Notre Dame Is Making A Very Important Change When It Comes To Its Players

Notre Dame assistant athletics director for football communications Katy Lonergan sent an email out to the Irish beat today that was quite surprising, and that email showed a very dramatic shift for the program.

The email informed the media that on Friday, February 4th, Notre Dame would make its 12 early enrollee freshmen available for interviews. While this might not seem like a big deal, since they are on campus and now members of the football team, it was a sudden change from what had been done in the past.

With it Signing Day it makes sense to make available the members of the 2022 class that are on campus. While that might seem like common sense, it's an approach we've never seen, and it signifies a change in approach at Notre Dame.

In the past, however, the media got no access to the early enrollees during the winter and spring, and we rarely get them during the fall of their first season. This was a very important shift for Notre Dame in a number of areas.

Make no mistake, we aren't going to be getting interviews with Jaylen Sneed, Billy Schrauth, Tyson Ford, Jaden Mickey and the rest of the freshman class after every practice in the spring. But this move is a clear signal that Notre Dame is moving towards a more open approach when it comes to media availability.

This is important for a number of reasons.

For one, it was needed. There are certainly good reasons for not allowing freshmen to be open to the media, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

This is especially true in the era of name, image and likeness (NIL). Notre Dame is going to do the NIL business the right way, which means the program isn't going to use it as an enticement to sign on the dotted line. The program has done well to promote its players, and according to my sources a number of players have already made over six figures in different deals.

Muting early enrollees for half of their freshmen season takes those players out of the spotlight, which for big-name or highly ranked recruits limits their ability to build up their reputation and limits branding opportunities. We don't get to see them express their thoughts or put their personalities on display.

By making more players available to the media there is also the opportunity that the burden on a smaller number of players is eased a bit. With greater access to the entire team, there is the opportunity for the communications staff to "spread the wealth" so to speak in regards to players who have to engage with the media.

It also allows Notre Dame to put more faces in front to represent the program. In the past it was mainly about Brian Kelly all the time, and we'll certainly see a lot of Marcus Freeman, understandably since he is the head coach. But in the era of NIL there is also value to putting the players in a more front-and-center position, assuming its something they desire, and certainly some will.

It certainly fits in with Freeman's more player-focused attitude. Coaching is absolutely vitally important to success, but early on Freeman seems more willing to make the program as much about the players as it is about him and his staff.

This is a positive change for Notre Dame, and hopefully one of many as we transition into a new era!

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