Elijah Jones didn’t need to open all four envelopes from South Bend, Ind., to realize he was being invited to Notre Dame’s Irish Invasion camp on June 20th.
“I wasn’t really sure what it was,” the 2015 California athlete admitted at first.
“I thought it might be a couple of hand-written letters, but I opened the first one and I saw the gold, so after that I figured out what it was.”
The Irish have been extending invites to the top-flight camp by sending four postcards that come together to form the invitation. Jones’ came last Wednesday.
“I was pretty excited,” the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder from Upland, Calif., said. “A couple of my friends have told me it’s a pretty big camp, so I’m excited to get out to Notre Dame and visit.
“Blake Barnett, I’ve talked to him about it and he said it was a pretty big deal.”
Jones plans on accepting the invitation and is looking forward to his first trip to Notre Dame.
“I want to meet the coaching staff, especially the DB coach,” he said. “I want to get around the campus, the facilities and all of that stuff.”
He’s also excited to show the Irish what he can do on the field.
“I’ve seen some of the kids who have been invited, they’re ‘the top guys,’” he said. “I’m excited that I got invited, so I could compete with those guys and prove that I’m up there with them too.
BlakeBarnettIrishInvasionInvite“I think my athleticism is underrated, so I think I can show them that there too, and my football IQ too.”
Jones currently has offers from Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, Dartmouth and Yale.
“Stuff is starting to pick up right now and it’s a relief to know that all of the hard work is starting to pay off,” he said.
He made recent visits to San Diego State and San Jose State.
“I love the coaching staff at San Jose State, especially the DB coach, I have a good relationship with him,” said Jones. “The same thing with San Diego State, plus the campus is really good.
“This summer I’m going to go visit Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Dartmouth.”
Jones understands he could have a difficult decision between big-time football and big-time academics.
“That’s definitely the tough part,” he said. “With the Ivies, you get the world-renowned education and all of that, but it’s not a secret that the football isn’t on the same level as schools like Notre Dame. It’s definitely something I’ll have to balance out and weigh my options.”
Notre Dame could offer an opportunity for both.
“Notre Dame is one of those schools that every kid dreams of getting an offer from. It doesn’t get any bigger than that. It’s up there with USC, Penn State and all of those schools. There’s a lot of tradition, great program, all of that.”
