James Onwualu returned to Notre Dame this week and pretty soon, the 2013 wide receiver commit from Minnesota will be returning to South Bend for good.
“Trust me, I know. It’s crazy,” said Onwualu, who will arrive at Notre Dame as an early enrollee in about two months.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder from Cretin-Derham Hall admitted to having mixed emotions, but is ready to take the next step.
“There are good and bad feelings about it,” he said. “I’m excited to get there and get started, but at the same time, I’m sad about leaving my family and friends and everything.”
Onwualu got back on campus Tuesday to get some academic things out of the way.
“It went pretty good,” he said. “I had a couple of meetings. I had a meeting with administration and with Adam (Sargent). It went pretty good.
“Looking at all of my classes and figuring all of that stuff out and setting up a plan for when I’ll be making my schedule and everything.”
Sargent is Notre Dame’s associate director of Academic Services for Student-Athletes and has been a valuable tool for the Irish’s recruiting efforts.
“After the visit, I feel pretty comfortable with everything that’s going on,” Onwualu said. “All of the coaches told me everything will be alright and all of these different meetings made me feel pretty comfortable academically. There are mixed feelings, but I’m excited.”
Onwualu and the majority of the 2013 recruiting class will be taking official visits for the Irish’s banquet weekend on Dec. 7th. He wanted to get the academic stuff out of the way, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it when he gets back next month.
“I wanted to get all of these meetings done before I took my official, so I can really just hang out and enjoy the weekend instead of getting up in the morning and getting all of these meetings done and everything,” he said.
The athletic wideout had the chance to observe Notre Dame’s Tuesday practice leading up to this weekend's game at Boston College.
“It was intense as always,” he said. “I thought the team was focused and more intense since I last saw practice. Everything seemed to be running pretty smoothly. The coaches still pick up on little things, but that’s what makes the team better every week.”
Onwualu remains active in recruiting and has his sights set on former USC safety commit Max Redfield, especially now that Pennsylvania linebacker Alex Anzalone reaffirmed his commitment. Onwualu says there are no hard feelings between the other commits and Anzalone.
“He’s back in the Mob. Our feelings toward him are the same. I know me, Mike (Heuerman) and Devin (Butler) have all been talking to him. He’s a great player and his attitude is a good addition to the team. He works hard just like all of us and athletically, he’ll be perfect for us to play linebacker.”
