Marcus Freeman: The Notre Dame football mastermind of the transfer portal

Notre Dame football Coach Marcus Freeman has done it again. The Irish look like they’re reloading at a record pace for a 2024 run.

Earlier this week, the Irish landed 1000-yard wide receiver Kris Mitchell from FIU.

Then they got another one. This time Freeman picked up Junior WR Beaux Collins from Clemson.

These are huge pickups for the Irish, as due to the firing of Coach Chansi Stuckey that caused many receivers to transfer. Including true freshman Rico Flores, senior Chris Tyree, freshman Braylon James, and 5-star sophomore Tobias Merriweather.

As a result of these moves, the Irish found themselves a new receivers coach: Mike Brown from the University of Wisconsin.

Notre Dame football bringing in an old friend

Brown used to work with Freeman at the University of Cincinnati back in 2019 and 2020.

As well as the WRs, Coach Freeman landed another transfer. The Irish picked up 3-star senior nickel corner Jordan Clark from Arizona State.

This move replaces the transfer of safety Ramon Henderson, who wasn’t getting much playing time and wasn’t meant to be this team’s star safety.

With Xavier Watts coming back off of his Nagurski season, the Irish secondary is getting some much needed help.

Notre Dame football’s Consensus QB1 gets closer and closer

Obviously the Irish still remain major contenders for Duke transfer QB Riley Leonard. Due to the connection between Leonard and Coach Freeman, it is no surprise that the experts have Leonard going to South Bend.

Leonard goes on to call Notre Dame a “place for champions,” clearly giving high praise to the Fighting Irish.

But the ultimate move that could lure in Leonard, is if the Irish can bring in the realistic option: 4 star transfer from Washington State Josh Kelly. Kelly visited with the Irish and is headed to Texas Tech from today to the 13th. If the Irish can bring in Kelly or any other receiver it would be almost guaranteed Riley Leonard heads to South Bend.

Other moves

Another move that went down was RT Blake Fisher forgoing his final year of elgibility and declaring for the draft, a move that shocked the Irish nation due to him having a potential top 5 draft pick season coming up, like Joe Alt.

On the other side, DT Howard Cross will be returning for his SIXTH season of college football, forgoing the draft to upgrade his potential stock.

The portal races are far from over and I would not be surprised if Coach Freeman continued stacking Notre Dame football’s hand with more talent.