Notre Dame Commit Profile: OL Elijah Paige
A look at Notre Dame offensive line commit Elijah Paige, one of the more underrated blockers in the country.
ELIJAH PAIGE PROFILE
Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.
High School: Pinnacle
Height: 6-6
Weight: 300
IB Grade: 4.0 (Top 200 caliber prospect)
Upside Grade: 5.0
Offers: Notre Dame, USC, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Auburn, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Baylor, Utah, Missouri, Michigan State, Washington, BYU, Cincinnati, Duke, West Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, Arizona State, Northwestern, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado, California, Kansas.
Recruited By: Harry Hiestand
RECRUITING RANKINGS
247Sports: 4-star - No. 223 overall - No. 23 offensive tackle
Rivals: 4-star - No. 36 offensive tackle
On3: 3-star - No. 30 offensive tackle
ESPN: 3-star - No. 35 offensive tackle
Consensus: 4-star - No. 331 overall - No. 24 offensive tackle
FILM ANALYSIS
The first thing that stood out on film when watching Paige was his frame. He was a lean 280 pounds on film as a junior, but you could see excellent length, a broad frame and the potential to get to over 300 pounds in time. In the last six months Paige has apparently hit a growth spurt, because he is looking much bigger now than he did even in November, and it's very good weight.
Paige is now listed at 300 pounds, and he still has plenty of room to add good weight. When evaluating his film as a junior it seemed obvious he could get to 300 pounds, now it's looking like he has the frame to easily get to 310+ pounds and still be able to maintain his athleticism.
That is where Paige really shines, he's very athletic for a big man. You can see it in the pass game and run game. Paige shows top notch foot agility and lateral quickness, and those traits allow him to work the edge effective in the run game. He shows good balance and gets to the second level quickly. Paige also shows the ability to quick get around and into the hole on pulls, and he can quickly get to the opposite edge on traps.
His athleticism and length shines brightest in the pass game. Paige gets out of his stance with ease, he plays with great angles and his ability to plant and redirect efficiently makes him a hard player to beat in the pass game. His length allows him to get hands on edge rushers, which makes him even harder to beat around the edge, and it combines with his quickness to get to edge rushers even if he gets beat initially.
Paige didn't show elite strength on junior film and his punch is solid, but not elite. As he fills out and adds more weight room strength you'll see this take a job. He already has sound technique, but when the weight room strength catches up to that and his athleticism he'll become an even more effective run blocker, which is key in the Notre Dame offense.
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