but I could be wrong.

But a talent like Styles can pick his position.

But that may just be a good idea because the current Safeties coach is, well, under-whelming and has zero credentials. Need to sell the bigger picture, not that our Safeties coach will get you to the top of the NFL draft.

And Freeman being from Ohio, Styles looking at OSU, etc.

The defense is suffering in large part from injuries and recruiting misses in the secondary and at LB. There is a major influx of talent coming in that is going to begin to pay dividends starting next year with a defensive class that resembles the 2021 offensive class.

3 by Freeman in his 10 months on the job.

Only 4 top 100 players signed in previous 7 years and/or on current roster (Hamilton, Griffith, Simon, and Lamb/Pryor).

Likely have 3 in the 2023 class already (+Keeley) with Sonny Styles still a possibility (another 5-star).

Recruiting elite players to ND should not be difficult. Freeman's most impactful contribution to ND will be proving this out (like Weis did).

from getting elite players? You mean all it took was hiring an elite recruiter? I was told it was impossible due to academics, weather, South Bend, etc. etc. and that Kelly was doing the best he could possibly do and no one could expect/demand more.

that like to tell themselves (and everyone else who will listen) that ND can't recruit with the big, bad cheaters in the SEC.

They're all feeling a little stupid now that Freeman is taking ND front 7 recruiting way back to Charlie Weis-era levels.

If the rest of the staff catches up, ND may be really good in 2024 or 2025.

ND has so many natural advantages, which the excuse makers ignore.

First, recruiting requires a lot of effort from every school at the highest level of Power 5 football.

With that said, we have a monopoly on the types of kids who would prefer a college experience like ours. Even if only 10% of the top-100 want our type of environment, we should clean up on those kids each year. Where else are they going to go? Boston College? Stanford's football fanbase/level of interest hurts them. Maybe USC or Miami are also kinda similar schools, I guess, as they're private, but not really that similar to us.

And if you get 10 top-100 players every year, you're putting yourself in a great position to win national championships. That doesn't mean you can just expect to get those kids with only an offer - you have to put the work in still, and we haven't really since Weis - but we have a leg-up on those kids.

The 90% that want something else can be fought over by OSU, UGA, Bama, Clemson, Texas, Oklahoma, A&M, FSU, LSU, Oregon, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida, Michigan, Penn St and all the large state schools of that ilk.

Too often, we've used the unique aspects of our school as negatives/excuses, instead of positives/opportunities.

some recruits because of our strong National brand. And I hope we use that to our advantage the way we used to use our National TV coverage (when even other big schools couldn’t offer the ability to be seen every weekend). That could certainly be a way to cover up many of the other recruiting disadvantages, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the reasons we look like we are doing better with recruiting now (the solid consistency on the field this and the past 4 seasons probably helps as well!).

I recommend - if you don't already - to take a listen to The Andy Staples Show, specifically the new "Stars Matter" podcast from today. Guy named Ari Wasserman and another guy named Steve something. Very good, professional national coverage of college football (Staples himself is good too, but is not on the "Stars Matter" podcasts apparently, which focuses on recruiting).

Stuff you can't get from the local dipshits in South Bend.

Great conversation around Georgia, Florida, Washington current recruiting storylines on this episode - as well as a discussion on ND vs. Ohio State recruiting dynamics. Specifically, Wasserman discusses how OSU is casting a larger national net for elite talent and that several kids have chosen Ohio State over ND despite being perfect ND fits. Kids like Emeka Egbuka, Treveyon Henderson, et al. - elite academic performers.

Wassermwn concludes by stating he’s baffled ND isn’t recruiting better.

He is informative and integrates the recruiting coverage to on field coverage.