Mark Harrell went to Oregon with something to prove at The Opening and the 6-foot-5, 265-pound offensive lineman from Charlotte, N.C., (Charlotte Catholic) believes he did that.
“It was nice to know where you stood against those great guys,” the Notre Dame verbal commitment said. “It was nice to get used to that before you get to the college level. It was nice to go out and prove yourself against some of the top guys in the country and hopefully that showed.”
The four-star ESPN recruit enjoyed his time at the Nike showcase.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It was nice to be able to go out and see what you’re made of against the elite guys. There was a lot of good talent out there, beautiful facilities. Nike has some great facilities and great things for us. It was just a great experience overall and a lot of competition.
“That players’ lounge had a barbershop, a bunch of PS3s and stuff. That was cool to have some downtime in there and get to know some of the players. For me, it was a nice way to get to know some of the other Notre Dame commits.”
Harrell was joined by fellow Irish verbals Tee Shepard, Deontay Greenberry, Justin Ferguson and David Perkins at the event.
“It was nice to get to know them before you get to school and build a relationship with them,” he said. “They were all nice guys, real cool. What’s cool was that we were all from different states except for Deontay and Tee. It just proves how Notre Dame is such a national school, where we have five guys from four different states going to the same school.”
Harrell was also busy trying to add to the recruiting class and spent time talking with Indiana defensive lineman Sheldon Day.
“I was in Sheldon’s ear a ton,” said Harrell. “I was talking to him about Notre Dame. I think he enjoys it, he’s been up there quite a bit. I know him and Perkins are real close. If we could land him, it’d be awesome because he’s a great player.”
When he returned from Oregon, he reached out to Notre Dame’s newest commitment and fellow Charlotte native, defensive end/linebacker Romeo Okwara.
“It’s great to get another kid from the Queen City on Notre Dame,” said Harrell. “I’ve never seen him play before, but from what I’ve heard, he’s a real good player. It’ll be nice to have another kid from Charlotte along with Matthias (Farley) and Prince (Shembo) on the team too.”
While in Oregon, Harrell benefited from coaching from former and current NFL players.
“LeCharles Bentley was one of my coaches, the other was Alex Boone of the San Francisco 49ers,” he said. “Both of them were great coaches, they know what they’re doing. LeCharles Bentley is a real intense guy, but he taught us all well. I learned a ton about pass blocking, especially coming from an offense that runs the ball 90 percent of the time and playing tight end. I have a lot to learn about pass blocking and I took a lot of tools away from it.”
