It seems like Notre Dame football is at a major crossroads, with significant changes happening after an impressive 14-2 season. Despite the success, it's clear that the program's staff turnover is creating some big challenges for head coach Marcus Freeman. But it also looks like Freeman is working diligently to navigate these changes by bringing in some strong new hires.
Chris Ash replaces Al Golden
The decision to replace Al Golden with Chris Ash seems strategic, especially considering Ash's background with defensive backs and his leadership beside Luke Fickell. Golden's style was clearly popular, so it'll be interesting to see if Ash’s fiery approach can maintain that same level of success. His expertise should complement the strong defensive talent already present, but the transition could still have its bumps.
Ja’Juan Seider is a big get
With the talented trio of Jerimiyah Love, Jadarian Price, and Aneyas Williams at running back, having someone with Seider’s track record will certainly keep that position as a strength. His experience with developing 1,000-yard rushers at Penn State is a major win for the Irish.
A new GM (Mike Martin)
The search for a new General Manager is definitely an intriguing one. The evolving nature of college football’s rules around recruiting, the transfer portal, and NIL demands a savvy, experienced leader. Mike Martin seems like an excellent choice to help navigate this new era, and building out a robust scouting department could help the Irish gain an edge on the competition, especially with such a complex landscape.
Building for Long-Term Success
All in all, Marcus Freeman is making moves to stay ahead of the curve, and while there are inevitable challenges, these hires could help position Notre Dame for continued success. It's exciting to see how these changes will unfold and if they'll pay off in the long run. What do you think of these moves? Does the future of Notre Dame football look bright to you?
Moore enjoys final visit
Defensive back Byron Moore (Harbor City, Calif./ Narbonne) took his third and final official visit this past weekend to Colorado and is now set to make his announcement this coming Wednesday.
As most know, Moore committed last spring to UCLA and then switched over to USC after picking up an offer from the Trojans at their summer camp. A few weeks go, Moore decided to de-commit from USC and visited Boulder after also visiting Notre Dame during the season.
"It was a great trip," Moore said. "The campus was beautiful, the players and coaches were all fun to be around and I can definitely picture myself playing at Colorado for the next four years of my life.
"The coaches are all about the players there and I have a good relationship with Coach Hagan who has been recruiting me for a while now. I loved my visit to Notre Dame too and now that I've taken this last visit, I can compare evenly all three of my final schools and lay out all the positives and negatives."
The third school in the mix Moore was referring to is USC. After de-committing, most assumed the Trojans were out of the running but Moore said that wasn't the case.
"USC is still in it for sure," Moore said. "I'm still in contact with them but I wanted to look at some other options too. I wanted to be respectful and I felt that if I'm going to look around, I should de-commit to be fair to the other schools and let them know I was serious about them.
"Coach Carroll told me he understood but also said he was going to keep fighting for me and I told him that was fine. Now I have a few days to look over everything and then I'll be ready to decide early Wednesday morning."
Moore is planning to announce live on ESPNU on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. ET
This is going to be a circus