When May wrapped up, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were on the kind of heater that most other teams were jealous of. However, since June kicked off, Marcus Freeman and company have had a little hitch in their giddyup.
That hitch got a bit bigger on Tuesday when the Blue and Gold lost out in the fight for their third target in two days. On Monday, they suffered defeat at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines in the form of defensive lineman McHale Blade. On Tuesday, they lost out to the longtime rival in the battle for DL Alister Vallejo. And then, as an additional punch in the gut, they lost the fight for Khary Wilder to Ohio State.
One has to wonder what's going on, especially when talking about Al Washington's unit losing three straight recruiting battles. Is the tide turning, and is the summer about to be frustrating as all get out? Or is this just a bump in the road?
On3’s @SWiltfong_ and @ChadSimmons_ have logged expert predictions for Ohio State to land 4-star DL Khary Wilder🌰
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) June 10, 2025
Intel: https://t.co/K9JDlmg2lH pic.twitter.com/8dP5mtZpT2
Notre Dame Fighting Irish running backs room gets more love
Not everything was doom and gloom for Marcus Freeman and his staff on Tuesday. Tom Fornelli from CBS Sports ranked the nation’s top running back rooms heading into the 2025 season, and Notre Dame got a lot of love from the analyst.
Not only is Notre Dame in the top five on Fornelli’s list, but they are at No. 2 right behind Penn State. Fornelli talked about how he is still on the Jeremyiah Love bandwagon even though the Irish are loaded in the backfield.
Chris Ash is on the hunt for his Alpha Dog and he thinks he found him in Drayk Bowen
New Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash sat down this week for a discussion about his plan for the fall and the topic quickly turned to who was going to be the leader for the Irish once the season kicked off. Ash didn't wait long to pinpoint the one player he beleives will be the "Alpha Dog" of the unit.
“Well, he’s just trying to still get comfortable in that role because that’s really not what he has done,” Ash said about the Notre Dame football linebacker. “But that’s what we need him to do. And he’s still kind of figuring that part of it out. But definitely being a leader by example, and he’s finding his opportunities to be more vocal when he needs to be.”
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will need Bowen to grow into his role quickly in order to have the kind of success that's expected in South Bend these days.