Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football recruiting efforts have been on fire lately and that is deeply bothering at least one Michigan beat writer. It’s bothering him so much as a matter of fact that EJ Holland is back to his old tricks and is making some rather personal comments about prospects he believes will commit to the Fighting Irish over the Michigan Wolverines.
There’s no love lost between EJ Holland and Notre Dame, despite the fact that he was once a recruiting analyst for the school. It’s also not a surprise that Holland would impugn the integrity of a prospect he believes UM has lost out on. In fact, he did with the last player the Irish won over.
Michigan analyst lashes out as Notre Dame keeps stacking recruiting wins
This time around, Javian Osborne hasn’t picked Notre Dame yet, but it’s thought that’s where the 4-star running back will eventually land. And Holland once again claimed that the reason for it is Marcus Freeman is simply offering a bigger bag. He made those accusations in a Michigan forum that was surfaced on social media by an opposing fan.
@osborne__era Just so you know… EJ Holland is saying your recruitment is all about NIL. He recently did the same to Gregory Patrick. Cc: @josephpatrick20 pic.twitter.com/RSTaqEhboE
— Sports Talk Drew 🍀 (@SportsTalkDrew) April 24, 2025
In the post, Holland claimed he talked to Osborne’s dad about Notre Dame’s “hate” towards the anaylst. They also supposedly discussed one social media account in particular. And then he made the accusations about the Osborne family wanting a specific NIL number in order to commit.
“But as expected, MIchigan didn’t talk exact numbers on the visit…it’s simply not going to work for top guys deciding right now hence why [offensive lineman Jackson] Cantwell eliminated U-M and Osborne is trending to ND.”
Holland also said that a full interview was coming soon, but it seems unlikely that said interview will include the specific NIL talk he alluded to. It’s also worth noting that it feels like the Wolverines can’t possibly like a recruiting analyst essentially calling a family greedy because they are leaning elsewhere.
It’s even worse that he’s doing it so soon after another Notre Dame football commit’s father called him out for essentially doing the same thing.