Charlotte Catholic All-American football star Elijah Hood has committed to Notre Dame.
Hood, who chose Notre Dame over North Carolina, committed Sunday after returning from a second trip to South Bend, Ind.
Hood, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior, said he came close to committing on a visit to Notre Dame in February. After this weekend’s second visit, he knew he was ready.
“There are plenty of good schools close by,” Hood said Sunday night, “but there’s something about Notre Dame. It’s a great place with so much history and tradition. They have stuff I couldn’t have dreamed of. They wowed me. They took my breath away at times. I knew it was the place.”
Hood led Charlotte Catholic to the N.C. 3AA championship game in 2012, when he was named the Charlotte Observer offensive player of the year. Hood rushed for a Mecklenburg County record 3,309 yards and a record 48 touchdowns. He’s on pace to set career county rushing marks in both categories in the 2013 season.
In the past two years, Hood has rushed for 5,291 yards and 83 scores. He said he will play running back for the Irish. He had previously been getting recruited at running back and linebacker by a number of Division I schools.
“I thought about the 3,300-something yards and 48 touchdowns I had,” he said, “and I said, ‘Uh, maybe I should stick to what I’m doing.’ ”
For the class of 2014, national recruiting service rivals.com ranks 14 players as five-star, or elite recruits. Hood is listed No. 12.
ESPN ranks Hood No. 8 nationally among running backs in the class of 2014.
Hood said he will graduate from Catholic in June 2014 and enroll at Notre Dame shortly after that.
“The process is a crazy process,” he said, “and the thing was to get it out of the way as fast as I could. I’m ready to move onto other things like finishing high school. It’s a great thing.”
His father, Vee, a former Catholic star in his own right, said he was comfortable with his son’s decision.
“It’s the best,” Vee Hood said of Notre Dame, “and he wants to be with the best. And you just don’t turn down Notre Dame. We had to go up there and see for ourselves and we had to see the type people he’d be around and the coaches he’d be with. Everything is great. Now he can enjoy his senior year.”
