it.

If anyone had doubts about Keanaaina’s athleticism, this should dispel it all. The kid is quite coordinated, and that will make life easier for Mike Elston and the defensive line he coaches. It’s doubtful the Irish will be staging a team surfing competition anytime soon, but they’ve got a clear favorite if it happens after all.

Notre Dame Football: Another Day, Another 2021 Defensive Line Offer Made

Wednesday brought Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston and head coach Brian Kelly extending another offer for the 2021 class.

Yesterday we saw Notre Dame make four different offers to 2021 prospects, all of which play on the defensive line and who come from the state of Georgia.

Wednesday brought Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston and head coach Brian Kelly extending another offer for the 2021 class.

It just didn’t happen to come from Georgia for a change.

Three-star defensive end Keeshawn Silver announced on Twitter that the Fighting Irish offered him a scholarship Wednesday, becoming the 22nd program to do so.

Silver hails from Rocky Mount, North Carolina and plays strong side defensive end.  Notre Dame joins several big-time programs in offering a scholarship including but not limited to: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Silver has announced on his personal Twitter page that he will announce his top schools on February 21.  He is also listed on 247Sports as having made unofficial visits to North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida, Charlotte and Duke.

Notre Dame Football Goes on Recruiting Run Through Georgia on Tuesday

The other thing it does is creates a stir around Notre Dame football in a place where it isn’t usually easy to do such a thing. 

Some days news seemingly comes out of nowhere and takes over the course of a morning or afternoon.

Notre Dame’s defensive line coach Mike Elston marching through the state of Georgia and leaving scholarships throughout his wake made that the story of the day for Notre Dame football.

Early Tuesday we found out that Notre Dame had offered Douglas County defensive linemen Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Jefferson scholarships.

Usually that would be an extremely newsworthy day for Notre Dame.  However, that was just the tip of the iceberg in what the Irish had up their sleeve in the Peach State Tuesday.

Noah Collins later announced on Twitter that he had also received a scholarship offer, making it three on the day the Irish had offered.

That still wasn’t it as about an hour later Victoine Brown announced that he had also received a scholarship offer from Notre Dame.

We think that is it but then again there are still seven or so hours left in the day.

It’s impressive and I think it accomplishes a couple of things for Notre Dame in this 2021 class.

It’s already an impressive class being formed in terms of offensive talent but with just one player on the defensive side of the ball, clearly there is work to do.  These four offers guarantee nothing but appear to be four players in high-demand nationwide.

The other thing it does is creates a stir around Notre Dame football in a place where it isn’t usually easy to do such a thing.  Right in the heart of SEC and University of Georgia territory, Notre Dame goes and makes four scholarship offers right in a row.

All four may one day wear blue and gold for the Fighting Irish (fat chance but sure, it’s possible!) but by all four announcing their offers today it creates a much different type of interest in Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class to other recruits, especially in a place that it’s hard to go into and snag talent from.

Links to Individual Write-ups:

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Hot Route! – Make That Four Offers to Georgia DL from Notre Dame on Tuesday

Victoine Brown is listed at 6-4, 225 pounds on his Rivals profile page.  The strong-side defensive end grades out as a three-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports. — @BrownVictoine

At this point it appears Notre Dame’s defensive line coach Mike Elston is considering purchasing real estate in the state of Georgia.

News came out in the late morning Tuesday that Elston and Notre Dame had offered scholarships to three different defensive line prospects in the 2021 recruiting class.

As it turns out there were actually four.

While you’re busy firing up Ray Charles’s “Georgia on my Mind” or perhaps Alan Jackson’s “Chatahoochee”, here’s a bit of information on the fourth, and we believe final, Georgia high schooler to be offered by Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Victoine Brown is listed at 6-4, 225 pounds on his Rivals profile page.  The strong-side defensive end grades out as a three-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports.

Brown hails from Loganville, Georgia and already holds scholarship offers from the likes of Florida, LSU, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Louisville and Georgia Tech among plenty of others.

Rivals currently ranks Brown as the 29th top strong-side defensive end in the 2021 recruiting class.

Brown was one of four Georgia high school defensive linemen to receive scholarship offers from Notre Dame on Tuesday.  The list of who joins him includes:

Others include:
Noah Collins – Weakside Defensive End
Jonathan Jefferson – Defensive Tackle
Joshua Robinson – Weakside Defensive End

Notre Dame Offers Three Tuesday – Third and Final Writeup is of (Other) ’21 Georgia Defensive End

Collins was one of four defensive linemen from the state of Georgia to receive an offer from Mike Elston and Notre Dame on Tuesday. 

If you’ve been paying attention to Notre Dame recruiting at all this Tuesday you’ve seen a very busy day for Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish.

High school teammates and defensive linemates Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Jefferson were offered Tuesday as defensive line coach Mike Elston attempts to stack his defensive line prospects in the 2021 class.

Joining both Robinson and Jefferson was Noah Collins, a taller but thinner defensive end prospect also from Snellville, Georgia.

Collins has an impressive list of programs pursuing his services as Florida, LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Nebraska, Michigan State and plenty of others have already offered him scholarships.

Collins was one of four defensive linemen from the state of Georgia to receive an offer from Mike Elston and Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Others include:
Victoine Brown – Strong-Side Defensive End
Jonathan Jefferson – Defensive Tackle
Joshua Robinson – Weakside Defensive End