Blue and Gold Illustrated

February 2023

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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32 FEBRUARY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY PATRICK ENGEL M arcus Freeman, unwilling to let a day of bad news impact his big-picture takeaway, put on a smile and projected his usual enthusiasm when discussing recruiting. He stood behind a podium early in the afternoon Dec. 21 and in- sisted signing day should be a time for celebration for Notre Dame, which as- sembled a class of 24 high school players who made their intentions official hours earlier. "Today is a day to celebrate," Free- man said. There's merit to it, if you dive into the stats. Notre Dame ended the early signing period with the No. 8 class in the On3 Consensus team recruiting rankings, its second straight top-10 finish. The Irish had not assembled consecutive top-10 hauls since 2012-13. This class' blue-chip ratio — the percentage of four- or five-star recruits — is 79.2 per- cent. That's the program's highest since 2013, No. 2 since 2008 and two percent- age points better than 2022. Only two schools signed more four-star recruits than the Irish (19). Put it that way, and Notre Dame is recruiting better than it did the last de- cade. The numbers don't lie. Notre Dame fans had passing inter- est in reveling, though. As impres- sive as this class' contents may be, its 11th-hour defections and what's miss- ing from it hung over signing day like a stubborn raincloud that blocks the sun. Not two hours before Freeman spoke, the player who would have been the Irish's highest-ranked signee since 2013 discarded a Notre Dame hat for an Oregon one at a ceremony. Two hours after he finished his remarks, one of two running back pledges made his expected flip to the Ducks official. And with that, five-star safety Peyton Bowen and four- star running back Jayden Limar formally left the class. Bowen had one more flip in him, swapping to Oklahoma a day later. He never sent Oregon a signed let- ter of intent. The former took up much of the sign- ing day oxygen, in part because his cir- cus flip capped a Notre Dame recruiting cycle that also featured an August de- commitment from Tampa (Fla.) Berke- ley Prep five-star defensive end Keon Keeley (now an Alabama signee) and a near-commitment from UCLA-bound Detroit King five-star quarterback Dante Moore. Keeley, at No. 11 over- all, is ranked two spots ahead of Bowen. Moore would have been the highest- rated quarterback to choose the Irish since 2007. Notre Dame came oh-so-close to a class of three five-stars, heights it has rarely seen in the recruiting rankings era but ones Freeman made everyone be- lieve he could achieve (and still might). But this year illustrated he will have to work differently for it in a changing re- cruiting landscape with name, image and likeness (NIL) growing into an un- avoidable presence. That's the lingering question around this signing day. How will the Irish raise their recruiting ceiling while avoiding the "acquisition fees" — as posed to Freeman — that it might require these Head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff signed the No. 8 class in the On3 Consensus team recruiting rankings — Notre Dame's second straight top-10 class — while landing an impressive 19 four-star recruits. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Mixed Emotions Notre Dame inks another top-10 class, but a feeling of what could have been persists

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