Merck/Bua - I don’t think this question has been posed yet but could you give a high level summary of what the recruiting process looks like behind the scenes with Freeman and the assistants?
Do they discuss specific recruits everyday or do they have more of a weekly discussion to cover certain prospects? I know this was discussed on a podcast I recently listened to where they mentioned Urban Meyer would pull up the big board of prospects and hold each assistant accountable and even call the recruits himself to confirm they had spoken with the assistant.
Im just wondering if that’s how Freeman runs recruiting as well. Im sure he gives them plenty of autonomy. Sorry for this being so long winded.
Appreciate your contributions to the board!
Happy Friday and good morning!
Two things in advance
-I apologize in advance if Big Merckxe already covered some or all of this. I started typing this last night in a Word doc after my last post because I knew it was going to be a long post and I haven’t checked the board
-Some of this information may be so general as to be not useful but short of writing a 2,500 word essay on the topic it would be impossible to cover all the small ins and outs of how any recruiting department runs. So much can change day to day and week to week that it’s nearly impossible to cover. So this will be a VERY high level overview and I’ll try to tie it to ND and the way things currently run..or will run with these new GM positions as best I can. A lot of the below won’t be specific to ND in general, a lot of programs have similar systems and set-ups for recruiting.
First and foremost, recruiting never sleeps. Figuratively and somewhat literally. It might be the only department in a football program that works every single day of the year in much the same way. Are there daily meetings? Yes. Are there weekly meetings? Yes. It’s also always evolving. The department is going to look much different this year with Bowden gone. Merckxe and I covered this but it will be a bit more professional in it’s look and feel and organization. Bowden ran a loose ship. It felt very “college”. Martin will have the department feeling much more like an NFL front office..but trying to meld together the college “fun”/feel.
In regards to meetings, there is always at least one weekly meeting with the coaching staff. During bye weeks or non-game weeks in the offseason there can and will be more, but there is always at least one. There also is and can be weekly meetings with position groups. Freeman is at around..maybe…75-90% of these depending on his schedule. If he’s not there he’s getting updates from them and follows up later. Freeman is always involved. He’s meeting with the recruiting coordinator(s) and the individual coaches to know what is needed from him in respect to a player, a group, or an event. Daily meetings are more common this time of year and heading into signing day depending on how the class is closing out and who/if ND is still chasing.
Most schools (ND included) typically has a “2.5” year board at all times. So right now the boards are ’26, ’27, and kids they are intently watching early in the 2028 class. A kid like Vernon would have been one of those on the “early” board back when he was a recruit. Early boards also usually contain a lot of QBs and RBs. Part of how/why every team gets on QBs so early now.
Recruiting is also working with current commits on messaging they want out, taking the temperature of the class, and having them reach out to recruits. Under Martin my impression is this will be much more organized and the messaging the recruiting office will be putting out will be more targeted, cohesively “branded”, and messaged.
The portal has obviously changed things quite a bit so you have teams of people in recruiting reviewing film every week from around the country, taking and making notes of players, and aligning those players with the board in the office of where ND feels they do or will need help as they watch the recruiting board morph and shift over the cycles. Obviously right now, lots of film of WRs being looked at as opposed to scouting of OL. It wouldn’t surprise me if within….two years?...that ND expands the department and hires a small team/group of professional scouts or talent evaluators simply for this this purpose and that filters down to HS recruiting as well. You may also see ND pulling from NFL personnel scouting departments and getting interns or lower level scouts to come to the college level for a “promotion” in title under Matt Jansen. Jansen has a small staff now..but I’d look for it to expand/grow/evolve with Martin in charge.
I’m trying to think of anything else but…recruiting is A LOT….I can’t stress that enough. At this point I’ve forgotten parts of the question so feel free to follow up on anything I’ll do the best I can to answer but some of it I may not be able to as it’s highly internal.
