Marcus Freeman Is Destroying The Recruiting Excuses At Notre Dame

Marcus Freeman has embraced what makes Notre Dame special from the moment he arrived. In just over a year his talent, intelligence, work ethic and force of personality has endeared him to Notre Dame nation in a way I haven't seen in my adult life.

Freeman is also part of a "Big Three" at Notre Dame that has spent the last year destroying the narratives - or better yet, excuses - that have been used for decades to explain why the Irish program hasn't reached expectations, and most involve talent acquisition.

I know you've heard them.

Notre Dame's former head coach and those closest to him used how "hard" it is to recruit and win at ND. Failures on the field were often put at the feet of the administration, the weather, the academic requirements, the players and in recent seasons, for some odd reason, fans .... but not the head coach's unwillingness to do what it takes to win.

Terms like shopping down a different aisle and fit and "Notre Dame kid" were used as justifications for settling instead of putting in the hard work. They were used as excuses to take the easier path, all the while talking about how "hard" it is to win here. It was easier to talk about how hard it was than it was for the former head coach to actually put in the work needed to be great at recruiting, and to demand it from his entire staff.

Freeman rejected those excuses and narratives the moment he arrived in South Bend.

In an interview last year with former Irish legend Chris Zorich, Freeman talked about finding the best players in the country and convincing them that they are, in fact, Notre Dame kids. What Freeman realized that his predecessor never did - or perhaps never wanted to - is that great players want to be challenged. Champions don't want the easy path, they want to be pushed beyond their own perceived limitations.

Instead of accepting the narratives, Freeman went out and battled for many of the nation's top defensive players in the 2022 class, including many that weren't even on the program's radar when he arrived. Notre Dame finished with its highest ranked recruiting class in almost a decade thanks primarily to an outstanding haul of defensive players, and Freeman led that charge.

Consider that when Freeman arrived last January standouts like Jaylen Sneed, Jaden Mickey, Niuafe Tuihalamaka and Benjamin Morrison didn't even have offers from Notre Dame. Defensive lineman Tyson Ford was considered a strong lean to Oklahoma, fellow end Aiden Gobaira was considered a lean to Penn State and stud linebacker Josh Burnham was considered a lock to Michigan, the team he grew up rooting for.

Within six months all seven of those players were committed to Notre Dame and all seven ultimately signed with the Fighting Irish.

That's a lot of players that weren't considered "Notre Dame kids" that were in fact very much Notre Dame kids, but they weren't going to be easy players to land.

Notre Dame had to go into SEC country to land Sneed, a five-star recruit. Tuihalamaka was a USC commit when Freeman offered him and Mickey was being pursued by many of the best programs on the West Coast. Freeman and staff had to beat Alabama and Washington, the best program on the West Coast at producing top defensive backs, for Morrison.

Beating Oklahoma for Ford was not an easy task, but Freeman made it look easy. Going into Michigan's back yard and beating them for Burnham, the Gatorade Player of the Year, was a huge recruiting coup for the Irish staff.

As good as the 2022 class was the 2023 class has a chance to be far, far better on both sides of the ball. Freeman being named head coach is a major reason for that. As defensive coordinator he led the charge that resulted in landing commitments from five-star defenders Keon Keeley and Drayk Bowen, another star lineman in Brenan Vernon and since he's been named head coach Notre Dame has also landed borderline five-stars Peyton Bowen and Justyn Rhett in the secondary to go with four-star linebacker Preston Zinter and four-star safety Adon Shuler.

Notre Dame currently has the nation's No. 1 ranked recruiting class and it isn't close to being done. Freeman has put a premium on hiring assistant coaches that value relationships and understand putting in work on the recruiting trail is a must.

You don't come to Notre Dame to work for Marcus Freeman if you're going to buy into old narratives about why you can't produce at an elite level. Those days are gone. You come to Notre Dame now to recruit the best of the best and to shop down any aisle needed to compete for championships.

It's a new era at Notre Dame, and so far the results are speaking for themselves. I have a feeling that Freeman and his staff are just getting started.

Part two of this analysis will look at the other very important players in Notre Dame's recruiting resurgence. Needless to say, Freeman isn't doing this alone.

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Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame 2022 Roster
Notre Dame 2022 Schedule

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

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