Marcus Freeman has unique perspective on recruiting multi-sport athletes, and an underrated selling point for the Notre Dame program
In preparation for the national championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State, head coach Marcus Freeman has been asked a bunch about his philosophy on building a roster. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to Fighting Irish fans that Coach Freeman spoke a lot about dominating high school recruiting. Majoring in that aspect, […]
In preparation for the national championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State, head coach Marcus Freeman has been asked a bunch about his philosophy on building a roster. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to Fighting Irish fans that Coach Freeman spoke a lot about dominating high school recruiting. Majoring in that aspect, along with minoring in the transfer portal, has helped to get the team to this moment.
An interesting topic was brought up about the importance of attracting multi-sport athletes, and the positives that it brings. Wide receiver Jordan Faison has been talked about a ton, specifically about his importance to both the football and lacrosse programs. Notre Dame also has several standout performers who were dynamic stars in other sports back in high school, such as Riley Leonard, Charles Jagusah, Drayk Bowen, Leonard Moore and Brauntae Johnson among others.
Outside of the rare athlete who can play two sports on the college level, that background has a lot of positives. It isn’t for the typical reasons either. Yes, that caliber of athlete is usually outstanding. It isn’t a surprise that talent tends to transcend any arena.
Coach Freeman also brought up an interesting layer of the conversation during an interview.
"What I really love about it is sometimes they're not as good in the other sports as they are in football, and so they're willing to put their ego aside and say, 'I know I might lose in track, but I'm going to try to make myself better as an athlete.’ That speaks volumes to me."
For a lot of players who are the best talents on their levels, they don’t always have to try very hard. The talent gap is usually that large. In the scenario that Coach Freeman laid out, it forces the athlete to have to work extremely hard to showcase improvement. This is an endorsement for tremendous football players who aren’t great in their other sport, but compete.
Competition is something that Coach Freeman preaches constantly. You want a player who is relentless and doesn’t stop working. When you combine that competitiveness with talent, that’s how you end up in a national championship game.
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