2025 WR Elijah Pedro Excited To Join UMass Family
For Maryland wide receiver Elijah Pedro, the way the Minutemen treated his family made him want to join theirs.
Clearly Joe Harasymiak wasn’t lying when the first-year UMass head coach said it was important for him to get to know the families of the players he was recruiting.
That desire has helped him land another prospect, quite literally.
2025 Maryland receiver Elijah Pedro made his verbal commitment to the Minutemen last week on the heels of an official visit to Amherst. When asked why he chose UMass, Pedro’s first reason had nothing to do with school or football, but everything to do with family.
“It was really how they treated my family,” the Wise High School star told Minuteman Command. “It was my little brother's birthday that weekend, actually. He decided to cancel out on his birthday party to come on my official visit.”
Pedro’s brother, DJ, turned 10 years old during the official visit and Harasymiak, receivers coach Jordan Hogan and graduate assistant Jake Fire made sure DJ’s birthday was special.
“The way that Coach Jake Fire, Coach H, Coach Jordan, how they treated him, my little sister, my mother, my mother's boyfriend,” Pedro continued. “How they treated them and how they made them feel included, even though they didn't have to do that. It was really just how they treated my family.”
Hogan, who joined Harasymiak’s staff after a few years with the San Francisco 49ers and a year coaching receivers at Colgate, was also a big reason for Pedro’s decision.
“Definitely Coach Jordan,” Pedro added. “Coming from The League, he has a lot of experience, so I feel like he would be able to develop me as a player.
“Coach H, he came from a winning program at Rutgers, and even though UMass didn't have a winning season last year, his plan sounded good. The offensive coordinator, their plans sound good. They all came from experienced schools or The League, so I trust in them.”
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Pedro believes in Harasymiak’s message.
“It wasn't even really about football,” he said. “It was really rebuilding the room, rebuilding the vibe in the room, rebuilding the team chemistry. The first thing Coach H did when he got to UMass was build a player lounge with games all in there, just somewhere where players could bond and have a good time and get to know each other.”
Pedro is the type of receiver who can be moved around and used in the return game.
“I'm a player who plays everywhere,” he said. “Anywhere that they need to use me at, I'm there. They're looking for a guy who can make explosive plays and they said they need me to do that right away, so I'm going to do that.”
Pedro was one of four visitors that weekend who ended up committing to UMass along with running back Elijah Faulkner and offensive lineman Garrett Cooper and Gavin Wilson.
“It was great because it really showed that the love was genuine. It wasn't just, to me or to him. It was good to see that they were showing the same love to everybody.”