Tag: Marcus Freeman

Scouts view: ‘22 CB Jaden Mickey, Notre Dame’s newest commit

What to expect from Notre Dame’s newest commits, Jaden Mickey.

Notre Dame has historically been a major power recruiting on the West Coast and the Irish showed again why that is the case getting a commitment from California cornerback Jaden Mickey.

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Standing almost six feet and 175-pounds, Mickey also held offers from Georgia, USC, Oregon and others. He becomes the 10th commit in the 2022 class, the first at his position.

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With Mickey in the fold the Irish now have a top-5 class according to the 247Sports composite, at four, trailing only Ohio State, LSU and Georgia. Here’s what to expect from the newest Irish defensive back commit.

Since California just started their 2020-21 season, Mickey’s season highlight package is from last year. When his tape from the spring season comes out, a new scouts view will come out, but until then his sophomore season was very prosperous, picking off 6 passes and taking two of those to the house. The reason why Mickey was able to do this was because he’s always around the ball.

It’s fairly obvious that Mickey has good hands, but the reason why he got so many opportunities to pick those passes off is because he baits quarterbacks to trying and fit the ball into tight windows. He gets some by being opportunistic as well.

Mickey plays plenty of press and off the call coverage, excelling in both although I like him much more in man situations. He seems more engaged when knowing he’s on an island instead having an area responsibility. His press is solid off the line, Mickey could use some time in the weight room to be stronger, his initial punch off the line become much better.

As a tackler Mickey is willing, but does need to work on his form, this is easily correctable. Remember, all of this is as sophomore, the base for a very high level corner is there. The Irish are getting a good one with Mickey, he’s got a very high ceiling.

Key Notre Dame target sets St. Patrick’s Day as commitment date

Will Irish eyes be smiling when a key Notre Dame target announces his college decision on St. Patrick’s Day?

If your birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day and you set that day your junior year of high school to make a college commitment, Notre Dame has to feel pretty good about their chances, right?

That’s at least what Brian Kelly, Marcus Freeman, and the rest of the Notre Dame coaching staff are thinking as key Michigan target and four-star linebacker Josh Burnham has set his commitment date for his 17th birthday next week.

Burnham certainly has the build of something special as he’s listed as a 6-4, 215 pound outside linebacker from Central High School in Traverse City, Michigan.

Burnham, the 85th ranked player nationally on 247Sports, is believed to be choosing between Notre Dame, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

For what it’s worth, the experts on 247Sports give Notre Dame the slight edge over Michigan in the “crystal ball” category.

Stay tuned on St. Patrick’s Day to see if Irish eyes are indeed smiling that afternoon.

Related:

Notre Dame’s best football recruit from each state since 2000

Notre Dame’s 2022 Recruiting Class Commitments

Notre Dame scholarship offer tracker for 2022

Notre Dame in top 5 for Ohio 2022 running back

The next cut has been made for Gi’Bran Payne and Notre Dame has been included in this top 5.

The Irish are already off to a fast start in their 2022 recruiting class efforts, with 7 commits already in the fold and an early top 10 national ranking for the group. Brian Kelly and his staff aren’t being complacent and heard some good news from one of the best running back in the nation, Ohio’s Gi’Bran Payne.

Only two schools were dropped off in Payne’s recent update, Michigan and Purdue on the Cincinnati’s natives list. Although defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman won’t be coaching him, you have to expect that he is helping in the efforts to land Payne.

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Payne has a very well-rounded game, he’s as much of a threat in the passing game as he is running the ball.

The Irish just got a commitment from Jadarian Price a week ago, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to recruit Payne. It does seem like the staff will take 2 backs this cycle and Payne certainly fits what Notre Dame is looking for.

Notre Dame offers 2022 Georgia star safety

The Notre Dame staff stay busy on the recruiting trail, trying to continue the Georgia pipeline to South Bend.

There will be open spots in the Notre Dame secondary following this coming season and the competition with be fierce. New Irish defensive coordinator knows that most likely star safety Kyle Hamilton will leave early to the NFL while Houston Griffith could make his move as well, he’s due to graduate this spring.

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With all that in mind, Brian Kelly and Freeman are searching for their next star defensive back and offered Georgia safety Emory Floyd today.

The six-foot-three-inch and 165-pound star has already set a commitment date for May 7th. The Irish join an impressive list of offers that include Georgia, Florida, Auburn, North Carolina and others.

If I was pitching Floyd, I would remind him that the Georgia safety pipeline to South Bend is strong with Hamilton and the recently signed Khari Gee. It’s not just in the secondary that the pipeline is strong either, the Irish just signed wide receivers Deion Colzie and Jayden Thomas and tight end Cane Berrong from the state in the last recruiting cycle. In the 2022 class, tight end Jack Nickel hails from Georgia as well.

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Although it does seem like the Irish have some ground to make up in Floyd’s recruitment, instate Georgia is the perceived leader, there is still time to make a big time impression on the Georgian.

Instate 2023 linebacker gets Notre Dame football offer

The Notre Dame coaching staff extends an offer to the best player in the state in the 2023 class, Drayk Bowen.

Although the recruiting cycle has moved over to the 2022 class, that hasn’t stopped Notre Dame from looking a class ahead. With just 20 offers out to the 2023 class, the number just grew by one today as instate linebacker Drayk Bowen announced the good news.

Bowen becomes the first Indiana prospect in the ‘23 class to hold a Notre Dame offer. He is also the first linebacker in the class to get an offer as well. At six-foot-two-inches and 215-pounds, Bowen fits the mold of a big time prospect.

Not only is Bowen a great football player, he excels on the diamond as well. I’m a huge fan of multiple sport athletes, many of the skills used to perform on one stage translate over to the others.

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This offer has new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman’s hands all over it. When Freeman was still with Cincinnati, they were the first school to offer Bowen in July of last year. Freeman was one of the coaches Bowen tagged in his offer tweet as well.

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Bowen has a lot of time before his class is set to sign, so this offer is obviously one that most likely won’t see a decision for a while. The offer to the best player in the state is letting Bowen know that he’s a priority recruit for Notre Dame in the 2023 class.

How long will defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman be at Notre Dame?

A guess at how long newly hired Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman will head the Irish defense.

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Yeah, I know, Marcus Freeman was just hired by Brian Kelly to replace Clark Lea, but it’s no secret that the Ohio native will eventually be a head coach. The question really is when will that happen?

Recently, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford listed his 10 assistants that are destined to be head coaches and Freeman was the first name on his list. Turnover in the coaching profession is extremely regular, as assistants want to continue progressing in their careers with bigger opportunities, no doubt that Freeman thinks the same.

At just 35-years old, Freeman is in his infancy of his coaching life cycle, just this year he was considered for the head coach job at Illinois and another high-profile coordinator job at LSU.

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What’s interesting is that Freeman seems to want to stay in the Midwest, his roots are strong in the area. Teams now are much more likely to give a chance to a rising coach who doesn’t have experience as the lead guy, in hopes of finding the next star.

So that leads us to how long will Freeman be manning the Irish defense. Typically in Kelly’s tenure his successful DC’s have stayed for 2-3 years, other’s not as long. I have no doubt in my mind that Freeman will be successful, so given the history, I would have to guess at least 2 years, maybe more.

Why more? It seems like Freeman won’t just jump at the next opportunity, it is going to have to be the right one. Will he move out of the region for a chance to be a head coach? Potentially, but again it has the be a great fit for him. Freeman and his wife Joanna have 6 children and moving them could be a difficult task.

I would tend to doubt that Freeman would go to a lower level Big Ten school, those jobs aren’t easy turnarounds for a first-time head coach. His next logical step is taking over a program.

Could he ultimately take over for Kelly when his contract expires? Again maybe, but I think Tommy Rees has the inside track to succeed Kelly at the moment.

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What we should expect is that Freeman will be around for about 3 years as the Irish defensive coordinator. It should be a very prosperous time for the Notre Dame defense.

Notre Dame Lands Three-Star Defensive End Recruit Aiden Gobaira

Notre Dame’s defensive line just landed a very solid recruit for its future.

Notre Dame’s defensive line just landed a very solid recruit for its future. Weak-side defensive end Aiden Gobaira, weighing in at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, has announced his commitment to the Irish. Penn State was the only other major player for the three-star recruit, so it’s not like there was serious competition for him. Still, the Irish will be happy to have the Chantilly, Virginia, native that Mike Elston and Marcus Freeman have high hopes for.

Gobaira has received offers from schools as far back as April, including one from the Irish in May. Per 247Sports, he made an unofficial visit to Notre Dame on Tuesday. Whatever happened during that visit obviously won him over because only a few days later, he knows what his future holds after he completes his prep senior season in the fall. Oh, and his mother is thrilled with his decision, too, which is enough to melt the iciest heart (We’ll forgive the typo):

 

Notre Dame football grabbed a coach with rising stock

New Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman is picked as a coach who saw their stock rise after the 2020 season by ESPN.

It’s safe to say we all agreed that when Brian Kelly announced defensive coordinator Clark Lea’s replacement was Marcus Freeman, it was a home-run hire. Just because we all think it’s the case doesn’t mean it’s is, but today when ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg looked at college football coaches who improved their stock (insider) who improved their stock, it was nice seeing Freeman included in the group.

Rittenberg prefaced Freeman’s inclusion by noting that he didn’t coach at the Power-5 level this year but does that really matter what level he was on? What he did a Cincinnati this past season was impressive, top-8 nationally in points allowed, raw QBR and yards per play allowed.

What’s nice to know is that Freeman had options to join multiple programs, as Rittenberg noted that he was a candidate for the Illinois head coaching job along with defensive coordinator at LSU, but chose the Irish. “No recent Group of 5 coordinator has built a stronger profile than the 35-year-old former Ohio State linebacker,” he said when explaining why Freeman made his list.

The ties to Indiana and Ohio are significant, as Freeman “has spend his entire coaching career” in the two states. What’s important about this fact is he understands how important the Midwest region is in recruiting. There is already buzz about Notre Dame potentially flipping Ohio State instate commit Jyaire Brown and making a big impact in chatting with Indiana defensive tackle Caden Curry, a top-100 prospect.

It’s not just the fact that Freeman is a coaching star on the rise, it’s the fact that he will be able to use his pull locally to bring in high level prospects to South Bend. Although we have yet to see the fruits of his labor, it’s a great feeling to know that Kelly made the right choice for Lea’s replacement in Freeman.

Three things to watch for Notre Dame on 2021’s National Signing Day

There is not much drama heading into the final signing period for Notre Dame football.

There really should not be much drama for Notre Dame as the final class of 2021 signing period is set to begin today. The Irish signed 26 of their 27 commitments during the early period.

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Without much drama, there really isn’t much to expect from Notre Dame this afternoon. Even with the lack of perceived drama, here are three things to expect from the Irish today.

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Norte Dame offers monster 2023 Ohio defensive lineman

The Notre Dame coaching staff has dipped into Ohio and offered a huge 2023 prospect in Luke Montgomery.

There has always been a certain pull that Notre Dame has in Ohio, whether it be due to the multiple Catholic schools in the state or the proximity of each other. With the hiring of former Ohio State star Marcus Freeman as the new defensive coordinator, the pull has gotten larger. Speaking of large, Notre Dame offered Ohio jumbo-athlete Luke Montgomery yesterday.

Just the 14th offer out to a 2023 prospect, it’s obvious that the six-foot-five-inch and 260-pound lineman is near the top of the Irish’s wishlist. They now have joined the likes of Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and others in the pursuit of Montgomery. Just this morning, he received yet another offer, from Pittsburgh, as his offer list continuing to grow.

When looking at the 14 prospects with offers, half of them coming along the defensive line, it should noted that Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman are looking to improve the team in that area. With the coaches that Montgomery tagged announcing the offer, it should be assumed that they’re recruiting him on that side and not as an offensive lineman.

By getting an offer out early to Montgomery ahead of many other powers of the college football world, it shows him that the Irish really have put a target on him as a player they really would like to get a commitment from. Hopefully the early offer works out and it ends up with Montgomery committing to Notre Dame in the near future.