5-star EDGE Elijah Rushing sets UCLA official visit
Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe Catholic five-star EDGE Elijah Rushing has already locked in four official visits for the month of June, but another will get his first of the summer this coming weekend.
On Monday, Rushing announced that he will visit UCLA this weekend officially. Oregon (June 2), Notre Dame (June 9), Arizona (June 16) and Tennessee (June 23) will also host him in the next few weeks.
The Ducks are currently trending with Rushing, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM). It currently gives Oregon a a 70.5 percent chance of securing his commitment, with Arizona (9.3%) and Notre Dam (4.0%) trailing behind.
The 6-foot-6, 225-pound Rushing is the No. 24 overall prospect in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He ranks as the country’s No. 3 EDGE and the No. 2 overall recruit in Arizona.
Elijah Rushing discusses interest in other schools
Oregon: “It’s closer to home and they are a great developmental program, as far as I see it. Coach (Dan) Lanning coming from Georgia, he won a national championship and he produced some first round ends. Along with coach (Tosh) Lupoi, he has NFL experience. He coached in that Nick Saban defense for those years that they won all those championships. They both have good resumes and they know a lot about my position. It’s a great thing to hear if you’re an EDGE player.”
Arizona: “They’re telling me to stay home, that they’ll develop me and I can do something special for the city.” … It’s different from the past few years. They’re starting to make the right decisions and they’re moving up. I know they’re going in the right direction. That’s what I can see. They’re going in the right direction with the right coaches there that can really bring the program out of wherever it was at before.”
Notre Dame: “Coach Freeman and coach (Al) Washington, I have a great relationship with those two. I know they are people that you can trust. They show attention to me. They do what they need to do to check in and show love.”
Tennessee: “I had a great experience going out there and I know they’re a program on the come-up. I know they were really good, but they had some things that lacked going through that season. But, I got to see their performance and what they were talking about. That’s somewhere that I know I should take a second look at to see what’s going on down there. They had tremendous success early on, so I want to see what went into that.”
Washington: “They have great team chemistry. That’s something I got to see when I went up there. They have a good team, as far as I’ve seen it. Their d-ends have the freedom to move how they want to and make an impact on the game.”