Marcus Freeman hasn't coached a regular-season game at Notre Dame.
Yet it's fair to say the first-year coach is already exceeding expectations in South Bend and working toward beating a narrative that led the last coach to leave for LSU. Right now, Freeman has the top recruiting class for 2023 according to 247Sports.com, and Notre Dame landed 2024 five-star quarterback C.J. Carr on Thursday night.
Who said the Irish couldn't recruit like the other national championship contenders?
"This is kind of what happens when you have won 10-plus games for five straight seasons," Irish Breakdown recruiting analyst Bryan Driskell told Sporting News. "You're considered a top program and kids want to be a part of that. When you combine that with a head coach that actually recruits with a quality staff top to bottom, you're not surprised by it."
Kelly, the school's all-time winningest coach, left Notre Dame for LSU on Nov. 29, 2021. Kelly's average recruiting class with the Irish was 12.3, and that included five top-10 classes. Notre Dame's highest ranking in that stretch was No. 5 in 2013 – a class built around five-star linebacker Jaylon Smith.
Driskell said Freeman did not take long to make an impact as a recruiter in South Bend.
"Look at Notre Dame's (2022) defensive class, which is one of the three or four best defensive classes in the country," Driskell said. "Jaylen Sneed, Junior Tuihalamaka, Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison – some of the best players in the class – didn't have offers from Clark Lea. Notre Dame jumps in January and finishes with a great class."
Freeman is on pace to land the Irish's best class ever in the 247Sports era in the 2023 cycle. The Irish have been on a tear on the recruiting trail since the spring game with six commitments who have at least a four-star ranking.
– Keon Keeley (Berkeley Prep, Tampa) committed on June 28. He is the top edge rusher in the country and the No. 2 recruit in Florida. Brenan Vernon (Mentor, Ohio), the No. 2 recruit in Ohio, followed the next day. That showed Freeman can pull elite talent in two of the most-important recruiting states in the country.
– Freeman also flexed the Irish's national reach with tackle Sullivan Absher (South Point, Belmont, N.C.), defensive lineman Devan Houston (St. James School, Sharpsburg, Md.) and running back Jayden Limar (Lake Stevens, Wash.)
– Offensive lineman Joe Otting (Hayden, Topeka, Kan.), a lifelong Irish fan, also committed. That follows Lou Holtz's old recruiting philosophy was to target the best recruits in the country with the players that live to play for Notre Dame.
Driskell said the Irish are bringing that back, too.
"They're trying to," Driskell said. "There's the expression that, 'We need to go find Notre Dame kids.' Freeman's thought is basically, 'We need to find the best players in the country and explain to them why they are Notre Dame fits. Once they see kids are not, they've shown a willingness to say, 'No thanks.'"
Carr's expected commitment is yet the latest statement. The five-star quarterback is from Saline, Mich., in Michigan's front-yard. He is the grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr, who led the Wolverines for 13 years and shared the 1997 national championship. That's a tough blow for Michigan, a traditional Notre Dame rival coming off its first College Football Playoff appearance.
It shows that recruits want to play in Notre Dame's offense. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is the primary recruiter, and it probably didn't hurt that the first impression of the offense was watching Jack Coan throw for 509 yards in last year's Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State. That could open an elite quarterback recruiting pipeline for years to come.
"Notre Dame’s been able to do what they’ve done (in 2022) without a quarterback in the class. Quarterbacks are the pied pipers of a recruiting class," Driskell said. "What’s Notre Dame’s recruiting going to look like once they get that five-star quarterback?
"Notre Dame proved down the stretch that this is what Tommy Rees wants to be," Driskell said. "He wants to get the ball out. He needs a trigger-man. Once Jack Coan really got comfortable in the offense, you saw Notre Dame shred people with the passing game. That made the run game better."
The Irish brought back Harry Hiestand, the offensive line coach from 2012-17. He helped develop first-round picks Zack Martin, Ronnie Stanley, Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey in his first stint with Notre Dame.
It all leads up to the ultimate spotlight recruiting showcase to start the 2022 season at Ohio State – the dominant recruiting power and Freeman's alma mater. That will be a barometer to see where the Irish are when it comes to true national championship contenders.
Over the last five seasons, Notre Dame (54-10) has the sixth-best record in the FBS. That trails Alabama (64-6), Ohio State (56-7), Clemson (61-8), Georgia (58-10) and Oklahoma (56-10). The Irish have proven they can recruit at the level of Clemson and Oklahoma. The next step is Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State, and Freeman is showing that is possible in the new-found NIL era. Freeman, 36, started that run by making it clear what the "player's coach" label means to him in a letter to The Players' Tribune.
"I know I've been labeled as a player's coach, and I'm proud to wear that badge," Freeman wrote. "But I'll be honest, I think there's a misconception about a player's coach, that Oh, the players like him — he's their buddy. And my players know this: just because I don't walk around like I have to put fear in their hearts, that doesn't mean the demands aren't going to be extremely high."
That message is hitting over and over again right now, and perhaps no program has more momentum right now. Considering the abrupt nature in which Kelly bolted for LSU, Notre Dame is meeting those always-unrealistic expectations on the field.
"We'll find out this fall if they can coach," Driskell said. "But we definitely know they can recruit."
