Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2021 71 landed a pair of Rivals250 players in 2022 before leaving Cincinnati for Notre Dame on Jan. 8. His activity a month in is already obvious. Freeman slid into the re- cruitment of four-star defensive end Tyson Ford and helped defensive line coach Mike Elston pilfer him from Oklahoma, where he had been leaning. Ford, Rivals' No. 64 overall player nationally in the 2022 cycle out of St. Louis' John Burroughs High School, became the highest-ranked edge player to pick the Irish since Daelin Hayes in 2016 when he com- mitted Jan. 18. Elsewhere, Notre Dame has offered seven linebackers in the 2022 class from five different states. Plenty of them are mighty swings, like top-100 player Niuafe Tuihalamaka. The Mis- sion Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany product was a USC commit when offered, but backed out of his pledge a couple days later. Tuihalamaka is one of five 2022 Rivals100 linebackers to add an Irish offer since Freeman's arrival. In shifting up from Cincinnati to Notre Dame, Freeman has quite liter- ally taken his recruiting responsibili- ties from coast to coast. The Bearcats' focus was on their home state and the Midwest, with a few exceptions. Notre Dame, though, has no home base. Freeman is chasing linebackers from Southern California to Myrtle Beach, S.C., the home of top-100 re- cruit Jaylen Sneed. "When you're recruiting at Notre Dame, it's unique in that you can get every player in the country to an- swer your phone call or return your call because they respect the brand," Freeman said. With it comes the expectation to sign recruits coveted by college foot- ball's ruling class. It's easier to beat Alabama, Clemson or Ohio State with a roster featuring players whom members of that trio once wanted. And often, recruiting coups are tied to effort as much if not more than on- field results. "Recruiting is developing relation- ships and it's about work," Freeman said. "It's a part of our profession where you can outwork your oppo- nent. That's something I believe in — relentless work to get better and get the outcomes you want. "That's something we preach to our players and hope they see those same traits in the guy who's saying we have to be relentless in what we do. I want to be like the players. I want to work to have success." In the big picture, that will be mea- sured in his ability to keep Notre Dame's defense at the high water- marks Lea delivered. The Irish were among the top 15 in yards per play in 2018 and 2019, among the top 15 in scoring each of the last three years and one of the nation's best havoc- creating defenses in 2020. Freeman's Cincinnati units produced similar levels of disruption the last two years. On an individual level, though, Freeman measures his success in his impact on his players. His goal is for all of them to graduate from his tute- lage in a better place than their first meeting. What that looks like varies from player to player. If there's a fail- ure to do so, he will look at himself first to find out why. "I told so many seniors I met with that if I'm with you for one year, I hope you're better because of the time we spent together over the next six months," Freeman said. "That's my job — ultimately to serve. "Serve not being a passive word, but a word in terms of, 'You are bet- ter because of the time we spent to- gether and are closer to those goals you have.'" ✦ Notre Dame Promotes Graduate Assistant Chris O'Leary To Safeties Coach Notre Dame has turned to an internal hire to fill its open assistant role. The Irish named Chris O'Leary as their next safeties coach, announcing the move Feb. 5. O'Leary has been with the program since 2018 as a defensive graduate assistant, working with the safeties and rovers. He replaces Terry Joseph, who left in January to become the secondary coach and defensive pass-game coordinator at Texas. "Chris has been on a job interview the past two years," head coach Brian Kelly said. "He has done an exceptional job of mentoring and coaching the rovers, and in particular Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Paul Moala. "His ability to build relationships and motivate our student-athletes has been apparent to me, and made him the ideal candidate for this job." O'Leary came to Notre Dame after a one-year stint as the safeties coach at Division II Florida Tech. He spent 2015-16 as a defensive graduate assistant at Georgia State, where he worked for his former head coach at Indiana State, Trent Miles. He caught 47 passes for 397 yards as a wide receiver for the Sycamores from 2010-13 and is a Terre Haute, Ind., native. O'Leary briefly went on the road to recruit for Notre Dame in January 2020 when the Irish were filling the cornerbacks coach position vacated by Todd Lyght. In his first year on the job, O'Leary will have junior All-American Kyle Hamilton at one safety spot. The other is unsettled after sixth-year senior Shaun Crawford's departure and features a host of underclassmen. Newly hired defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, though, did convince senior safety Houston Griffith to withdraw his name from the transfer portal in late January. A top-50 recruit in the 2018 class, Griffith started two games in 2020 and has 33 career tackles (1.0 for loss) and three passes broken up. When not starting, Griffith was in Notre Dame's dime package and occasionally appeared in the nickel defense. He played 192 special-teams snaps in 2020. Notre Dame's other options at safety include senior DJ Brown, junior KJ Wallace, junior Litchfield Ajavon, freshman Justin Walters and freshman Khari Gee. Brown was Notre Dame's primary nickel back in 2020 and made eight tackles to go with two passes broken up. With O'Leary's promotion, Freeman's defensive staff is finalized. Mike Elston is staying on as the defensive line coach and associate head coach, and Mike Mickens is the cornerbacks coach. Freeman will coach the linebackers. Elston's name came up in connection with other openings, most notably the Purdue defensive coordinator job. — Patrick Engel "I have a chance to coach some of the best players in the country because of how Notre Dame has recruited in the last few years. My job is don't confuse them." FREEMAN O'Leary has been with the Irish program since 2018. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS