Junior Day Report: Elijah Molden
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Four-star defensive back Elijah Molden participated in a jam-packed weekend of football recruiting activities.
Last Thursday, Molden made the trip from his home in Oregon to Stanford, where he spent three days on campus as an unofficial visitor. Then it was off to Texas, where Molden took home MVP honors and an invitation to The Opening Finals following a standout performance at The Opening Regional - despite encountering his fair share of travel problems along the way.
"It was great," Molden said of the camp. "Better competition than Oregon - no disrespect to Oregon players, I love them. But just seeing new faces was really good. I think I played pretty well - I can obviously fine tune some things and improve. But I think I had a pretty solid performance."
Molden's trip to The Farm was his first in nearly a year - he previously visited Stanford last May. That visit centered around the university's academic offerings. This trip gave Molden a deep dive into the football side.
"It was great," Molden said. "I covered what I didn't cover last time, so now I'm very familiar with them and comfortable with the school. It was great."
"I got to sit in on a lecture with the recruits and then I also got to hang out with my hosts, Justin Reid and Cam Scarlett. That was probably the best time for me."
Reid and Scarlett answered any questions Molden had about what life is like as a football player on The Farm.
"They were just breaking down how they decided and what it's like, what the campus is like now to them," Molden said. "The coaches, Coach Akina, what he expects of you and the playbook - they run an NFL type defense, so I had a lot of questions for them and they answered all of them."
Molden also got an inside perspective on managing the academic load at Stanford.
"The players said that they weren't struggling in class, which is surprising to some people, and I had questions about it," Molden said. "When you think of Stanford you think of impossible classes, but I don't think that's really fair. So I asked them about the classes and they said it was alright - they were managing their time well with loading up classes after football season rather than during."
The Rivals250 standout had a chance to take in a pair of practices over the course of his visit, during which he kept a close eye on his potential future position coach.
"I was watching Coach Akina coach, seeing how he coaches, and was also watching the players talk through the offense, pretty much, and breaking down the offense while they were in action," Molden said. "So it was very impressive."
All told, the visit provided Molden a glimpse of the experience of a Stanford football player - and what it would be like to spend his college years alongside fellow Cardinal athletes.
"The biggest takeaway for me was probably how the players interact with each other," Molden said. "Like I've said to a couple of other people, how I can see myself being surrounded by guys like them - they're very disciplined and hard workers."
The trip also included an admissions presentation - Molden is keeping an eye on the Cardinal application process as he continues to progress in his own recruitment.
"They talked about the AP classes you're required and the SAT scores to get in," Molden said. "I've already taken two (AP classes). I'm going to take another one next year. I'm pretty sure that's enough - I have to talk to my recruiting coordinator. And then I have to take the SAT."
Molden expects he will likely start the application after he takes his SAT.
Next up for Molden are visits to Washington and Oregon - the Ducks and Cardinal are currently atop his leaderboard.
"I'll be visiting Washington and Oregon within these three weeks with my teammate, Alex Forsyth," Molden said. "And I don't have a top five or anything like that, but I do know that Oregon and Stanford are very close to each other."