In early 2025, some might not have believed that Marcus Freeman could turn the recruiting narrative around so dramatically in half a year for Notre Dame. Their 2025 class wasn’t pretty. They missed out on multiple top-end targets. Five-star QB Deuce Knight bailed to Auburn. Elite safety Ivan Taylor said goodbye. Running backs like Justin Thurman and Daniel Anderson? All decommitted or flipped. Wideouts like Shaun Terry slipped through the cracks. But fast forward to June? Freeman and the Irish are in the middle of something special. They’re flipping the script in real time—and Freeman’s squad might just be on the verge of something real historic.

All thanks to natty appearance.

On June 22nd, On3’s Josh Newberg hosted Notre Dame insider Mike Singer, who seemed quite impressed by what the Irish have pulled off so far. “They’re getting all their targets, Josh. This is a run for Notre Dame that we have not seen before…Notre Dame is pretty much getting all of their top targets right now,” Singer said.

For a fanbase used to moral victories and 4-star consolation prizes, that kind of recruiting dominance sounds like fantasy. Singer didn’t stop there. He added, “I’ve been covering Notre Dame for six years, which is not the longest time in the world, Josh, but it’s also not an insignificant amount of time. Six years is a good chunk of time to cover recruiting. This run they’re on right now is by far the best that I’ve seen.”

In a single day—June 20—Notre Dame pulled in commitments from two top-100 prospects: Khary Adams and Joey O’Brien. Just like that, their class score vaulted from No. 6 in the nation to No. 3, per the On3 Industry Team Rankings. Notre Dame sits behind USC and Texas A&M with a 92.65 class score. Mike Mickens, the Irish’s DB coach, has built a monster cornerback pipeline. Leonard Moore and Ben Morrison were proof of concept. Now they’re cashing in on elite size and speed with DBs like Ayden Pouncey and Chaston Smith—guys who turned down Clemson, Texas A&M, and everyone in between.

Add to that list two more names still looming on the board: 6’6” OT Charlie Thom (whose mom’s a Notre Dame alum) and four-star DL Elijah Golden. Singer didn’t mince words: “Looking at all the uncommitted official visitors at Notre Dame had in the Marcus Freeman era—how many actually commit to Irish? It’s somewhere around 35-40%. That’s the amount of guys that Notre Dame was landing—the uncommitted June official visitors. They may be at like 85 to 90 percent for all of their guys. So they had nine uncommitted guys last week—Notre Dame for that June 13th weekend. I think Notre Dame may get between seven to nine—so seven or nine, all of them.” That’s a far cry from the 35% conversion rate Freeman’s staff averaged in his early years. With 5-star defenders, elite cornerbacks, and a top 5 class in sight, Freeman is doing more than selling a dream—he’s cashing in receipts.

That kind of conversion rate is elite. Alabama elite. Georgia elite. And Notre Dame hasn’t been able to say that in over a decade. Their current blue-chip ratio sits at 89.5%. Among the top-15 teams, they’re the only program without a single in-state commitment. That means this staff isn’t just picking up regional wins—they’re winning head-to-heads in Texas, Florida, and the Mid-Atlantic.

For context: Notre Dame’s previous three classes ranked No. 10 (2023), No. 11 (2024), and No. 12 (2025). Good, but not great. But now? Marcus Freeman’s about to deliver the school’s first top-five haul in over 12 years. And the difference is clear. As Singer noted: “It’s not like the developmental guys; we’ll land a few Top 100 players, that’s about it. Notre Dame is really racking it up right now. The national championship appearance is kind of showing proof is in the pudding. With Marcus Freeman, there’s no more ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to be in a couple of years.’ It’s, ‘This is what we are right now.’”

Notre Dame’s old recruiting approach—conservative, deliberate, and sometimes a little too moralistic for the new NIL age—was a tough sell for five-stars chasing exposure and compensation. Freeman and Co. have adapted. Quietly but effectively, they’ve embraced a more aggressive, modern strategy while still holding the line on Notre Dame’s identity. Now the payoff is showing in real time. If this class closes the way it’s trending, the Irish might run it back. And if Notre Dame’s recruiting momentum wasn’t enough to fire up the fanbase, Freeman’s latest stance on the USC rivalry just poured more gas on the blaze.

Marcus Freeman’s bold take on the USC rivalry amid drama

With Notre Dame’s historic series against the Trojans possibly on the chopping block, Freeman didn’t mince words about what the game means to him—and to college football.

“You think about rivalries, and I’m sure you can go back to when you played high school football, or even before that,” Freeman told Joel Klatt. “I think back to my high school years… the way we played Centerville, it meant everything. And the thing about rivalry games is nobody cares what the record is..” That nostalgia? It’s fueling his passion to keep USC on the schedule, even as conference realignment and TV deals complicate tradition.

The Trojans-Irish rivalry is one of college football’s crown jewels—a bi-coastal battle steeped in history. But 2025 could be the final chapter unless a new deal gets inked. Freeman, who’s building a modern contender while honoring old-school roots, wants the matchup to survive. “For us, yeah, one of them that is continuously brought up here in the last month or so is the rivalry we have with USC. Before I ever got to Notre Dame, there were memories I have in my head of great plays, the USC-Notre Dame rivalry.” he said. “It’s important to continue that rivalry.”

That loyalty comes as Notre Dame reshapes its identity under Freeman. He’s balancing blue-chip recruiting with old-fashioned grit. Rivalries like USC? They’re not just good TV. They’re cultural cornerstones. And Freeman gets it. When push comes to shove, rivalries like this are more than scoreboard outcomes. They’re time capsules. They’re the moments kids remember before they ever pick up a scholarship offer. Freeman wants USC-Notre Dame to be part of that for the next generation. And if Notre Dame keeps climbing the rankings, there’s a good chance this rivalry could carry even more weight in the playoff era.