Conventional wisdom holds that any new head coach needs at least three years before being properly evaluated, in order to give his first recruiting class time to mature.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] will be entering his third season in 2024. Not only does the conventional wisdom apply as his first recruiting class reaches year three, but he also will be in the spotlight for other reasons.
Impatient Irish fans look to see if he is the coach who can not only lead the team back to the College Football Playoff, but put the Irish into the position of fighting for a playoff spot on a yearly basis
Freeman’s seat grew a tad hot after underwhelming losses to Louisville and Clemson last year which knocked the Irish out of CFP contention. This followed a rocky 2022 when Freeman took the mantle after the departure of Brian Kelly for LSU.
ESPN is reporting that with two full recruiting cycles behind him, Freeman is feeling confident about his roster now that he’s been able to implement his vision. That vision includes using NIL and the transfer portal to strengthen the team.
"You've got the right guy at the right time for an incredible institution”: Marcus Freeman has spent the last 32 months overhauling Notre Dame recruiting.
Entering a new CFP era, could it be the nudge that finally puts the Irish over the edge?
New @espn:https://t.co/DUTvkuyF9N
— Eli Lederman (@ByEliLederman) August 11, 2024
While on-field play and projections are two different things, Freeman’s first class has already produced four players expected to start this fall and a fifth who was number one on the depth chart before losing his season due to injury.
Those four are wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, linebacker Drayk Bowen, running back Jeremiyah Love, and safety Adon Shuler. Offensive tackle Charles Jagusah was slated to start before injuring his pectoral muscle in training camp, thus knocking him out for the season.
Freeman’s second class has five of the top-100 prospects as per ESPN rankings. Those five include quarterback C.J. Carr and WR Cam Williams. 2025’s class includes QB Deuce Knight and OT Will Black, both of whom are among the 10 out of 300 ESPN top prospects that have signed with Notre Dame.
The Irish lost only three of their 2024 commits.
“I think you embrace the distinctions the University of Notre Dame presents,” Freeman told ESPN. “That’s something that you have to embrace. It is a great selling point … But you have to be yourself in recruiting — you got to. I don’t want to be somebody I’m not as a recruiter…I think we’ve done a great job of being able to convince the right people or show the right guys that this is the right place for them.”
Defensive coordinator Al Golden is also singing the praises of his boss.
“You’ve got the right guy at the right time for an incredible institution,” Golden said. “It’s the way he leads the program every day. The care that he has for the kids. The way he lays out the plan. From a recruiting standpoint, he is who he is. You can’t fake that.”
It’s easy for coaches to praise their boss, but ESPN heard it from at least one recruit, too. Four-star safety Dallas Golden seemed happy with the process that led him from Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Florida to South Bend.
Golden is number 138 in ESPN’s top 300 and schools like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oregon were knocking on his door. But he chose Notre Dame because the fit felt right — and Freeman played a hand in that.
“They kept it real with me,” Golden told ESPN. “Some other schools will tell you that you’ll come in and start, this and that. But I wasn’t looking for that. I was trying to find where I could feel most comfortable.”
Golden said that Freeman’s availability meant a lot to him.
“They were genuine in who they are,” Golden said, according to ESPN. “They’re real with you more than some of these other college coaches. They built that relationship over time.”
Contrasting Freeman’s tenure so far with Kelly’s eight final classes, ESPN shows that Freeman’s averages of both ESPN top prospects and four-star players are higher.
ESPN reports, via sources, that Freeman is always available whenever prospects or coaches want to/need to talk to him and he has a high level of energy.
Even high-school coaches have noticed.
“I don’t know how much homework the previous staff had done,” one told ESPN. “But you can tell Marcus and his staff pay attention to detail. They’re a little bit different.”
According to Freeman, there’s a reason for this.
“I think the better relationships we have with high school coaches, the more honest conversations we can have,” Freeman said. “Will this person fit at Notre Dame? Not Notre Dame just the university, but also the football program and what we want. And I think the relationships with high school coaches are so valuable.”
The whole ESPN piece is worth a read for any Irish fan, especially one looking for optimism with the season starting just around the corner.
That’s because it paints a portrait of a high-energy coach whose enthusiasm seems to be spreading throughout the program.
“I remember interviewing Marcus when we hired him from Cincinnati,” said Brian Polian, who worked at ND alongside Freeman. “I was immediately struck by how aggressive he was in recruiting and how involved he was in recruiting. I have no doubt that that energy, that urgency, that demeanor, has permeated throughout the entire organization.”
Under Freeman, Notre Dame will maintain connections with its traditional recruiting base. But the Irish are also ready to branch out.
“You search coast to coast,” Freeman said. “All 50 states … For us, I’ve said it: Let’s go anywhere.”
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