Marcus Freeman Discusses New Mindset, Recruiting, Revenue Sharing & Tyler Buchner
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman sat down with the media on Friday for a summer chat and there were several key points of emphasis, including former quarterback Tyler Buchner rejoining the program as a walk-on receiver.
The Fighting Irish will open the 2024 campaign at Texas A&M and in front of 102,733 fans, which is a similar spot to where Freeman found himself in his first year as a head coach. Two years ago, the focus was Ohio State and Freeman coaching against his alma mater.
For Freeman, the summer was a blur. How could it not be as he was learning on the fly, but two years later, Freeman has seasoning and most of all experience heading into the trip to College Station.
“It will be a hostile environment,” stated Freeman. “We get it. We understand that. Our guys will be prepared. The thing they need to be focused on is if we’re going to go on a silent count, let’s do it. If we’re going to go on the clap, let’s do it. Let’s prepare for the noise and not just sit here and talk about it. Let’s prepare for it and have an actual answer for it.
“I think probably going into that first year, I spent a lot of time talking about it. ‘We’re going to Ohio State and this is what it’s going to sound like. Let’s play crowd noise.’”
Now, summer workouts and fall camp won’t all be devoted to the Aggies, but now, Freeman knows when to push the right buttons and maybe more importantly, he knows what his team needs to be successful under the bright lights on the road.
“I don’t know if it’s because of my dad or because of how I was raised, I use negative things as motivation and I’m trying to change that,” explained Freeman. “Why? Maybe we can use the lessons we’ve learned from negative, positive and all these different things to make us better. I don’t want to torture myself anymore. I want to focus on the real things that can make us better.
“Confidence is important. Our players need confidence. Our players need to believe they are prepared. Not scared or worried about going to Texas A&M, Ohio State or a big environment. I want those guys so confident they’re ready to go when we take the field whenever that date is. They truly in their heart believe they can get this job done.”
College athletics has changed quite a bit in the last two years and will likely undergo another massive adjustment, pending how the revenue-sharing ordeal shakes out.
It’s a world of unknown answers and, heck even questions as college athletics evaluates all options.
Freeman has full confidence in where Notre Dame will fit into the picture as it relates to revenue sharing and even the future of NIL.
“I think it’s really good for our players,” said Freeman. “I’m a believer in it. Should players be able to make money based off their name, image and likeness? Yes. There are still so many open-ended avenues into how this is going to happen. That’s been my constant communication with Pete (Bevacqua) and with everyone that I’ve talked to about this. We can’t all of a sudden start making decisions based on things that haven’t been made by the Supreme Court.”
Players are going to be paid. How much and by who is to be determined. With that in mind, Freeman’s message to recruits and players won’t change regardless of the final ruling or guidelines set.
“In my heart of hearts, I still believe how much you’re going to get paid is how good of a football player you are,” Freeman explained. “That’s my message to them. It’s no different than now. You’re making money off your name, image and likeness. based on how good of a player you are. Focus on that.
“You’re going to get paid just as well at Notre Dame as anywhere else in the country. We’re going to be great. We’re in a great situation here. I couldn’t be more excited for where our athletic program will be amongst college athletic programs.”
The recruiting landscape has expedited quickly over the last five years. Programs are now doing deep dives into freshmen and sophomore players, while also hosting underclassmen by the hundreds each year.
Notre Dame has been aggressive on the recruiting trail since Freeman took over as more underclassmen are visiting in the spring, but also showing up for camp. It’s led to Notre Dame taking commitments earlier and earlier.
The 2025 recruiting class won’t sign until December (or February), but the Irish already have commitments from 22 prospects heading into June.
It can be seen as risky to take commitments early, as some players continue to develop, while others don’t. Freeman understands this and has embraced the early recruiting timelines, but it also means there are times when difficult conversations are needed, which is an area he’s challenged his staff.
“I've told our staff this. I would much rather take a loss when we're recruiting a person than when they actually get here,” Freeman said. “If we evaluate this young man throughout his junior and senior year and we feel it's not going to be the right fit for Notre Dame, we have to be willing to part ways. That's not easy to do as you continue to form this relationship with a young person and his family, but it's not right for that young person and not right for us if we don't believe he's going to be successful at Notre Dame for whatever reason to bring him here.
“As early as we're recruiting now, we have to continue to evaluate no matter what throughout that entire high school career."
As for Tyler Buchner’s return to the program, it’s a decision that wasn’t made lightly. Buchner met with Freeman to see how he could help the program on or off the field in some capacity recently and the final decision was that he would walk-on as a receiver.
“Three weeks ago, he asked if he could meet with me and I said sure,” stated Freeman. “He just wants to help the football program. He said, ‘Coach I want to help the program. I love Notre Dame.’ He kind of went through some different capacities with the last one being if I would let him on the team. I said we’ll follow up after your lacrosse season.
“I met with the coaches and talked to some of our players and came to the decision that we’ll allow him to walk-on to the football team, but at the wide receiver position. He can help us at any position, but he’ll go into the receivers room. We don’t know exactly what capacity it’ll be. He’ll be on the team starting in fall camp as a walk-on receiver.”
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