When it comes to many of the top football schools, Notre Dame stands out in many ways.
One of the main ways it does so is by insisting that the players are student-athletes, not just athletes.
Irish players are expected to take their studies seriously, and Notre Dame's academic rigors, even for athletes, are quite strenuous.
In contrast, many other football schools allow players to have a much lighter load in the classroom, which frees them up to focus exclusively on getting their minds and bodies prepared for football.
Coach Marcus Freeman's motto is for his players and recruits to "choose hard" by doing things the Notre Dame way. But is this recruiting pitch resonating in the modern CFP era with top-end talent? Let's discuss why selling this pitch seems to be a modern challenge.
Football first, school ... football second ...
Notre Dame's degree is ultra-valuable.
It carries weight in the business marketplace across the world and speaks for itself on resumés and in perpetuity. Nobody doubts this and the record of Notre Dame graduate's business success is nothing short of astonishingly impressive.
Top-level elite prospects have their mind on the fast track to the NFL - realistic or unrealistic as that may be.
In an ideal world, these players want to put in three years of college play on film, impress, and then prepare for the NFL draft and the typical payday that comes with it. Every player wants a degree, but in a transfer portal era, school usually comes a distance second - at best - to other factors.
Fast and easy money is hard to turn down
In today's modern world of NIL, Pay for Play and soon-to-be-guaranteed payouts for all players via recent NCAA courtroom legislation, money is flowing fast and free at at a lot of major football schools. Sure Notre Dame is a player in the NIL world, but there are expectations. Actions tied to the money regarding decorum and service. There's a process.
Contrast this with schools that offer guaranteed money, often in quite large sums for elite players, with no strings attached. All they must do is sign with and attend a certain university.
Many players will and have been opting for the easy and quick guaranteed money upfront with little to no strings attached, as it's simply the quickest and easiest way to acquire wealth while playing. They think, why make this harder on myself by going to Notre Dame and jumping through more hoops?
Recent success and proof of concept lacking at Notre Dame
Notre Dame has been a strong top-10 program for some time now. What it hasn't been is an elite of the elite winner on the field.
This matters to elite players. They may be more inclined to attend a school that has been elite lately figuring that it increases their odds of winning big and putting their profile on the NFL scene in doing so.
In some ways, this is simply human nature. Everyone wants to play for the winning team when given an opportunity to do so. And Notre Dame hasn't won a major bowl game since the 1994 Cotton and hasn't won a national title since 1988. This is a tough fact, but one that Notre Dame can't avoid on the recruiting trail.
But with all the barriers ...
Notre Dame is better at recruiting than you might think
Notre Dame's insistence on maintaining its core values of education is respectable. This is a big reason so many fans love the school and football team. You can be sure that when you see Notre Dame play, there are true "student-athletes" wearing the gold helmets out there and this value system appeals to many folks.
But in a quickly changing world, taking the easiest road possible as a means to an end appeals to many people and this is a battle Notre Dame is facing head-on in recruiting.
It takes a player with a special mindset and support system around him to turn down easy and "choose hard" the Notre Dame way.
Will enough elite players choose to do so that enable Marcus Freeman to get over the hump in a way his recent predecessors couldn't?
At the moment, the Irish are ninth in the 2025 247Sports composite recruiting rankings after finishing ninth in 2024 and 12th in 2023 during a changing of the guard.
Get enough decent classes and good things will happen.
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How Former Ohio State Coach Pushed Marcus Freeman Towards Notre Dame
