On3 Roundtable: Marcus Freeman enters Year 2 at Notre Dame battle-tested, confident

Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman are riding high into 2023 after a rocky start to his Irish tenure. With a little transfer portal success and a strong finish to 2022, though, Freeman has Irish faithful looking forward to 2023 and what it might hold.

To understand how Notre Dame found itself here, On3’s J.D. PicKell spoke with Blue and Gold’s Tyler Horka about Freeman’s first year and a half on the job in an On3 Roundtable. The biggest advantage Freeman has going into 2023 is pretty clear, in Horka’s mind: He’s got a quarterback in Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman.

“Freeman could’ve gone out and got a transfer portal quarterback at this time last year or January of last year. They didn’t do it. What does he do this time around? Goes out and does it, and gets Sam Hartman, which everyone is calling the crown jewel of the transfer portal class. Like you said, this is a guy who is probably the No. 1 guy that he’s gotten both high school recruiting-wise and from the transfer portal. So, huge pickup,” Horka said.

Hartman ranked No. 2 in the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings for the 2023 cycle, trailing only Jackson State-to-Colorado transfer Travis Hunter.

With Hunter mostly a lock to go to Colorado and not a quarterback, Notre Dame won the transfer portal sweepstakes in 2023 in a big way by landing Hartman, who would’ve been welcomed at a number of Power 5 programs.

And beyond having Hartman in the fold, Horka thinks just having a full year under his belt will be huge for Freeman.

“This is a guy who started 0-3 in his Notre Dame career,” Horka said. “The only head coach at Notre Dame who has ever done that. So he’s had to live with that burden. He’s gotten some big victories under his belt. If you go back most recently to the game against South Carolina in the Gator Bowl, I think that was a big one. Anytime you beat an SEC program, that’s a big deal. And you also beat Clemson, who at the time was Top 5 and if Clemson wins out, they’re going to the College Football Playoff. So, at that point in time, Notre Dame kind of spoiled their season,” Horka said. “And then of course there were the losses to Marshall and Stanford.

“So he’s been through everything, he’s more experienced and I just think there’s a confidence.”