What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said on National Signing Day

Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman spent about 18 minutes speaking to the media on National Signing Day. Here’s everything he said.

Opening Statement

“Very exciting day, obviously extremely thrilled about this class that we signed today, and it’s going to be come in here in January and some of them in June, but I just want to first start off with a couple thank yous, one to our players for their time, our coaches, support staff and the families of the coaches and support staff for their time and effort to truly sell what Notre Dame is all about: The experience. 

“General manager Mike Martin and the entire recruiting staff. They’ve done a great job — compliance. There’s a lot of people, and I know Mike will go through the particulars when he comes up here, but we couldn’t do this without the support of many, many partners, but many people around here that sell this place and show what it’s like to be a part of Notre Dame. 

“And so as you look at the class, 27 commits. It’s our highest-ranked class and since they’ve really started keeping rankings and credit to the hard work that the staff has done, identifying the right guys, but they’re also talented.

“I think we had 16 signees that were evaluated as top 250 players and so it just again reflects the type of player but also the type of person that’s choosing this place. We had 12 states represented it from all over the country and that’s what we’ll continue to do is recruit the best players in the country that fit Notre Dame.

“Again, had a couple legacies in terms of guys whose father’s played in the NFL with Larry Fitzgerald’s son, Devin Fitzgerald, Thomas Davis Jr., whose father, Thomas Davis Sr., played I think 16 years. And then Kaydon Finley, whose father, Jermichael Finley played in the NFL and was a great player. 

“So excited, excited about each and every one of ’em. I just thought we were very intentional about who we targeted and then as if you look at the summer, we had I think 28 official visitors and 27 of those guys committed and so we didn’t waste a lot of time. We were on the right guys, nobody decommitted. They bought into what this place has to offer, and I’m excited for what their future holds.”

On selling Notre Dame to recruits after the run to the national championship game

“Yeah, I think we’ve always said that you come here and aspire to win national championships. And I think for a lot of young people they watched the run we made last year and they see it with their own eyes, right? It’s not maybe their parents that said, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember when Notre Dame was winning national championships or was on that type of level.’ These young people are seeing it and believe that they can reach that type of individual goal and team goal in the current landscape of college football.”

On Mike Martin’s impact on the class

“It’s been tremendous. His evaluation we knew was going to be a strength of his, but the ability to recruit and develop relationships with the young people has really stuck out to me. And I knew that would be a transition for him coming from the NFL, but as you’ve seen, he’s done a tremendous job of developing those relationships with the young people and their parents and families. And again, it’s been a great addition to our staff and our program and look forward to seeing what it continues to do.”

On signing some of the nation’s top defensive linemen and defensive backs

“Yeah, there’s no great defense without a great D-line and some great DBs, and we knew that was an area we had to continue to enhance our roster. When you talk about the guys we signed at those positions and the type of players, the ranking, but the type of players those guys are. As the D-line, you got a couple of inside guys, you got two elite edge rushers and then to me you got the best DBs in the country. And all of those guys that decided to sign with us. 

“And so it’s exciting. We are always going to pride ourselves on the type of defense we play here, and those guys are going to add to what we’ve already got started.”

On the new faces in the recruiting office: Jourdan Blake, Carter Auman and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa

“Carter has obviously been with us for a couple years, and I’ve firsthand seen the strengths that he’s had, but to get Jourdan here and Myron who is a guy that’s never been in the recruiting office — to get those guys here, Justice [Bathas], and to see the way they’ve been able to not only attract young people here, but the way they’ve been able to gel as a department has really been a positive sign. They work really good together and they’re producing some good results.”

On if it feels like they have more of the nation’s top prospects in this class

“Yeah, I mean as you watch and you evaluate ‘em, even the guys, all of ’em that have been committed. We watched their senior year film and as I’ve watched them this senior year and watch how they’ve dominated at the high school level, that’s what you expect to see from such highly rated recruits. 

“And I remember going to see Rodney [Dunham] after his first game back and all those guys, man. They’re playing at a high level in high school and you should. If you’re just one of the best players in the country, you should dominate at the high school level. And I was encouraged by watching not only before they committed their junior film, seeing them in camp, but to see them continue to improve as they’ve gotten into their senior year has been encouraging.”

On the benefits and challenges of recruits enrolling early

“Yeah, I’ve always said there can be two goods and one is you come in early, it can be good. If you come in June, it can be good. I think it’s each individual that has to make the decision what’s right for them. And we fully support both instances of when you enroll at Notre Dame.

“To come in early, you get a head start on obviously the playbook, you get spring practice, you start your development right away and you get a head start in a classroom, which is important. And you get a good foundation set before the summer and you start your true freshman year. 

“Those guys coming into June, again, as I tell them, you’re not at a disadvantage in terms of if you’re going to be able to help us as a freshman, some of the best players that have played for teams I’ve coached or been on as true freshmen, probably majority of them have come in June. And it is just a unique situation.

“But I don’t want you to make the decision I’m coming in in January only because I think this is going to give me the best chance to play right away. If you’re good enough to play as a freshman, it doesn’t matter what time you come, but there’s positives in both. 

“And a lot of those guys that come in June are three-sport athletes or competing in the spring. And so that’s a good thing too, right? And we don’t want you to, we’re not going to make you give up the second half of your senior year just to come into school. If that’s something you want to do, we support it. If not, we support that, too.”

On 2026 class quarterback signee Noah Grubbs

“Yeah, Noah is as talented of a high school player as we’ve evaluated in high school quarterbacks, and he’s playing really, really well in his senior year. He came up here in the summer after he was committed and I was watching ‘em throw a little bit and do some things like he was coming to camp even after he was committed and I’m excited for him. 

“My vision has always been to have a high school quarterback be the future of Notre Dame football. I know in my first two years I had to make decisions that decided to go into the transfer portal, but when Riley [Leonard] was our quarterback two years ago, I knew the future quarterback of Notre Dame was in-house and it was one of three people that I believe could be the future of our program.

“I have a strong belief Noah will get here and do some great things in his first year and we’re going to continue to make sure and hope that the future of our quarterback position is built through high school recruiting.”

On whether recruits can practice with the team in December

“No, that’s a new NCAA rule. We can’t do that anymore. They can come in when the spring semester starts.”

On why they got rid of that rule

“There’s a lot of things that happened that I’m not in those meetings and those committees, but yeah, I’ll just leave it at that.”

On why getting the right guys helped Notre Dame avoid decommitments

“I don’t know if it’s an evaluation thing. We had some early commits and we have to continue to monitor, are those guys improving? Are they playing well as seniors in high school? And if they’re not, then we have to make decisions that ultimately are best for us, but and them, too. 

“But we evaluated the right guys, we continued to make sure they understood why are you committing to Notre Dame? And it’s easy in the moment to make that phone call and say, ‘I’m committing to Notre Dame.’ The challenges is when that feeling wears off. Are you still going to stay committed and true to your word as we are? 

“And so I am just proud of those guys. I’m proud. It talks to the closeness to me of the group. They’ve got a strong bond with each other. There’s a closeness amongst the class. I hear often about their group chat and some of the things they do together online and that’s that brotherhood. It’s already starting and they’re haven’t even stepped on campus permanently. It just speaks to probably why a lot of those guys, even when people are pulling at ’em, they say ‘No, hey, I’m committing to this place and I’m staying committed.’”

On the defensive backs in the class

“I think each one is different. When you’re recruiting Khary [Adams], you show him the development Coach [Mike] Mick[ens] has done with corners and Leonard Moores and the Sauce Gardeners and the Benjamin Morrisons, and I think Khary sees himself as that caliber of a player. 

“And then you think about the Joey O’Brien’s and you sell the Xavier Watts, but the Kyle Hamilton and that, ‘Hey, your body size and athleticism reminds us a lot of Kyle Hamilton.’ And that doesn’t mean they’re going to commit because of that comparison, but I think them seeing a visual of what their college career can be like, the development, it speaks volumes to ’em. 

“And then, I’ll tell you what, Ayden Pouncey, man, he is playing as well as any of the DBs as you watch what he does his senior year on film and what he’s doing as a punt returner as a corner, as a safety on offense, man. He’s playing as well as anybody in that defensive back signee class. 

“And then Chaz Smith, I think he was the first one. He was the first one to commit as a corner and he’s playing really well. And then Nick Reddish to me is a little bit of a Swiss Army Knife. I mean they have him playing sometimes ‘backer and safety and blitzing and playing in coverage. He’s going to do a lot of, to me, he has a lot of skill sets and we’ll figure out what’s best for him.

“But it’s a strong class. It’s a strong DB class and we’re going to need it.”

On signing 11 defensive backs in the last two classes

“Yeah, I think as you look at my first year ’21 as the defensive coordinator and even in ’22, we’ve always been linebacker heavy, but you see we’re transitioning to more of a nickel defense or playing with more DBs than you have in the past, right? You’re playing with five DBs and we have to continue to increase that number just because we’re playing with more and it’s important, right? 

“I think our linebacker room is pretty deep and then you add, I think we added two more linebackers that are extremely good players, but we knew the numbers have to start trending in a way that you’re going to probably take another DB instead of an extra linebacker in these upcoming years.”

On wide receivers Kaydon Finley and Devin Fitzgerald

“As you think of Devin Fitzgerald, he was a guy we have known of because of Cree Thomas being at that school, Benjamin Morrison, and he reminds you a lot of his father. He might come in here and he might not have the fastest 40 time, but he has some of the best ball skills of any wide receiver prospect I’ve seen. He’s just always in position to make a play and he makes the play and it was too good to not go in full throttle and try to get him committed and we’re grateful he did commit. 

“His mom and dad are just such special people. I’ve said even on his official visit, his dad probably sold Notre Dame better than I did. His dad, he did a really good job of selling to other recruits, to parents, on what makes this place special. Larry has some relationships with a lot of key figures here associated with Notre Dame and his son sees what his endless possibilities are as a football player but also as a student here.

“The second guy was Kaydon. Kaydon Finley. He’s playing probably some of the most competitive ball in all of high school in his conference, in his league. He is as talented as anybody you’ll see, and he’s a guy we’ve been on for quite a while and we kept getting him up here. We kept getting him up here, we kept getting him up here and he took some other visits and finally for him to say, this is where I want to be. His dad went to Texas. 

“We knew it was going to be a difficult recruiting process to try to convince him to come up here instead of maybe going somewhere where his dad went or somewhere closer to home. But I think with Kaydon it was the relationship. It was the relationships with the guys in this class that ultimately got him to say yes, and those are two extremely talented wide receivers.”

On Notre Dame dropping in the College Football Playoff Rankings

“Obviously, you’re disappointed, but more so because a little bit of confusion. You’re confused in terms of what we could have done differently and why we fell when we won, 49-20. I think we were up 42-6 going into fourth quarter and that’s the only thing that. I don’t spend time talking about other teams, but it’s just like, ‘OK, what could we have done differently?’

“I don’t know, right? It is just that you always look for cause and effect, you look for a reasoning why you go up or you fall. And for me it was just you didn’t see a great explanation for why we fell when we had a performance we did last Saturday. 

“So, disappointed that we fell just because I don’t necessarily agree with it because I think our guys did a good enough job versus Stanford to warrant not falling in the rankings. And I don’t know if a team did something that much better than us to jump us. I don’t know. That’s for the committee to address.”