With spring ball coming soon for Alabama football, head coach Kalen DeBoer is about to set things into overdrive, hosting plenty of recruits high on his board. Thanks to On3's Chad Simmons, we now know that 4-star defensive lineman Elijah Golden will be making his way to Tuscaloosa.
That's not the entire story, however. Golden isn't going to be taking just one visit to meet with the Alabama coaching staff. Nope, Simmons is reporting that Golden will be in town for three trips later this year, including a March one for a Junior Day:
𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦: The #1 DL in the 2026 Class, Elijah Golden has scheduled THREE visits to #Alabama, per @ChadSimmons_
— Recruits Bama (@RecruitsBama) February 28, 2025
Junior Day: March 22
Spring Visit: April 4-6
Official Visit: June 13-15
The Tide staff is recruiting Golden as hard as any other program in the country right now.… pic.twitter.com/zSTgXeTfo2
4-star DL Elijah Golden has 3 Alabama visits planned later this year
Yeah, it's safe to say that Golden is quite high on Alabama. Following the March trip, he'll be back shortly after on April 4 and then his official visit will arrive in June. Golden is a touted prospect, with plenty of other teams making a strong impact on him - he holds 38 offers.
Other programs to keep a close eye on moving forward are Florida, Michigan and Notre Dame. Those schools, plus Alabama, are the four schools listed with 'warm' interest on Golden's 247Sports page, which also lists him as the No. 1 defensive lineman in the country and No. 40 player nationally.
After getting off to a bit of a slow start with 2026 recruiting, DeBoer was able to land commitments from interior offensive lineman Chris Booker and EDGE Jamarion Matthews. Those two are joined on the '26 commits list by 4-star cornerback Zyan Gibson.
In the coming weeks and months, you can fully expect Alabama to start reeling in plenty of verbals. Will Golden be among the new playmakers to commit to DeBoer and the Tide? That's up in the air, but the '26 standout scheduling so many visits to campus sure makes it clear that Alabama is in a great spot to potentially land him.