Sports
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has been in the news in the college football world, not just for how he leads on the field but also for his smart way of getting new players.
While many teams rely a lot on the transfer portal to get players, Freeman sticks to high school recruiting, sure that training them for a long time is key to keep up success at Notre Dame.
Travis Hunter goes through graduation ceremony at the University of Colorado Boulder
Traditional recruiting philosphy
Freeman has said that Notre Dame does well when players join early and grow inside the program. In a recent inteview, he said:
“We’ve always said we’re going to major in high school recruiting. The greatest strength we have here is the love for this university, and in order to do that, you have to pick this place out of high school and really grow with it.”
This idea aligns with how Notre Dame has always done things, building success by growing talent over many years rather than quick fixes through transfers.
Moving through NIL Times
While Freeman keeps his eyes on young talent, he knows how the real world of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals in today’s football. He backs players making money but warns against choosing based only on money incentives.
“The reality is that players will be getting paid. And they should. What I don’t want to see is players making decisions based on how much money they’re going to get. If you focus on being a great player, you should be paid according to your value.”
Notre Dame takes on NIL deals while keeping up with school and sports needs, making sure new players know the long-term good of joining beyond just making money now.
Loneliness and a promising future for Notre Dame
Apart from recruiting, Freeman has also talked about Notre Dame’s spot in terms of conferences, strongly saying that the Fighting Irish will stay alone for now. While the change in conferences has changed college football, Freeman says that Notre Dame will think about joining one only if staying alone makes things hard in areas like playoff chances or planning games.
“As long as we can, we will retain independence. I have a lot of confidence in our administration that they’ll always keep us in a position to be successful. But if there ever comes a time when we are at a disadvantage because we aren’t in a conference, I’m sure they’ll make the decision to join one.”
Freeman knows that champions of conferences get to go straight to the College Football Playoff, and teams from the SEC and Big Ten often get special care. Yet, he thinks Notre Dame’s name and strong game plans still let them fight at the top.
As Notre Dame moves through the changing world of college football, Freeman’s focus on high school recruiting and staying alone marks his time as head coach. How he mixes old ways and new truths will be key in keeping Notre Dame in the running in the playoff times.
This news was originally published on this post .
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