Hair game is absolutely on point

On Friday, 4-Star offensive lineman Elijah Paige announced his commitment on the Irish Players Club Twitter Spaces thing. The 6’7” 305 pounder from Phoenix, Arizona, chose the Irish over a strong offer list that included the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, Oregon Ducks, Wisconsin Badgers — and yes — the Michigan Wolverines.

Evaluation from Irish Illustrated’s Tim Prister:

Paige is a right side/strongside offensive lineman on the next level, just as Baker is. Although he runs very well in the open-field, he needs work with his lateral foot movement against speed rushers. Speed rushers look like they’d be a problem at his current level of development. He should do a better job as a senior of getting opponents out of his kitchen. Through his junior season, he was involved in more stalemates than one might anticipate for a highly-rated prospect.

Paige becomes the 15th commitment for Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class. The class represents 12 different states and Paige’s commitment is the third straight that comes west of the Mississippi River. Paige is also the second straight offensive line commitment. Notre Dame continues to hold a strong lead with the #1 class on both Rivals and the 247 Team Composite Rankings (I refuse to acknowledge the On3 weirdness).

With Paige, Notre Dame now has 4 offensive lineman committed to the class. The way that the offensive tackle position is set for the Irish, Paige will likely see a chance to start in his third year — which is perfectly fine with Harry Hiestand’s development technique. Notre Dame could add up to two more offensive linemen in this class, although one more is most likely.

Paige is a big BIG boy but moves around quite well. I firmly agree with those that classify him as a right tackle prospect, and I’m very curious to see how his senior year develops. While he is currently a 3 / 4 star player, I wouldn’t be very surprised at all to see him end up as a very firm 4-Star when the final rankings are released.

FIST PUMPS UP FOR ELIJAH!