Inside Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame recruiting overhaul

Eli Lederman, ESPN Personnel WriterAug 11, 2024, 08:00 AM ET Close Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He signed up with ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman considered his roster following a recent fall practice ahead of a season that could see the Irish back in the College Football Playoff. Perhaps for the first time in the 38-year-old’s tenure, Freeman is overseeing a group recruited by his design and built in his vision. With two full recruiting cycles under his belt, Freeman has actually overhauled Notre Dame’s recruiting infrastructure, increased its NIL offerings and accepted the transfer portal, all part of a push to take the singular qualities that have kept Notre Dame continually amongst college football’s elite and strengthen the Irish for deep runs in the expanded, 12-team CFP.” I think you accept the distinctions the University of Notre Dame

provides,”Freeman informed ESPN.”That’s something that you need to embrace. It is a fantastic selling point … “But you need to be yourself in recruiting– you got to,”he continued. “I do not want to be someone I’m not as an employer … I think we have actually done an excellent job of being able to encourage the best individuals or reveal the ideal guys that this is the ideal place for them.” Freeman has Notre Dame hiring differently, and results indicate the strategy is working. In the midst of Freeman’s third complete cycle, the Irish are recruiting at a better clip than in any moment because Brian Kelly closed the nation’s fourth-ranked class in 2013. From Notre Dame’s 2023 class– signed at the end of Freeman’s very first cycle as head coach

— linebacker Drayk Bowen, running back Jeremiyah Love, pass receiver Jaden Greathouse and safety Adon Shuler represent four signees predicted to begin this fall. A fifth member of that class, offensive take on Charles Jagusah, was likewise expected to start in 2024 before suffering a season-ending pectoral injury in preseason camp.In the 2024 cycle, the Irish landed 5 of the country’s top 100 potential customers, per ESPN rankings, headlined by No. 2 pocket passer C.J. Carr and wide receiver Webcam Williams, losing just three commitments along the way. In 2025, quarterback Deuce Knight and offensive deal with Will Black highlight 10 ESPN 300 potential customers currently pledged to Notre Dame, leaving the Irish in variety to chase their third top-10 finalizing class given that Freeman took charge on Dec. 3, 2021, more than Kelly turned in across his final eight full recruiting cycles.With just two CFP looks because 2014 and a current history of coming up short against the nation’s leading programs, could the hiring boost Freeman has provided Notre Dame be the push that moves

the Irish from regular oppositions to seasonal national title contenders?”You’ve got the ideal guy at the correct time for an incredible institution,”Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden said of Freeman.”It’s the method he leads the program every day. The care that he has for the kids. The method he lays out the

strategy. From a recruiting standpoint, he is who he is. You can’t phony that.” Energy, urgency and disposition Four-star security Dallas Golden had a sense of what he desired when his college recruitment started. The No. 138 possibility in the 2025 ESPN 300 likewise knew what he didn’t want as deals began rolling in from the similarity Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Oregon.Golden felt several programs fizzled in his recruitment. The personnel at Notre Dame, nevertheless, appeared to understand him from the moment the Irish began hiring Golden out of Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Florida.”They kept it genuine with me,”Golden said.” Some other schools will tell you that you’ll can be found in and begin, this and that. But I wasn’t trying to find that. I was searching for where I could feel most comfortable.”The Irish got in early, using Golden throughout his freshman year with protective backs coach Mike Mickens and then-Notre Dame director of recruiting Chad Bowden leading

his recruitment. Then Golden began speaking with Freeman as the Irish kept in nearly day-to-day contact over the next two years. If Golden or his household required to get in touch, Freeman was always available.Golden revealed his

commitment to the Irish over Georgia, Clemson and Florida State on April 28, nixing scheduled main visits to the latter 3 schools. He gets in the fall as the third-highest rated possibility in Notre Dame’s 2025 class, filling an important position of requirement on the depth chart.Editor’s Picks 2 Related”They were authentic in who they are, “Golden stated.”They’re real with you

more than some of these other college coaches. They constructed that relationship gradually.”Golden’s recruitment uses a window into how Notre Dame is approaching its top high school targets.Equipped with adequate resources, on-and off-field prestige, and one of the strongest brands in college football, Notre Dame is consistently competitive in

hiring the nation

‘s most appealing prospects in spite of a high scholastic requirement and other university elements that narrow the Irish’s prospective talent pool. But over the past 3 years, Notre Dame’s new edge has actually originated from Freeman.Sources inside the program describe Freeman as an authentic, vibrant recruiter. He keeps in constant communication with prospects during contact periods– obtainable at all times– and keeps continuous recruiting dialogue with his assistants, peppering them with concerns and digging for updates.If Kelly represented an old-school character who fit Notre Dame’s past like a glove, Freeman has actioned in as a catalyst capable of taking the program’s recruiting into the future. Over Kelly’s final eight classes from 2014 to’21, Notre Dame averaged 9.4 signees from the ESPN 300 and 12.7 four-star prospects, per cycle. Across the three classes Freeman has signed, Notre Dame’s averages have actually reached 11.7 top-300 prospects and 14.7 four-star additions each year.”I remember interviewing Marcus when we employed him from Cincinnati,”said Brian Polian, who spent 10 seasons at Notre Dame, consisting of 5 under Kelly from 2017 to’21.”I was right away struck by how aggressive he was in recruiting and how involved he remained in recruiting. I have no doubt that energy, that urgency, that temperament, has actually penetrated throughout the whole organization.”Relationships at the high school level High school coaches throughout the country are seeing Freeman’s design, too.Jason Jewel is in his 6th year as head coach at Brophy College Preparatory, a personal Jesuit high school in Phoenix. When Kelly’s personnel recruited cornerback Benjamin Morrison out of Brophy in the 2022 class, Jewel says he had minimal contact with the coaching staff.It’s not unusual now for programs to work beyond a possibility’s high school coach. However when Notre Dame started recruiting 2025 Brophy cornerback devote Cree Thomas, Freeman showed up often and rolled deep, going to with several assistant coaches each time. On one go to, Freeman made a point to

look for the school’s president, Bob Ryan, a Notre Dame alumni.”I don’t understand how much homework the previous staff had done,”Gem said.”However you can tell Marcus and his personnel take notice of information. They’re a little bit different.”Your League, Your Guidelines Produce a league and tailor league size, scoring and guidelines to play in the league you want to play in.Create a league today! That Freeman and his personnel are making significant impressions around the high school scene is no accident. Freeman honed his relationships at the high school level while rising in tasks at Ohio State, Kent State, Purdue and Cincinnati before landing at Notre Dame, and they remain at the core of everything he and the Irish are about on the recruiting trail in 2024. “I believe the better relationships we have with high school coaches, the more truthful discussions we can have,”

Freeman said. “Will this person

fit at Notre Dame? Not Notre Dame simply the university, however also the football program and what we want.

And I believe the relationships with high school coaches are so important.”Hawaii’s Punahou High School has actually become a football pipeline to Notre Dame, with Manti Te’o and Marist Liufau among the schools’most popular shared alums. Sophomore Irish linebacker Kahanu Kia is a more current Punahou-to-Notre Dame story. Next fall, his sibling Ko’o will sign up with the program as a three-star linebacker in the 2025 class.Their father, Nate Kia, is the head coach at Punahou. He understood Freeman initially as his older kid’s position coach. Now he sees the recruiting environment Freeman is fostering in South Bend, Indiana, from the viewpoint of both a coach and a moms and dad. “They truly focused on terms of what the worth proposition of what Notre Dame

gives the table,”Kia said.” They have actually modernized things. The requirement to do the other things that topflight, prestigious football programs do. However underlying all of that, the personnel do a terrific job of ensuring you understand that this place has a heart which it is various from other locations.”Recruiting facilities Upon replacing Kelly in 2021, Freeman took immediate steps to expand the program’s recruiting facilities, increasing the size of his recruiting personnel from 6 to 10 people, according to a source.That group consists of Bowden, now the program’s general manager. A reshuffling of the program’s hiring staff earlier this summer season saw

promotions for Zaire Turner (director of player personnel)and Carter Auman( assistant general supervisor), while Caleb Davis has actually returned to Notre Dame in a director of recruiting role.Freeman has actually likewise assembled a coaching personnel of experienced employers communicating a common vision. Sources within the program and throughout the high school ranks note Mickens and offensive organizer Mike Denbrock among the program’s top recruiters, with quarterbacks coach Gino

Guidugli, defensive line coach Al Washington and linebackers coach Max Bullough also leaving strong impressions in recruiting.ESPN has actually likewise confirmed that Notre Dame is set to include Pro Football Focus expert Anthony

Treash to its personnel, another move toward updating the program’s method to skill examination. Offensive organizer Mike Denbrock is also one of Notre Dame’s best employers. Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports “Marcus, and how much he

believes in digging in, he makes certain he’s the voice of our whole recruiting effort,”said Denbrock, who went back to Notre Dame this offseason after two seasons with Kelly at LSU.Shifting mindsets around NIL showed to be one of Freeman’s early obstacles in his function at Notre Dame.With Freeman pushing from within the program, that environment has actually changed, particularly over the past year-plus. The Buddies of the University of Notre Dame, a third-party cumulative led by former Notre

Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, has been important across the past 2 recruiting cycles. Former football director of player personnel Dave Peloquin now carries a”strategic efforts” title, directing the school’s total NIL efforts from within the athletic department.”I can inform you there was a time that individuals on campus weren’t sure of what that model was going to be and whether that was in line with the mission of the university,”Polian stated.”That’s altering. “Closing the space While the operation around Notre Dame recruiting has developed under Freeman, the base of the program’s recruiting structure has actually remained the same.Among the nation’s elite prospects, the Irish have

traditionally targeted recruits from personal and Catholic schools, numerous with local ties to the program.

Current NFL draft picks Kyle Hamilton and Joe Alt, for example, fit the profile of player Notre Dame typically recognizes and devotes greatly to recruiting. Across the 2023 and 2024 classes, the Irish inked 22 players from Catholic or independent school programs. In 2025, the program holds dedications from 13 more.”We’ve got to win perhaps a greater percentage of battles for the ones that in fact are a truly excellent fit here and make certain that those guys belong of what we’re doing,”Denbrock said.Under Kelly, the Irish leaned

on their conventional recruiting hotbeds, but at the heart of Notre Dame’s 2012 nationwide runner-up team were protective linemen Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix. Tuitt got here in South Bend from a public high school in Monroe,

Georgia; the Irish recruited Nix from William M. Raines, a historically Black high school in Jacksonville, Florida. Marcus Freeman presently has the No. 10-ranked recruiting class. Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports Freeman, over the course of his period in charge at Notre Dame, has promised to diversify the program’s recruiting base, pulling from the seasonal locations while branching out to discover skill in other parts of the country. In a podcast appearance earlier this year, Freeman stressed the value of appealing to “young people that do not understand they are Notre Dame kids

, but they are.” Shuler, the sophomore safety who will feature prominently in Notre Dame’s secondary this fall, is one example of a player Freeman drew in from outside the program’s conventional base.Shuler emerged in the 2023 class as a four-star possibility at Irvington High School, situated outside Newark, New Jersey. He held deals from major SEC and Big 10 programs, and while Shuler fielded calls from Alabama, Georgia and Penn State, his high school coach, Ashley Pierre, turned to a relationship born years previously while Freeman was an assistant at Cincinnati.Soon, Notre Dame was recruiting Shuler, and Freeman was boarding a flight to New Jersey.

“I think he can connect to people from all walks of life,” Pierre stated of Freeman.”I think that’s what makes him unique. It’s what makes him different from a lot of head coaches across the country.”In the 2024 cycle, Freeman ventured into less familiar area to land running backs Kedren Young( Lufkin, Texas )and Aneyas Williams(Hannibal, Missouri ). Amongst the players devoted to Notre Dame’s 2025 class, Knight, the quarterback from Lucedale, Mississippi, and running back Bryan Anderson (Bryant, Arkansas)represent two more examples of Freeman’s desire to broaden Notre Dame’s recruiting footprint.The Irish’s 2025 class ranks 10th in ESPN’s newest rankings for

the 2025 cycle with pledges from 5 ESPN 300 defenders and a pair of the country’s top-25 offensive lineman. Freeman’s most current class took a struck earlier this summer season when four-star cornerback Ivan Taylor flipped his pledge to Michigan. Knight, the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the 2025 class, has actually been linked greatly with a flip to Auburn. However supports could show up after a sluggish summertime with the Irish in the mix for top-100 linebackers Madden Faraimo and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng and Notre Dame still chasing depth at wide receiver and on the defensive line.Late flips and NIL-related recruiting losses will remain among the challenges Freeman and the Irish face. As it has at times on the field over the previous decade and a half, Notre Dame remains a step behind the country’s mightiest powers in the SEC and Big Ten. Per ESPN rankings, Notre Dame has signed just one top-five class given that 2010. In Freeman, nevertheless, the Irish have a leader working ferociously and vigilantly to close the gap.”You browse coast to coast, “Freeman stated.”All 50 states … For us, I have actually stated it: Let’s go anywhere.”