After a debatable end to the 2025 campaign, Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame might finally find happiness in the 2026 season. The dual-sport athlete, who played a significant role in the Irish campaign over the last three seasons, announced his full-time commitment to football.

As per the Irish Sports Daily’s Matt Freeman’s report, Notre Dame WR Jordan Faison has made up his mind to get fully engaged with football from this spring. The report reveals that he will no longer be on the field for lacrosse, as he becomes a senior this season.

The wide receiver’s decision to switch to football came after a productive junior campaign for the Fighting Irish, receiving 49 times for 640 yards. The 5-foot-10, 185-pounder has totaled 98 receptions for 1,318 yards and nine touchdowns in his three seasons with Notre Dame.

This move will keep him fully engaged in spring ball, as the wide receiver used to miss a significant portion of spring ball each year due to Notre Dame’s lacrosse team’s consecutive national championship run.

Sources reveal that the wide receiver has been mulling this move since his breakout freshman season in 2023. However, the recruitment of the Irish lacrosse program and the national championship run, followed by an ankle injury, restricted his spring practices.

The collaborative efforts of Marcus Freeman and lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan worked out well for the last two years, helping Faison shine in dual sports. However, Jordan Faison’s aspirations for the NFL require his full-time engagement in football, as the wide receiver is expected to exhaust his eligibility by next year.

“We’re working together well,” Marcus Freeman told reporters last spring. “He’s probably getting more football in this spring than he did last year. I think it was important that we gave Jordan a significant time away from football or lacrosse after the season. We needed to give his body time to rest before he got integrated into lacrosse.”

Jordan’s return as a full-fledged football player could be a big boost to Notre Dame’s 2026 season, as Marcus Freeman also confirmed his future despite NFL rumors.

Marcus Freeman chose Notre Dame over NFL rumors

For over a month, Marcus Freeman has been linked to the NFL head coach role. Freeman’s name reportedly emerged as a top candidate for the New York Giants, and even the Tennessee Titans had also reportedly “done their research,” per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The rumors took off with full swing after the Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff seeding and announced their forfeiting from the Bowl games. While rumors didn’t fade out, Freeman took to social media and announced his stay at South Bend.

Marcus Freeman wrote, “2026… run it back. Go Irish,” on X, revealing that he’s not going anywhere.

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It’s a good thing Marcus Freeman is sticking around because Notre Dame is staring at a full-on offensive reset next season, especially with some big players on the roster returning to the 2026 season.

Notre Dame will bring back quarterback CJ Carr and others from the 2025 team, along with Jordan Faison returning as a full-time footballer. However, the only major loss for Freeman would be his All-American running back Jeremiyah Love, who declared for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Since almost the entire roster looks jam-packed, except for a few, Freeman’s Fighting Irish could return stronger for the upcoming seasons, based on the lessons they’ve learned from a crushing CFP exit in 2025.