Your weekly serving of college football roster acquisition thoughts — recruiting, transfer portal, you name it — from 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins.
Recruiting chops could save Marcus Freeman’s job
In the wake of Notre Dame’s deflating loss to Northern Illinois, there are questions about if Marcus Freeman is the right guy for the job. The Talent Tracker doesn’t fire or hire coaches, but it can provide some insight on what a program is doing from a talent-acquisition standpoint. And a quick diagnosis of the Fighting Irish’s recruiting efforts under Freeman suggests that it’s one of the main reasons why folks in South Bend need to remain optimistic about the first-time coach, although the margin for error is certainly shrinking with each inexcusable on-field result.
When Brian Kelly was running the show, Notre Dame signed recruiting classes with an average ranking of 11.9 in the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Freeman’s first two full recruiting classes finished 12th and ninth in the rankings. This cycle’s group is currently No. 10 in the country. The data might not make it seem like Freeman is really out-recruiting Kelly, but ever since Freeman took over, Notre Dame has found itself in more battles for game-changing prospects who the Irish traditionally wouldn’t have pursued.
Notre Dame recruiting finishes under Marcus Freeman
| 2022 | 12 |
| 2023 | 9 |
| *2024 | 10 |
| *Still in progress |
The issue for Freeman, however, is that he needs to close and get those difference makers on the roster. After losing blue-chip pass rusher Keon Keeley to Alabama and blue-chip safety Peyton Bowen to Oklahoma two years ago, Freeman finds himself in another standoff with an SEC power as Auburn tries to pry prized quarterback commit Deuce Knight away from the Irish.
Knight, who could best be described as one of the biggest wild cards in the 2025 class with his freaky athleticism, isn’t going to make or break a Notre Dame program that has recruited the quarterback position reasonably well under Freeman. But he does have a chance to eventually take the offense to an unprecedented level with his dual-threat capabilities. A defection at this stage in the process is going to sting twice as much, given how much time and resources that the Irish have already invested in the recruitment. Remember: Even in the NIL era, schools must still identify the talent and Notre Dame beat plenty to the punch on Knight.
One other area where Freeman desperately needs to get it right is wide receiver. Transfer quarterback Riley Leonard is catching plenty of flak after a dismal showing as a passer his first two games in a gold helmet, but does Notre Dame really have the weapons to air it out? Last season, it was lacrosse-star-turned-slot-receiver Jordan Faison, who provided plenty of excitement down the stretch with three touchdowns and four explosive plays in the team’s final three games. With Faison battling an injury early on this season, the Irish wide receivers have scored zero touchdowns and produced just three explosive plays through two games.
Freeman and his staff tried to spruce up the wide receiver room this offseason by adding veterans Beaux Collins, Kris Mitchell and Jayden Harrison via the transfer portal. But the fact that Faison, who originally signed to play another sport at the school, is the underclassmen that has shown the most promise to date as a pass catcher is a concerning — especially when you look around the country and see what could be an all-time true freshman wide receiver class taking the sport by storm.
Here’s how grim Notre Dame’s passing offense is thus far:
- One of five FBS teams with zero pass TD through Week 2 (Northwestern, Air Force, Miami-Ohio, Western Michigan)
- First time with zero pass TD through two team games since 2007
- Only FBS team without completion of more than 20 yards through Week 2
- Fewest pass yards (321) through two team games since 2007
Where Freeman has really elevated Notre Dame post Kelly is on defense, and that unit will be on full display Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS with the Irish at Purdue on Saturday. Future NFL Draft picks like cornerback Benjamin Morrison and safety Xavier Watts are the names most known on that side of the ball, but second-year players like cornerback Christian Gray, safety Adon Shuler and linebacker Drayk Bowen are primed to keep the machine humming for years to come.
Does Colorado have any future players in the pipeline?
Colorado is licking its wounds after getting clobbered by Nebraska. The Buffs will likely pick up their second win of the season Saturday when they trek to Colorado State (7:30 p.m. ET, CBS), but it figures to be a rocky week in Boulder after a remodeled offensive line that yielded six sacks to star quarterback Shedeur Sanders came under fire from Shedeur himself.
Shedeur will be in the NFL next season. The Buffaloes must be tired of having to retool their roster every year with transfers … right?
With just under three months to go before Signing Day, Colorado’s 2025 recruiting class, which has a Power Four-low eight prospects committed, ranks No. 84 nationally. That’s behind schools like Rice, FAU and UNLV.
Coach Prime has obviously had no shortage of success in the transfer portal over the years, and he’s pulled some recruiting rabbits out of his hat in the past (Travis Hunter and offensive line starter Jordan Seaton). But his task at Colorado in 2025, if he chooses to accept it, will include facing one of the biggest roster reconstructions ever. Of the 22 starters for Colorado against Nebraska, 12 of them are listed on the school’s website as either a graduate or a senior. Add Shedeur and Hunter to the list of departures and the number grows to 14.
What’s even more alarming is the fact that through the first two games of the season, only 13 first or second-year players have gotten offensive or defensive snaps for the Buffs and only three of those underclassmen have eclipsed the 100-snap mark: Seaton, offensive lineman Hank Zilinskas and cornerback D.J. McKinney.
Again, Coach Prime has pulled some Signing Day shockers before, but with an earlier-than-ever Signing Period (Dec. 4), he’s not going to have much time to dial up the big recruiting weekends and get face time with the nation’s best high schoolers.
Tune your TV to the 5-star QBs: They’re special
It has been a banner two weeks for the 247Sports class of 2024 five-stars as 27 of the 32 have seen action. Two of the three quarterbacks who held a five-star designation have already started games and found success in Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola and Florida’s DJ Lagway, which isn’t surprising given what we thought of the two coming out.
Behind the scenes, we never really questioned Raiola’s talent. We were more concerned about the fact that he had made three separate college commitments and attended four different high schools in a three-year period. That type of wavering tends to be a red flag in the scouting community, but the more we studied Raiola the more we thought that the pros out-weighed the cons. He not only had what we considered an NFL-caliber arm, but appeared to be well ahead of the curve as a decision-maker and an advanced mover in the pocket for his age.
Lagway was a prospect we just fell in love with around this time last year. While some dinged him for a so-so showing at the Elite 11 Finals, we came out of the event excited about what he could be as the flashes were special. After completing just 55.5% of his passes as a sophomore and 67% of his passes as a junior, it all came together for the imposing dual-threat talent as a senior. Lagway’s completion percentage improved to 72.1%as he threw for 4,605 yards and a Texas 6A-record 59 touchdowns.
Obviously, it’s still extremely early in both Raiola and Lagway’s collegiate careers, but so far, so good. We’ll see how involved Lagway is in Florida’s gameplan Saturday against Texas A&M with starter Graham Mertz likely out of concussion protocol. Billy Napier says he plans on playing both.
And if you’re wondering if there’s another true freshman quarterback that could break through this fall, keep an eye on the situation at NC State. It has been a rough go of things for Grayson McCall, and sources in Raleigh called CJ Bailey a “freak” after summer workouts. He was Jeremiah Smith’s high school quarterback.
Know the name: Pitt RB Desmond Reid
Most might assume Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is the FBS all-purpose yardage leader after he ran wild against both Georgia Southern and Oregon, but that designation actually goes to Pittsburgh utilityman Desmond Reid, who’s averaging 244 all-purpose yards per game.
Not many batted an eye back in December when I broke that Reid was entering the transfer portal following an electric sophomore season at Western Carolina, but this is a kid I have been tracking ever since I saw him go wild at one of Florida’s summer camps three years ago.
Reid, whom we ranked as one of the highest FCS signees in the 2022 class, won’t blow many away with his size, but he’s electric with the ball in his hands and difficult for tacklers to get on the ground.
In Pitt’s come-from-behind victory at Cincinnati, Reid carried the ball 19 times for 148 yards while also catching six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. He also returned a punt 78 yards for a score in a season-opening rout of Kent State. With the NFL looking to create more return opportunities with its new kickoff rules, Reid could eventually have a strong case to make a 53-man roster.
Sneaky-Good Commit of the Week
LB Ty Jackson to USC
Lincoln Riley and the Trojans have taken a more national approach to recruiting in recent years. While they continue to target some of the nation’s best in Georgia, they have also been poking around Florida. It appears that that’s going to pay off for USC after it landed a pledge over the weekend from Ty Jackson. Ranked as the No. 20 linebacker in the class of 2025, Jackson is a top-flight combine tester that has made plays in all three phases of the game at Loxahatchee Seminole Ridge. He has dealt with injuries, but there aren’t many 200-pound tackle machines that return kickoffs for touchdowns.
Jackson could become the highest-ranked linebacker out of the Sunshine State to sign with the Trojans since Keith Rivers in 2004. Rivers was a two-time All-Pac 10 selection (RIP) who was selected in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Believe it or not, it’s hard to find even grainy footage of Rivers in high school, but Jackson appears to have a pretty similar profile.
‘Freak’ of The Week
Alabama QB commit Keelon Russell
Keelon Russell has yet to play a snap of college football, but I’m already regretting not having him on our annual Freaks List after watching the first game of his senior season — and that’s because the Alabama commit was freaky good. Facing a defense full of FBS prospects, the five-star completed 25 of 39 passes for 325 yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions as Texas powerhouse Duncanville cruised to a 34-12 victory at South Oak Cliff.
Russell is now 30-1 as a starting varsity quarterback and starting to remind me of Jayden Daniels. He’s an elastic athlete who exhibits elite playmaking ability for the position along with plenty of field command. Probably the most encouraging thing that came out of the tape study from his opener is the overall confidence. He’s not afraid to make a mistake. At the same time, he doesn’t make many. Russell’s sack avoidance is also exceptional as he uses his track speed to slip away from pressure and hunt big plays. The Crimson Tide have questions at quarterback after Jalen Milroe, and Russell might be the answer.
