While Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame look like they're having just as good a 2027 recruiting run as they did in 2026, the Fighting Irish can't win them all. On Saturday, they lost a big one as Five-star safety recruit Honor Fa'alave-Johnson committed to longtime rival USC.
The 6-foot, 175-pound defender from San Diego committed to the Trojans over Oregon, Texas, Miami, LSU, and the Fighting Irish during a live announcement on CBS Sports HQ, landing as the highest-ranked of five prospects in USC coach Lincoln Riley's 2027 recruiting class. He's also considered the top high school prospect in the state of California according to the 247Sports Composite ratings.
Notre Dame losing out on Fa'alave-Johnson wasn't a huge surprise. In fact, Freeman and his staff knew they had their work cut out for them, as it was expected he would stay close to home.
Honor Fa'alave-Johnson's commitment to USC is a tough pill for Notre Dame football to swallow
In fact, ND was considered a long shot, but with the kind of success Freeman has had the last few years, it's hard to ever really count Notre Dame out of a recruiting showdown.
Considering the success the Irish have had recruiting defensive backs the last few years, there was an outside shot that Freeman's crew could swoop in and win. He's a big loss talent-wise when looking at the official scouting report from 247Sports:
"Stars as a do-it-all utility player on Friday nights and is the type of talent that could legitimately warrant snaps on both sides of the ball in college. Sniffs out concepts as a defender and arrives on scene with the intentions of making a play."
"Flashes impressive range while patrolling over the top and has the hip swivel to man-up with assignments on the perimeter. Thrives as an outside zone runner on offense with his one-cut-and-go tendencies. Not only will he bounce off tacklers with his core power, but hit home runs with his breakaway speed when he finds daylight."
The Honor Fa'alave-Johnson recruiting loss will sting. Especially considering the loss is to USC. But Notre Dame is well-suited to move on to the next man up and keep winning overall.