Among the top football schools, Notre Dame stands out in many ways.

One way to achieve this is to emphasize that the players are student athletes and not just athletes.

Irish players are expected to take their studies seriously, and Notre Dame’s academic requirements are quite demanding, even for athletes.

In contrast, many other soccer schools allow players a much lighter class load so that they can focus solely on preparing their minds and bodies for the game of soccer.

Coach Marcus Freeman’s motto is for his players and recruits to “make tough decisions” by doing things the Notre Dame way. But does that recruiting pitch resonate with top talent in the modern CFP era? Let’s discuss why selling that pitch seems to be a modern challenge.

First football, then school, then football…

The degree from Notre Dame is extremely valuable.

It carries weight in the global business market and speaks for itself on resumes and in the long run. No one doubts that, and the Notre Dame graduate’s track record is nothing short of astonishingly impressive.

Top talents with elite potential strive for the fast lane in the NFL – as realistic or unrealistic as that may be.

In an ideal world, these players want to film and impress for three years of college playing time, then prepare for the NFL Draft and the payday that comes with it. Every player wants a degree, but in a transfer portal era, school generally takes a backseat to other factors — at best.

Fast and easy money is hard to refuse

In today’s modern world of NIL, pay for play, and soon guaranteed payouts for all players through recent NCAA court legislation, money flows quickly and freely to many major football schools. Sure, Notre Dame is a player in the NIL world, but there are expectations. With the money comes measures of decency and service. There is a process.

In contrast, universities offer guaranteed money, often quite large, to top players with no strings attached, just for signing with and attending a specific university.

Many players opt for the easy and quick guaranteed money up front with little to no strings attached because it is simply the fastest and easiest way to accumulate wealth while gambling. They think to themselves: why should I make it even harder for myself by going to Notre Dame and having to overcome even more hurdles?

Notre Dame lacks recent success and proof of concept

Notre Dame has been a strong top-10 program for some time. What it hasn’t been, however, is an elite winner on the field.

This is important for elite players. They may be more inclined to attend a school that has recently been ranked among the elite because they believe it will increase their chances of achieving greatness and making a name for themselves on the NFL scene.

In some ways, it’s just human nature. Everyone wants to play for the winning team when they get the chance. And Notre Dame hasn’t won a major bowl game since Cotton in 1994, and hasn’t won a national title since 1988. That’s a hard fact, but one that Notre Dame can’t avoid when recruiting players.

But with all the barriers…

Notre Dame is better at recruiting than you might think

Notre Dame’s insistence on maintaining its core values ​​in education is respectable. It’s a big reason why so many fans love the school and the football team. You can be sure that when you see Notre Dame play, there are real “student athletes” with gold helmets, and that value system appeals to many people.

But in a rapidly changing world, it’s tempting for many people to take the easy way out, and that’s exactly the struggle Notre Dame faces when it comes to recruiting.

It takes a player with a special mindset and a support system around him to turn down easy decisions and go for the hard decision, the Notre Dame way.

Will enough top players choose to help Marcus Freeman overcome the hurdle in a way that his recent predecessors could not?

The Irish currently rank ninth in the 2025 247Sports composite recruiting rankings after finishing ninth in 2024 and 12th in 2023 during a changing of the guard.

If you take enough good lessons, good things will happen.

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How former Ohio State coach Marcus Freeman pushed for Notre Dame