Four-star OT Elijah Paige commits to Notre Dame football

Notre Dame’s hot streak on the recruiting trails continued on Friday, with Phoenix Pinnacle class of 2023 offensive tackle Elijah Paige announcing his commitment to the Fighting Irish.

Paige, who is the nation’s No. 24 offensive tackle and No. 331 overall recruit according to the 2023 On3 Consensus ranking, picked up an offer from Notre Dame Feb. 25 during a phone call with Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. The Irish staff kept in touch with Paige for the next couple months and made a move for him May 2 when Hiestand went to Phoenix to see Paige practice.

The 6-6.5, 307-pounder set up an official visit with Notre Dame that day, and Paige made it to campus for the weekend of June 3-5. Paige was going to officially visiting Michigan State this weekend, USC June 17 and Washington June 24, but those trips have been canceled. Paige knows where he wants to attend college.

“I committed to Notre Dame for multiple reasons,” Paige told On3’s Chad Simmons. “It has tradition. Everyone knows about the degree. You get to play at the highest level. It is on national television every week. It’s the perfect mix of both academics and football for me. It’s different at Notre Dame.”

Paige is Notre Dame’s 15th commitment of the 2023 class and fourth offensive line pledge, joining Belmont (N.C.) South Point’s Sullivan Absher, Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan’s Sam Pendleton and Topeka (Kan.) Hayden’s Joe Otting.

Notre Dame official visit made a big difference

Paige was planning on taking all five of his official visits and then announcing his decision, but after being at Notre Dame last weekend he knew it was the place for him and informed the Irish staff the day after leaving South Bend of his decision.

“Going into the visit, Notre Dame was one of my top schools, but not on top, so the visit really changed my mind,” Paige added. “I talked about it a lot with my family; it is not a four-year decision, but a 40-year decision. And you get that with Notre Dame. That Notre Dame degree is something you cannot get from anywhere else, so that played a big role in the decision.”

When Paige was a freshman at Pinnacle, Notre Dame rising junior offensive tackle Tosh Baker was a senior. They didn’t know each other well at the time, but since Paige has replaced Baker as a stalwart on the Pinnacle line, they’ve become close, and Baker hosted Paige for the official visit.

“It was great,” Paige said of the visit. “We got to check out the whole campus, and it’s awesome. I saw pictures of it, but you can’t get a real feel for it until you’re there. It’s a beautiful campus with a lot of history. The facilities were great. Walking down those stairs and seeing the Play Like A Champion Today sign, it’s just crazy. You get chills with how historical it is.”

The Elijah Paige file

Paige was named to the Arizona Interscholastic Association 6A All-Conference first team for his efforts in 2021. The local NBC news affiliate in Phoenix listed Paige to its “All-Fever” first-team offensive line. He was also on the 2021 Desert Valley All-Region first-team offensive line.

Tennessee, Michigan, Oregon, Stanford, Missouri, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Baylor, Miami, Auburn and Utah are among the other schools that have offered Paige.

Paige helped paved the way for Pinnacle to rush for 1,040 yards (4.9 per carry) and 14 scores, plus 2,754 passing yards (15.0 per completion) and 23 touchdowns, across 12 games during the 2021 season.

He also plays for the Pinnacle basketball team.

With a reported unweighted grade point average of 3.68 as of last fall, Paige was an honorable mention for the Sports360AZ All-Academic Football Teams (6A).