Tag: freeman

An early look at Notre Dame football’s 2024 schedule

Notre Dame’s record in 2024 will be ________.

We’re already nearing a month since Notre Dame ended the 2023 season with a dominating 40-8 win over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.  It’s a long way to go still but the first steps towards the 2024 college football season have been taken.

So far this off-season things have gone well for Notre Dame.  A stellar recruiting class was brought in, the transfer portal did wonders for the roster, and there is excitement regarding the hires on the coaching staff.

One reason for optimism entering 2024 for Notre Dame fans is the schedule the Irish will play.  It has some big names but in terms of a usual Notre Dame schedule it’s a lot more Irish-friendly than some in recent memory.

So how do things shape up for the Irish entering 2024?  Here is an initial look.

Notre Dame card: Steve Angeli

Steve!

Notre Dame wasn’t able to hold onto every 2022 recruiting class commitment after the sudden departure of Brian Kelly from the program a few short weeks ago, but the Irish held onto the majority as the early signing period began on Wednesday.

Notre Dame’s advanced media team knocked it out of the park with its videos of each player this year. Cameos are made from former Notre Dame star football players, professional wrestlers, reality TV personalities and plenty more before Marcus Freeman ultimately delivers the good news for Irish fans.

Here are some fast facts about quarterback Steve Angeli, who was the fourth Notre Dame player to send his national letter of intent in on Wednesday:

Name: Steve Angeli
Position: Quarterback
High School: Oradell, New Jersey (Bergen Catholic)
Size: 6-3, 215 pounds
Stars: Four stars on 247Sports, three stars on Rivals
Original Commitment Date: March 5, 2021

Related:  Notre Dame football 2022 recruiting class tracker

Where Notre Dame football started and finished in every AP Poll since 2000

Which season is your favorite for Notre Dame since 2000?

College football preseason rankings can be funny.  Often times they’re based too heavily on the results of the year before, despite players being off the NFL and other roster changes.

Notre Dame is no exception to this as they’ve been ranked highly in preseasons the last 20-or so years and disappointed.  They’ve also gone from unranked to top-five finishes as well.

2023 figures to see Notre Dame ranked somewhere between 10 and 14 to start the year.  Where they finish will remain to be seen.

How has Notre Dame started the year in terms of the national media’s eye and ended up finishing this millennium?   Here is a look back at every AP Poll start and finish for Notre Dame football since 2000:

Notre Dame adding offensive analyst with Big 12 experience

Coaching staff is nearing completion for 2023

Notre Dame is adding an offensive analyst to Marcus Freeman’s staff, and it’s someone new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker has previously worked with.  Caleb Carbine, who played collegiality at North Alabama and Troy, is reuniting with Parker, according to a FootballScoop report.

From 2019-21, Carbine served as a graduate assistant on the West Virginia staff, which is when his path intersected with Parker.  Carbine worked with tight ends, fullbacks, offensive linemen, and quarterbacks during his time with the Mountaineers.  The Mountaineers produced back-to-back freshmen All-American offensive linemen in Zach Frazer (2020) and Wyatt Milum (2021) during his time.

Carbine comes to Notre Dame after spending last season as North Alabama’s offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.  He also served as a graduate assistant at Troy during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

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Notre Dame football: Rees News Ramps Up Pressure On Freeman

Will Notre Dame be better off in the long run?

I truly do think it’s healthy for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag] to part ways. On one hand, it frees Rees to explore life out of the Notre Dame microscope. On the other, it allows Freeman to break further away from the [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] era and further mold the program through his vision.

In this newfound Freeman freedom though, exists a ton of pressure. New pressure. When Freeman was initially hired as head coach, the staff was still primarily made up of coaches that had been in the program under Kelly. There was comfort in that through the transitional phase of the Freeman era getting underway.

But every day that Freeman drifts further away from the Kelly era, more pressure falls upon him to win and win big. The Kelly roster excuses are going away. The Kelly coaches are going away. The Kelly vibe excuses are going away. It’s getting close to winning time for Freeman, Let’s examine this newfound pressure in some detail.

Notre Dame and Peyton Bowen: What the heck is going on?

Will he end up at Notre Dame?

Social media is a weird enough place to start but when you add in passionate college football fans and 17-18 year olds getting ready to sign their national letters of intent, it gets even more bizarre. That was the story Wednesday night with current Notre Dame commitment [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag].

Bowen is Notre Dame’s highest rated recruit as the safety has a five-star evaluation at the major outlets. It’s understandable that plenty of teams seek his talents and what happened Wednesday is symbolic of what college football has become.

Rumors started online that Bowen was offered an incredible NIL deal from Oregon that would earn him seven figures. It was then said that Oklahoma was willing to match it. None of it was confirmed, in fact Bowen himself came out and spoke against the rumor.

I’ve never met Miss Information but I’m sure she’s a wonderful gal.

Kidding aside, I have trouble believing Bowen was offered over a million dollars to sign a letter of intent. I know it’s college football and money has spoken for a long time in the sport but my guess is that kind of deal would be reserved for elite quarterbacks and perhaps a few edge rushers or playmaking receivers. But then again, who really knows.

What I do know is that in terms of Notre Dame ultimately landing Bowen, I have no expectation. He’s been committed technically since January 1 but even his most recent social media post does anything but reinforce his commitment.

If Bowen is getting life-changing money like that to play college football then good for him. That’s his right and quite frankly, I’d have a real hard time taking my dream school over a million-dollar pay day too.

The only thing I do know is that the word “commitment” in college football recruiting has a significantly different meaning for different players.

As for Notre Dame’s chances here, like I said above, I’m not ultimately expecting good news but would be thrilled to be wrong.

Related: Meet all of Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class commitments

Updated: 2023 College Football Recruiting Team Rankings

Notre Dame beats Cal: Marcus Freeman discusses first career win as head coach

Congrats to Freeman on win No. 1!

Notre Dame picked up their first win of the 2022 season on Saturday with a stressful but ultimately successful afternoon against previously unbeaten Cal.  It didn’t come easy but at the end of the day it feels a ton better than an 0-3 start would have.

Marcus Freeman met the media following the victory and discussed his first career victory, improved performances on both the offensive and defensive lines, the play of quarterback Drew Pyne, and plenty more.

Before we flip the script to North Carolina who awaits the Irish next week, let’s check out everything Freeman had to say during his press conference.  Check out his quotes in entirety below.

Notre Dame’s discret motivational tactic for Ohio State

Go Irish. Beat Buckeyes.

When you get around young people seemingly anything and everything can and will be used as motivation when it comes to athletic competitions.  Already we’ve heard [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] discuss how he wants the point spread for the 2022 opener at Ohio State to only grow and that Notre Dame’s team are the only ones nationally that think they have a snowballs chance at pulling the upset.

It wasn’t so much Freeman’s doing recently but Notre Dame was using a bit of a motivational technique during summer workouts in preparation for the showdown at the shoe.

In a recent tweet by the official Notre Dame football account that was given the simple caption “built by Balis”, a photo of Ohio State quarterback C. J. Stroud and former Buckeyes receiver Garrett Wilson can be seen attached to a weighted sled that star defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey and others are pushing.  Stroud is among the Heisman Trophy favorites for 2022 while Wilson was drafted 10th overall by the New York Jets this past April.  For those not in the know, [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag] is the Notre Dame strength and conditioning coach that has been in place since 2017 and is also seen as a master motivator.

Here’s to hoping [autotag]Isaiah Foskey[/autotag] is seen pushing the actual C. J. Stroud backwards come the first Saturday night in September.

Game on.

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Michigan offers big-time Notre Dame commitment

Hands off, Harbaugh.

This past early signing period Jim Harbaugh and Michigan were able to successful pry longtime Notre Dame commitment Amorion Walker from the Fighting Irish class.  Now the ever lovable skunk-bears are at it again, this time trying to steal one of the top defenders in Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class.

Peyton Bowen, a four-star safety and top-100 national prospect committed to Notre Dame on New Year’s Day this year and figures to be a huge part of Marcus Freeman’s secondary before long.  Despite his commitment, Michigan extended a scholarship offer to Bowen that he announced on social media Wednesday night.

Is it annoying to see?  Certainly.

Does it mean that Bowen is going to go the route of Walker?  Hardly. Although it’s possible.

Is this the way every big-time college football program does it (including Notre Dame)?  Absolutely so there will be plenty more of it to come.

Related:  

Notre Dame’s 2022 game-by-game predictions

Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class commitments

Notre Dame coaching staff tracker

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Nick on Twitter: @nickshepkowski

Notre Dame football adds former Groza award semi-finalist

Notre Dame gets lent a helping hand…or leg

Notre Dame will have a change at kicker in 2022 after Jonathan Doerer exhausted all of his eligibility.  Who that kicker will be however isn’t as simple as looking at the next man listed on the 2021 depth chart.

Notre Dame has added kicker Blake Grupe to their roster for 2022.  Grupe scored the most points in the history of the Arkansas State program and will spend his finally year of collegiate eligibility at Notre Dame.

Grupe spoke to Irish Breakdown about his decision to attend Notre Dame.

“I was in the portal Sunday night, Notre Dame called the next day,”

“Some people have asked what are some other places have talked to you, but in my mind I saw Notre Dame come across my phone and to be real honest it didn’t matter who else was going to call. It was over after that.”

– Blake Grupe

Grupe shares the Sun Belt record for most career field goals with 62 and has a career-long field goal of 50-yards.  He earned first-team all-conference honors in 2019 when he was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award which goes to the nation’s top kicker.

Grupe also mentioned to Irish Illustrated that he is set to compete for the kicking job in 2022, as of now with rising sophomore Josh Bryan.

The addition isn’t going to bring much of a wow-factor but does bring experience to a position that would otherwise not have any entering next season.

Related:

Notre Dame Transfer Portal Tracker (2022)

Early look at Notre Dame’s 2022 football schedule

Notre Dame-Marcus Freeman coaching staff tracker (updated 1.13.2022)