Ohio State wears college football’s crown for now. From top-5 recruiting classes lining up every year to the program becoming the NFL’s best rookie pipeline, Ryan Day has truly separated himself from other bluebloods. Now, OSU alum and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman wans to replicate that blueprint, years after taking the “wrong decision” to play for Ohio State.

Freeman, who is on a $54 million contract with the Irish, said on April 1 that he’s open to transfer portal players bringing new ideas to South Bend. He is now ready to implement what has worked at prominent programs like Oregon and Ohio State. Not just that, the Irish head coach is now ready to “challenge everything” and finally break that 37-year-old Natty drought.

“Hey, give us new ideas. What have you done previously?” Freeman said about his portal players at a presser. “And if we feel like it fits and it’s going to help us become better, let’s do it. And I think that’s really important, so that’s a culture thing we need. If you have an idea that can really help us elevate, challenge everything.”

Notre Dame had a dominant high school recruiting class this year, and 30 prospects enrolled in the program. Those also included 5-star Rodney Dunham (Edge), Ian Premer (TE), and Khary Adams (CB). Additionally, Freeman has also brought in 7 transfers, two of whom were Ohio State WRs, Quincy Porter and Mylan Graham. Will Marcus Freeman tap into OSU’s WR-U products succesfully?

Mylan Graham is a 2024 prospect, and major rating agencies graded him to be a 5-star player. As a high school junior, Graham recorded 1,149 receiving yards and averaged 24 yards per catch. Although he hasn’t seen much playing time under Ryan Day, former offensive coordinator Brian Hartline’s development will show in his game when he suits up for Marcus Freeman. 

As for Quincy Porter, he was also a top-100 2025 prospect and had 2,624 receiving yards in high school. Like Graham, Porter was also buried in the depth chart at Ohio State. These are two elite receivers who became expendable at Columbus, but were extremely needed at Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman isn’t taking any chances as he plans Notre Dame’s journey back to the playoffs. He might as well use some formulas that have worked for teams who have been there.

Last year, no WR managed to surpass even the 700+ yard mark, let alone notching 1,000+ yards. A year before that, Jaden Greathouse was Freeman’s leading WR, and he notched 592 receiving yards. Compare that to Ohio State, where every season has one or two 1,000+ yard receivers. Omarion Cooper and Mylan Graham will likely help fix that issue. But it’s not just OSU factor isn’t just limited to wideouts.

Marcus Freeman hired former Ohio State co-DC Chris Ash last year as his DC. He was Urban Meyer’s assistant from 2014 to 2015, helping the Buckeyes win a National Championship. Some of those learnings must have helped him shape the Notre Dame defense last season, which finished 22nd in the country.

Learning from Ohio State philosophies makes sense because that is what it will take for Marcus Freeman to get over his biggest regret.

Why Marcus Freeman leans on learning from Ohio State?

The idea to take from Ohio State’s practices will be very useful for Marcus Freeman if he gets to face Ohio State in the future. So far, he is 0-2 against the Buckeyes, the most recent one of those losses being a heartbreaking one in the 2024 National Championship. He already said in the past that he regretted losing that game more than not getting to play in the NFL for a longer time. After that loss, Freeman has been taking OSU on an extremely serious level.

“In those biggest games, those biggest moments, you gotta play your best, right?” Freeman said on The Joel Klatt Show. “You can’t make mistakes versus a team like Ohio State…  Defensively, we didn’t play our best.

“Trust me, credit to Ohio State, they had some elite playmakers. They played really, really well. But I wish we could go back, and dang it, we’ve got to play our best. And the outcome might still be the same, right? But there were moments in that game, I thought that’s not how we have played all year long.”

Freeman’s best WR that day was Jaden Greathouse, and he did notch 128 receiving yards. However, Ohio State had a host of playmakers, like Quinshon Judkins, Jeremiah Smith, and Emeka Egbuka. The very colors that Freeman wore in college have now become a haunting reminder.

That’s why he’s now taking the bull by the horns. Will rolling out Ohio State concepts in South Bend work their magic for Notre Dame?