Elite 2026 prospect planning to visit Indiana football this month

IMG Academy (Fla.) defensive lineman Elijah Golden is one of the highly sought-after prospects in the 2026 class and is gearing up for a busy summer of visits. That will include a stop in Bloomington to visit with Indiana football.

According to 247Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Loy, Golden will be at Indiana on June 13. Indiana is the second stop along the way of visiting five programs including Notre Dame, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and then North Carolina.

The 6-4, 260-pounder is ranked the No. 2 overall defensive lineman in the 247Sports overall rankings and the No. 15 lineman in the composite rankings.

Overall, Golden is ranked as a top-20 prospect in the 2026 class.

“Golden is the third Top-2o prospect in the 2026 cycle to earn top performer honors with the IMG Academy product consistently disrupting the pocket due to his fluid movement patterns and ability to quickly redirect,” 247Sports national scout Hudson Standish said last month at Under Armour’s Next Camp. “When Golden wasn’t varying his tempo to keep offensive linemen off balance, he would simply overpower them with his initial punch and quickly separate to get past.

“Interior defensive linemen with true pass rushing upside are rare to find, and while he’s still putting the pieces together we love what we’ve seen to this point with Golden.”

This scheduled visit comes on the heels of Indiana hosting five-star quarterback and top-10 prospect Julian Lewis for an official visit. Indiana has started to gain momentum on the recruiting trail under head coach Curt Cignetti and his new vision for Indiana football. An increased pool of NIL hasn’t hurt, as well.

While Indiana hasn’t received a commitment in the 2026 class to date, it has 10 commits in the 2025 class, ranked No. 29 in the 247Sports team rankings.

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