Marcus Freeman Talks NIL And Its Impact On Recruiting At Notre Dame

The dust is settling from what turned out to be one of the more tumultuous signing days in recent memory. When all was said and done Marcus Freeman and Co inked a 24-member class that included 21 four-star football players. The 3.875 star average the group totaled is the second-highest at Notre Dame since 2002 (the Jaylon Smith-led 2013 class averaged 3.913).

The majority of Freeman’s first full-fledged recruiting class committed to Notre Dame before the 2022 season ever began.

"It’s important,” Freeman said of the early commitments. "I think it’s a lot harder to de-commit than it is to commit. We’ve always said that the earlier you can get these guys committed to Notre Dame, I think the better chance you have to signing them. But you’ve got to make sure they understand the value of this place and with time comes other obstacles, right. Other thoughts into these recruits minds and thought process. For them to continue to formulate a bond with each other within this class is so important, because that's ultimately I think one of the most important factors into this decision is the bond they have with the other guys in their class, because that’s never going to change.

The Ones That Got Away

The recent tumult did not come from the 24 commitments, though. The drama came from the ones who de-committed and went elsewhere. Defensive end Keon Keeley, safety Peyton Bowen, quarterback Dante Moore, offensive tackle Elijah Paige, cornerback Justyn Rhett and running back Jayden Limar were all committed to Notre Dame at one point, but they all ended up at different schools.

"Listen, we’re all competitors,” Freeman said when asked about the disappointment of losing highly rated recruits in the class. "We want everyone. If we could take 30 kids, 40 kids I’m sure we would, but at the end of the day you have to continue to sell what you believe attracts young people here. They have to make the decision to come to Notre Dame for the right reasons and if it’s not the best place for them we have to be okay with that and really make sure we’re just bringing in the right kids. You can’t worry about the ones you didn’t get. More so, you have to be concerned about the ones that you are bringing in. At the end of the day that’s what’s important. I felt like we brought in the exact guys we needed and we’re extremely happy with this class.”

The Name, Image And Likeness Impact

This is the second recruiting cycle in which name, image and likeness (NIL) was at play in the recruiting process. Limar chose Oregon. Moore, who de-committed of his silent verbal, first flipped to Oregon then ultimately signed with UCLA.

Keeley, the crowned jewel of the class, was also an early commit who de-committed in August, ended up at Alabama. The biggest commotion in the last week came from the "will he or won’t he stay committed” turned de-commitment from five-star safety Bowen.

The lure of instant NIL cash is believed to have been a major factor in the flips of all four of the talented players.

"If that’s the only reason they want to come to Notre Dame this ain’t going to be the right fit for them,” Freeman said of the impact of NIL money on recruits. "I think the more we can get them back to show them what makes Notre Dame important, what makes this place special, the value of this university, the value of this education, the value of playing football here at this place is really what attracts you and what keeps you here. That’s what we all have to understand.

"If you’re coming here because of NIL, it’s probably not going to be the best place for you and it’s not going to be the place you choose,” Freeman continued. "If you come here and you understand the value of this university, this network, this football team, then you’ve got a great chance to stick it out when things get really, really tough. Because that’s college. That’s, 18 to 22 it gets tough. There’s bumps in the road and when you choose this place for what it brings you way past the time you’re here, then during those tough times you’ll lean on those teammates that I just talked about, those guys that came in with you, but also you’ll lean on the understanding that hey, the value of Notre Dame is going to take care of you for a long time.

Evaluating NIL Fit

It’s not enough just to simply evaluate the talent of a player. Freeman and his staff must also now gauge a potential recruit to determine during the recruiting process just how much NIL could be a factor in their college decision.

"I think every kid you’ve got to look at and say, okay, why did we get him or why didn’t we get him,” Freeman remarked. "That’s something we’ll do as a staff is say, okay, every recruit that signed here, why did we get him, what was important? The kids that we didn’t get, why didn’t we get him, what was important, what could we have done differently? The ones that de-committed, why did they de-commit, what could we have done differently? And some of them we might have to say, it wasn’t the right fit, it’s okay. Some we’ve got to look and say we’ve got to evaluate the way we’re recruiting, what we’re selling, how we got to the point where they didn’t want to come here or they de-committed.

"I think if you don’t learn from every kid that’s committed or de-committed, you’re losing a chance to grow and that’s something we’re going to do,” Freeman continued. "Will NIL be a topic? Absolutely. We have to make sure that no matter what the important things in recruiting, we’ve got to make sure that we’re competitive and NIL is important to some of these recruits and we’ve got to make sure we’re competitive and I think we are. But we’ve got to continue to look back and evaluate who we got, why we got them and why we didn’t get certain guys.”

NIL Acquisition Fees

The cold hard facts of recruiting in an NIL world is money talks. That means some player will require an up-front dollar amount to sign a letter of intent on the dotted line.

"We don’t speak to that,” said Freeman. "Is it a part of recruiting? Yeah, because you discuss it. It’s a topic of discussion. But in terms of acquisition feeds, we’re not going to get into that. We can’t. Because, again, if that’s going to be the reason that you decided to come here, man, it’s hard to keep you here. That’s what I think we all, as coaches and competitors that want who we view sometimes as the best, right, we want the best, we want the highest rated, all these different things, we have to understand it’s still about getting the right guys here. You look at last year’s class, and again that was another top 10 class, I think I looked at it the other day maybe four or five guys played this year, didn’t redshirt. I mean, out of a class that we signed 22 to 25 guys. So, I say that’s important, because if you’re coming here for an acquisition fee, as you said, or you’re coming here for NIL and you don’t get that instant gratification of playing right away, it’s going to be tough, right? Tough to stay here. That’s what we’ve got to understand is when you bring these guys in it’s going to take a little bit of time to really be able to run out there at Notre Dame Stadium and have a huge impact on our program. It takes time. Very few guys can come in here and play and start right away.

"Ben Morrison, listen, I don’t know how highly rated he was the only guy in that freshman class to start this year,” Freeman continued. "We’ve had a couple guys that played, but the majority of guys redshirted. Highly recruited guys, highly rated guys. But they’ve decided to stay and say, hey I’ve got to develop, I’ve got to continue to commit to a program and this team and my development. Those are the guys we need, because as you look back two years ago, a lot of those guys, the Blake Fishers, Joe Alts and some of those guys, those are the ones that are playing a lot of ball for you now. It takes time to really make that adjustment from playing high school to playing major college football. So we need guys that understand the value of this place and what it will provide in the long run, because you’re not just going to get that instant gratification that some guys are looking for.”

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