Notre Dame assistant Bob Elliott recruits the state of Arizona for the Irish and already has his sights set on Mark Andrews.
Elliott has been to Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., several times to check on the 2014 wide receiver. He’s also had Irish tight end coach Scott Booker stop in and head coach Brian Kelly is scheduled to be in the school on Wednesday.
“There’s been coaches coming by basically daily,” the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Andrews said. “Notre Dame has come by a lot.
“Coach Elliott, the tight ends coach, Coach Booker, and Coach Kelly is supposed to be coming (today).”
Andrews owns an early offer sheet that includes Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Nebraska among several others.
College coaches are limited in their interactions with underclassmen at this point, but Andrews is definitely taking notice of the Irish’s interest.
“They can basically say hi and that’s it, but my coach says they’re very interested,” he said. “Obviously, they keep coming down, so that just shows how interested they are. They’ve been coming down more than any other school right now, so that’s definitely something I think about and am thankful for.
“It definitely makes me think about them a lot more. I’m extremely interested in them. It tells me what I have to look forward to at Notre Dame.”
Andrews is impressed by the total package Notre Dame offers.
“I like the way I see myself in their offense,” he said. “I also like the coaches I interact with and the school. There’s a lot of tradition with good academics, it’s definitely a good all-around place.”
He’s already got his eyes on a trip to South Bend.
“I’m going to be able to get there in the spring,” he said. “I have no set date, but I’m going to be able to get out there for sure.
“I’m definitely going to look to see how I interact with the coaches, how I see myself fitting in with the offense, the campus obviously and where I see myself fitting in there.”
Andrews has the size of a tight end, but the skill set of a receiver and he sees himself as a receiver, apparently so does Notre Dame.
“They definitely don’t see me as a tight end, but they do envision me a little bit like Tyler Eifert, splitting out and catching balls,” said Andrews, who added that the Irish are recruiting him as a receiver/h-back.
Andrews is going to a visit to Arizona this weekend and is looking to finalize future trips elsewhere within the next couple weeks. He isn’t going to hurry his decision.
“I’m definitely going to decide after my senior season,” he said. “I’m not going to rush things.”
But he knows what he’s looking for.
“Academics will be huge, definitely the people I interact with at the school, the coaches, the players, where I see myself fitting in with their offense and where I feel most at home.”
