Notre Dame assistant Tim Hinton was at Pickerington Central a couple weeks ago to check on defensive back Eilar Hardy, who signed with the Irish in February. While he was there, Hinton also inquired about 6-foot-6, 240-pound sophomore defensive end Taco Charlton.
“I almost came down for a visit for the spring game, but it ended up raining, so I ended up not being able to come,” Charlton said of Notre Dame. “Coach Hinton was just telling my coach about me trying to come up for a visit and seeing the campus sometime.”
Charlton will try to get out to South Bend this summer, but if he isn’t, he could come out to see his former teammate in action for a game in the fall.
“I know that it’s a real good school and a real good football program and a really good sports program all together,” Charlton said.
Hardy has been schooling Charlton on the benefits of going to Notre Dame and the defensive back’s presence will only help Notre Dame in the process.
“He told me a lot about all of the guys and how it was and how things are down there,” Charlton said of Hardy. “It’s somebody I know that I’m real close to and his dad is real cool with my dad.”
Charlton broke Hardy’s record for earliest offer by a Pickerington player, when he was offered a scholarship to Cincinnati after the fifth game of his sophomore season. In addition to the Bearcats’ offer, he’s also receiving interest from Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford, LSU, Alabama, and Georgia.
The sophomore has only had the chance to visit one school thus far.
“I got to visit Cincinnati with Roger Lewis, one of our wide receivers, for one of their spring practices,” he said. “We went down there and checked out their facilities. I was just so busy with basketball season, I wasn’t able to visit a lot of schools.”
Charlton, who runs a 4.8, said his blend of size and speed has attracted the attention of college coaches.
“I’m really a combination of big and fast,” he said. “I come off the ball real fast and my long arms help me out a lot too.”
Charlton’s school didn’t track sack numbers last season, but he did have 34 tackles and used those long arms to knock down eight passes. He has a couple things he’ll be looking for when evaluating schools.
“The football program, will I have a chance to come in, work hard and have a chance to play,” he said. “Location won’t really will be a big thing for me, but the school’s academics will.”
