Manti Te'o praises NIL efforts at Notre Dame, how Marcus Freeman is helping players off the field

Since NIL came to be three years ago, Notre Dame has been active. In addition to the university’s three NIL collectives, head football coach Marcus Freeman is helping to make sure his players are set up off the field, according to Fighting Irish icon Manti Te’o.

Notre Dame has three operating collectives — Friends of the University of Notre Dame (FUND), Golden Touch and Irish United. FUND is spearheaded by former Fighting Irish quarterback Brady Quinn and has been named an official NIL sponsor. Golden Touch, meanwhile, recently partnered with WME Sports to support Notre Dame student-athletes.

Beyond that support, though, football players are also learning important off-field lessons from Freeman. He has embraced the Notre Dame network, which includes 140,000 alumni worldwide, according to the university website, and is making sure the players learn to build those connections. Te’o said he had to learn to do that on his own, which is why he praised Freeman for his efforts.

“That’s what I like about Notre Dame. They’re going about it in a very calculated way,” Te’o said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I think Brady Quinn and them are making like a fund trying to help these kids out. … This is a shoutout to Coach Freeman, man. So, I was talking to an individual. They talk about the Notre Dame network and that type of stuff. They would say, ‘Hey, tap in to the network.’ Well, I was a player, I was like, ‘How do I do that? Do I just go up to a random guy and introduce myself? Like, what do you mean, tap in to a network?’

“I was talking to this individual. His family owns the college of business at Notre Dame. And he said that Coach Freeman, right now, is connecting all of the players to the network. He’s taking each player and saying, ‘Hey, what do you want to do? What is your passion outside of football?’ And he’s connecting them to somebody where they can get an internship to learn about real estate, to learn about stocks. Whatever it is.”

Manti Te’o on Marcus Freeman’s work with the Notre Dame network: ‘Y’all don’t understand how priceless that is’

On the field, Freeman has Notre Dame looking strong. The Fighting Irish are firing on all cylinders as they take a 4-0 record into Saturday’s prime time showdown with Ohio State. But Te’o said the things he’s doing to help his players away from the gridiron is just as notable.

Freeman understands not all of his players will continue with football forever. That’s why Te’o said it’s important to have him facilitating those connections.

“Y’all don’t understand how priceless that is,” Te’o said. “That you have a coach that not only helps you on the football field, but is saying, ‘Okay, let me connect you with somebody in this business that has done it on the highest level. Let me introduce you and get you in front of these people.’

“That is the Notre Dame experience, for me. I’m so happy that they have that now in Coach Freeman.”