Assuredly, Notre Dame’s recruiting surge is because of more than defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. The two-month-old hire is not the sole reason the Irish have now pulled in three consensus four-star defenders since his arrival, as well as a consensus four-star quarterback and an under-recruited receiver. The rest of the Notre Dame coaching staff plays a part (and more of one than a coordinated Twitter presence), as do the broader assets of the University as a whole, not to mention the Irish have gone 43-8 across the last four years.
But Freeman’s arrival in January certainly has marked a shift in the class of 2022, with inside linebacker Joshua Burnham (Traverse City Central High School; Mich.