Notre Dame assistant Mike Elston has been to North Carolina several times to check on Irish offensive line commit Mark Harrell along with other Irish recruits, but on Wednesday, Elston brought some company with him.
“Coach Elston came back with Coach Hiestand,” said Harrell, a 6-foot-5, 265-pounder from Charlotte Catholic High School.
Coach Hiestand, of course, is new Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand.
Hiestand took the job in South Bend fresh off a stint at Tennessee. Harrell actually met Hiestand once after being offered a scholarship by the Volunteers, but it was a brief meeting.
“This time it was a little bit more personal,” Harrell said. “It went really well. He seems like a real good, a real down to earth guy. He grew up near where my mom was from, which was kind of neat for her. She liked that. He has a lot of experience and seems like an easy person to be around. I really like him a lot.”
Hiestand remembered Harrell from his days in Knoxville, but is looking forward to learning more about him still.
“He was just hired the day before, so he hadn’t watched much film on me,” said Harrell. “He said when he was at Tennessee, they were recruiting me a little bit and he liked what he saw back then. He was basically going off of what he saw about a year ago. As far as I know, he hadn’t watched any film on me, but hopefully he’ll see some film and be in touch.”
Hiestand does know that Harrell is athletic enough to play in the spread, but Harrell said, “We kind of built more of a personal relationship before we talked about that kind of stuff.”
In fact, Harrell learned more about Hiestand’s coaching style from new Irish offensive coordinator Chuck Martin during last weekend’s official visit to Notre Dame than from his meeting with Hiestand. At least one of the connections between Hiestand and Martin is George Barnett, the current offensive line coach at Illinois State.
Barnett was a graduate assistant at Illinois and worked with the Illini offensive line under Hiestand, who was the offensive line coach, in 2004. Barnett later coached offensive line for two years under Martin at Grand Valley State.
“Coach Martin kind of went over his technique a little bit,” Harrell said. “He kind of went over how good he was, what his techniques were and his strong suits and how he coached in the pros. I learned more about his coaching techniques from Coach Martin than talking to him.”
While no more recruiting is necessary to ensure Harrell signs with the Irish on Wednesday, the future Irish offensive lineman believes his future coach will help the Irish with future recruits.
“I think he’s a real down to earth guy,” Harrell said of Hiestand. “To be honest with you, I think they should put him in the Southeast a little bit. I think he’ll definitely be a benefit on the recruiting trail down there because he is a likeable guy.
“He kind of gives that o-line coach feel and I feel like he can definitely be a positive recruiter for sure.”
