Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 SEPT. 25, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY PATRICK ENGEL T o find the strongest statement about Notre Dame's 2022 four-man line- backer class, look at who's not in it. In June, following a June 14-16 mid- week official visit to Notre Dame by Hil- ton Head (S.C.) High linebacker Jaylen Sneed, the nation's No. 3 outside line- backer and No. 31 overall player accord- ing to Rivals, Notre Dame did not host Evanston Township (Ill.) High's Sebas- tian Cheeks for a scheduled official visit that upcoming weekend. Cheeks, who holds about 30 offers, is the nation's No. 124 recruit regardless of position. Notre Dame purportedly halted pur- suit of a top-125 player because it fore- saw what was next. The Irish coaching staff knew a pledge from Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Ale- many linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka was imminent. Sure enough, the four-star re- cruit, No. 11 prospect in California, and No. 6 inside linebacker and No. 159 overall player nationally committed June 19. A month later, Sneed became the fourth and presumably the final mem- ber of the linebacker class. South Caro- lina's top prospect announced his com- mitment July 12, picking the Irish over Oregon among others. The pair joined two previous linebacker commits from Michigan — Traverse City Central's Joshua Burnham, the nation's No. 5 inside linebacker and No. 155 overall player, and Grand Rapids Catholic Cen- tral's Nolan Ziegler, the country's No. 21 athlete. Rivals ranks Burnham as the third-best prospect in Michigan and lists Ziegler at No. 9 in the state. Three top-150 nationally ranked pros- pects. A quartet of four-star recruits. The latter has happened only nine times since 2014 among Football Bowl Subdivision teams: 2021 (Alabama), 2020 (Alabama, LSU, Michigan), 2018 (USC, Ohio State), 2017 (Alabama), 2016 (UCLA) and 2015 (USC). Not every team tries to sign four linebackers in a class, of course, but to achieve that mix of quantity and quality is still a rarity. It's also the kind of haul the Irish need at a position or two each cycle if they're going to make up ground on the select few teams that have kept them at arm's length. Defensive coordinator and lineback- ers coach Marcus Freeman vowed to help Notre Dame close that gap — an oft-used and sometimes tired term in Irish recruiting talk he willingly leans into — when he arrived in January. And not just at linebacker. He has been involved in defensive line and de- fensive back recruiting with those posi- tion coaches. The four-man linebacker group was built on Freeman's two-part philoso- phy: 1) Never let himself be outworked. 2) Identify the best players, learn their priorities, see whether they're a fit at Notre Dame and go after them, no mat- ter their location, background or prior thoughts about the Irish. "We have to make sure we build rela- tionships so we can see, for us and for them, are they going to have success at Notre Dame?" Freeman told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "It's not for everybody, but there are a lot of kids who can have success at Notre Dame that we have to make sure understand what Notre Dame offers them." That approach paid off with Sneed long before his commitment. "He's a really down-to-earth kind of guy," Sneed said of Freeman in May. "He really gets to know you. It's more about the relationship than it is coaching with him." Freeman can level with highly coveted recruits in a few ways. The former Ohio State linebacker was once one of them and went through the process they're immersed in now. Notre Dame even re- cruited him. He understands the impor- tance recruits place on wanting to win na- tional titles and play in the NFL. He says those were once his goals and made Ohio State hard to pass up for an Ohio native. He brings up his second recruitment — choosing between Notre Dame's and LSU's defensive coordinator jobs this year — just as often, though. "I just knew I wanted to be part of something different," Freeman said. "I didn't want to do what people thought I was going to do. I think a lot of people had the expectation I was going to go somewhere else. "Now that I'm here, I know why Notre Dame is unique. I know what makes Notre Dame special. I know the people, the education, the network you're joining." But he wants to push beyond just re- cruiting players who are predisposed to Notre Dame because of a family tie or be- cause they attend a private school. That's how the Irish will reach higher in the re- cruiting rankings, and by extension, can be more successful in the postseason. "The expectation of just knowing Notre Dame is so unique and we're go- ing to go to Notre Dame because it's Notre Dame, that doesn't happen much anymore," Freeman said. "That's the challenge for us as coaches, to get these young people to really visualize what it's like to be a graduate of Notre Dame." Four blue-chip linebacker recruits liked that vision. ✦ Marcus Freeman Makes A Statement With Strong Linebacker Class The Irish have a quartet of four-star linebacker recruits — including three top-150 prospects — in their 2022 haul. Hilton Head (S.C.) High's Jaylen Sneed, the Rivals' No. 3 outside linebacker and No. 31 player nationally, leads the way. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM