Incoming freshman Eli Raridon back on the fast track for Notre Dame

Roughly 4 ½ months after an ACL tear ended his senior basketball season and threw his football developmental timeline into limbo, Eli Raridon ripped off an electronically timed 10-yard split in 1.48 seconds this week.

Notre Dame wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr., for comparison’s sake, was timed at 1.53 at the NFL Combine in early March as part of a blazing 4.43 40. Austin didn’t re-run at ND’s Pro Day later that month, but of the eight Irish NFL Draft hopefuls who did run the 40 then and there, none had a 10-yard split faster than 1.6 seconds.

Eli Raridon is a tight end.

And apparently a fast healer.

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A little over a month before he enrolls as a freshman and starts his Notre Dame career, the 6-foot-7, 240-pound four-star prospect is putting up personal-record gains in the weight room, including with the surgically repaired right leg from the injury suffered Dec. 18 playing basketball three days after he signed his National Letter of Intent for football.

Raridon’s West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley Tigers were playing an out-of-state matchup that day in Kansas City, Mo., against Staley High. Raridon said he was driving hard when he took a step “outside his comfort zone” and heard a pop. He underwent surgery two days later.

“I was on the ground, about to pass out, because I couldn’t believe it,” Raridon said of the injury. “Those were a rough couple of weeks after that, especially after surgery. A lot of pain, but I got through it.

“I don’t regret playing basketball. I love that sport. I’m not going to go out and play scared and be worried about injuries. That’s my mindset. Stuff like that happens. I think it’s for the best. I think it’s going to make me stronger.

“I think it’s going to be good for the long run, just to know you can overcome adversity. That was a good lesson for me.”

Raridon was scoring at a 24.0 points-per-game clip at the time. His hoops game his junior season and AAU offseason was strong enough that Raridon garnered Division I mid-majors curiosity in that sport. There wasn’t really any serious follow-through, though, because of his freakish growth curve in football and his determination to see that through.

Suddenly, Raridon is back on that trajectory, with all the anticipatory thoughts and projections of being forced into taking a medical redshirt season having dissolved.

“Seven and a half months from the surgery is fall camp, and that’s when I’m going to be ready to go,” he said. “But I’m hoping by the time I get there June 10, I’ll be able to do everything summer workouts-wise.

“If we were doing pads during the summer, I probably would sit out until late July or beginning of August. We’re not doing any of that from what I know, which is good. So I think I'm going to be good to go. We'll see what happens, but I’m feeling really good about it.

“It was a long process. Worked on a lot of running recently. I’m not quite 100%, even though I feel really good. It’s been crazy. It’s as good as I can possibly imagine.”

Raridon plans to get electronically timed in a full 40-yard dash next week after running a hand-timed 4.52 last summer.

“Between now and June 10, I’m working on my speed and getting stronger and focused on being the best athlete I could possibly be,” he said. “Then we’ll see where I fit in.”

Raridon got more of a sense of that during the Blue-Gold Dame weekend he attended with his father — former ND offensive lineman/long snapper Scott Raridon Jr. — a couple of weeks ago.

“My highlight was meeting (new tight ends) coach (Gerad) Parker,” Raridon said. “I didn’t really know him that well. I had talked to him on the phone a couple of times, but it wasn’t too long.

“I couldn’t really get a good read. But when I met with him in person, he kind of coached me up and just taught me some pointers and what they were going to be doing.

“Really productive. He really knows what he’s doing. Him and I got along really well. I couldn’t be happier with who they hired. So that was an awesome moment that weekend for me. I got to spend a couple of days with him.”

During his senior season at Valley High School, Raridon garnered 53 receptions for 627 yards and 10 TDs for a team that reached the Iowa Class 5A state semifinals. But Valley coach Gary Swenson also used him on fly sweeps, at wide receiver, even occasionally as a pass rusher on defense.

“Had we put him over there all the time, he would have been our best defensive player,” Swenson said. “No question. And when we did, that was with basically zero repetitions in practice. He was a handful.

“On offense, normally when you get a big tight end like that, he’s in a three-point stance and he puts his hand down. But we really couldn’t afford to have people cover him up like that. So we were just moving him continually.

“Not that many 6-7 tight ends are running a perimeter run game, but he was so effective in everything he did. He had a remarkable football season for us.”

And Swenson, among others, can’t wait to see how it translates to the college level.

Notre Dame, with three healthy tight ends this past spring, will presumably have six when fall training camp starts in August — with recovering (October ACL tear) sophomore Cane Berrong, Raridon and fellow June-arriving freshman Holden Staes joining junior All-American Michael Mayer, sophomore Mitchell Evans and junior Kevin Bauman.

In two college season, Mayer has amassed 113 total catches, 1,290 yards and nine TD receptions — third place all-time in all three categories at a school revered for its tight end play. The other five have combined for four catches for 56 yards and no TDs in admittedly limited collective opportunities.

The race to be Mayer’s sidekick in multiple-tight end sets as well as his heir apparent appears to be wide open.

“During my official (recruiting) visit, I spent a lot of time with Michael Mayer,” Raridon said. “We sort of text once in a while. I talk to Kevin Bauman too, so we’re all pretty close. And I spent a lot of time with Holden at the Blue-Gold Game itself. Like him a lot. We’re buddies.

“We'll see when I get there what my role might be. I hope to make an impact somehow. I don’t know exactly where, but once I get there, my goal is to make an immediate impact. If not, that’s OK. I’ll develop. But I’m really looking forward to getting there and being there."

It won’t be Raridon’s first extended time living on campus.

Raridon was born in Mason City, Iowa. Father Scott married his high school sweetheart, Jena, during Scott’s playing years. All three of them moved to an off-campus apartment ahead of his junior year at Notre Dame and spent Scott’s last two years at ND as a family of three.

Grandpa, Scott Raridon Sr., incidentally, was a strength-and-conditioning coach under Lou Holtz at ND, including during the 1988 national championship season.

Eli got a chance to dip into the nostalgia Blue-Gold Game weekend, when roughly 300 players came back to campus for a legacy event weekend concocted by head coach Marcus Freeman and director of player development Hunter Bivin.

“That part was actually pretty cool,” Raridon said. “So the first time I saw the former players was at the Thursday morning practice. I was on the field and they were in the bleachers. But my dad went up there and called me over.

“Brady Quinn and some of his former teammates were up there. I got to talk to Brady Quinn. That was pretty cool. And some of the other teammates, just talking about how it was the first time seeing me since holding me as a baby. And now … they were pretty shocked to see me. They can’t wait to see where this goes.”

Eli Raridon can’t wait either.

“I’m just going to eat what they tell me to eat and lift as hard as I can,” he said. “We'll see how much good weight I can put on. I’m guessing about 250 is where they'll want me, but they haven't really said. That’s where all the tight ends are right now.

“I was a late bloomer in high school — 6-5, 200 my sophomore year. That was kind of the turning point for me. I just really lived in the weight room. I really worked on plyometrics and speed. And my mind was set on being the fastest, biggest kid out there. Nothing was going to stop me.

“That’s where my mind is now. Nothing;s going to step me.”

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