Markus Fakatou committing to Ohio State on Monday makes it two players in two days who were once considered heavy leans to Notre Dame who ended up turning their backs on the Fighting Irish ahead of their big announcement day. Granted, Fakatou picking Ryan Day and the Buckeyes was hardly a surprise. Even before Monday, most analysts believed that the Big Ten powerhouse had gained enough ground that their lead was essentially insurmountable. Turns out they were right.
Fakatou joins 2028 quarterback Kingston Preyear as former Irish targets going elsewhere. Preyear committed to Alabama on Sunday afternoon. Like Fakatou, Preyear was once seen as a player who was listening closely to the recruiting of Marcus Freeman and Co., but in the end, decided to go elsewhere.
The difference for Fakatou and Notre Dame is that with Preyear, it looks like the school allowed another 2028 quarterback, Trey Tagliaferri, to commit and win the race. Freeman and his staff didn’t “replace” Fakatou in their class and would have been more than happy to reel him in. There was even a time when it looked like they might because the defensive lineman understood all the things that the school in South Bend offered off the field.
Before making his announcement, Fakatou had narrowed his choices down to Georgia, Ohio State, and Texas, but ultimately chose to join the Buckeyes. How the Irish didn’t make the final three is anyone’s guess, and the staff should examine closely what went wrong.
Notre Dame football is still rolling, but Ohio State delivered another blue-chip miss
It is, of course, possible that a big part of it is that the school simply doesn’t have the NIL resources left to go after such a big prospect, given the hot streak it was on in June.
According to 247Sports, Fakatou is a composite 5-star who hails from Chatsworth, California. He stands at approximately 6-foot-6 and weighs just over 270 pounds. His athleticism and playmaking abilities made him a highly sought-after talent by numerous programs, including Notre Dame.
It’s also possible that Fakatou is one of the first players where the Fighting Irish saw a real, tangible negative effect from repeated staff changes over the last two offseasons.
After the defensive line star reclassified from the 2028 class to the 2027 cycle and met with coaches from at least a dozen Power Four programs during the winter contact period, he began taking a more open-minded approach to his recruitment. Then, his primary recruiter at Notre Dame, defensive line coach Al Washington, left to become the linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins; that departure looks to have prompted the 5-star prospect to take a big step back after two years of steady talks with Marcus Freeman and Co.
If there is a silver lining when talking about Notre Dame losing such a talented player to Ohio State - who just keeps loading up on the best talent in the country year after year - it’s that new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge has been no slouch recruiting his unit. 5-star EDGE Abraham Sesay, 4-star DT David Folorunsho, 4-star EDGE Aidan O'Neil, 4-star EDGE Jackson Vaughn, 3-star DT Richie Flanigan, and 3-star DT Segun Alexander blunt Monday’s blow quite nicely.
Add us as a preferred source on Google