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Notre Dame football has window swing wide open to flip nation's No. 1 RB

Marcus Freeman will be ready to make a push to land the 5-star speedster
ByBraulio Perez|
McKeesport's Kemon Spell (20) gets taken to the ground by multiple Aliquippa defenders during the second half of the WPIAL 4A Championship game Friday evening at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
McKeesport's Kemon Spell (20) gets taken to the ground by multiple Aliquippa defenders during the second half of the WPIAL 4A Championship game Friday evening at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. | Michael Longo/For BCT / USA TODAY NETWORK

With how strong Notre Dame football has been recruiting for the 2026 cycle, Irish fans are expecting more of the same when it comes time to fully focus on '27 guys. Already, the staff is putting in serious work with 5-star running back Kemon Spell, who scored five TDs in his season-opener.

The problem for Marcus Freeman is that Spell is currently a Penn State commit. However, the good news here is that he's the textbook definition of a 'soft verbal' moving forward. That's because Spell has made it more than clear that he's not done with his recruitment process.

Spell will be taking multiple other visits this season, including one to South Bend to watch the Irish play at home. On top of that, the speedster told Hayes Fawcett that Notre Dame is on the shortlist of teams he'd consider flipping to. Wow:

Notre Dame is on the shortlist of schools who can flip 5-star Penn State commit Kemon Spell

It's not going to be easy for Freeman to pull this off, but Spell has certainly left the door wide open for the Irish to change his mind. Notre Dame is joined by Ohio State, Tennessee, USC, Alabama and Michigan as the other schools who Spell will visit and who he's highly interested in.

Spell is planning to visit Notre Dame for a game in October. Fall air and the Irish hopefully putting together a strong performance in a win? It could be the perfect recipe for Spell to see his interest in potentially joining the program raised even further.

How do we think James Franklin feels right now? He was no question fired up when the nation's No. 1 running back for '27 pledged to Penn State, but now it's fully up in the air if Spell will end up signing with the Nittany Lions or not. At this point, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if he has a change of heart in the near future.

While we don't know if that will happen or not, what we do know is that Notre Dame has put itself in a strong position to make a recruiting statement. Should that go down, it'd be yet another example of Freeman landing a bit of a jab on Franklin - it's something the Penn State coach has to be used to by now.

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