What have been some of the biggest recruiting misses for HC Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame over the last several years?
Heading into the 2026 college football season, Notre Dame is expected to be one of the biggest contenders to win a National Championship. Over the course of head coach Marcus Freeman's
tenure with the Fighting Irish, he and his staff have recruited at a very high level. Due to that level of recruiting, development, and retention, this is expected to be one of the deepest Notre Dame teams that we have seen in a long time.
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While it is a painful exercise, the Irish staff has also had some key recruiting misses over the last few years. It is interesting to think back to some of those recruiting battles and consider just how good this team would be if it didn't miss. Those misses don't mean that Notre Dame can't win a championship in 2026. Every program has its misses.
Here are those top recruiting losses. That includes some that would have made a big difference on the 2026 version of the team, and others that ended up not being as large as many thought at the time.
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Biggest Notre Dame recruiting misses
While Notre Dame has recruited at a very high level under Coach Freeman, the Fighting Irish have had their fair share of misses, just like every other top program. Here are the biggest misses that could have given the Irish a huge bump toward a championship in 2026.
Coming out of the Chicago
area, Scott was a huge miss for Notre Dame back in the 2024 class. Letting the 6-4, 303-pound defensive tackle head down to Miami
was a tough pill to swallow. While the Irish defensive tackle rotation looks good on paper, Scott would have been the most talented player of that group, and comfortably so. Scott is an elite talent at a position of need.
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The Fighting Irish were extremely high on Wingo in the 2024 recruiting class as well, and there was some interest from Wingo's side, but not nearly enough. At 6-2 and 211 pounds, Wingo would be the most talented wide receiver in that room instantly. Even though Wingo dealt with some drop issues in 2025, he brings a unique blend of explosiveness and ability after the catch for a player his size.
If not for a massive NIL offer from USC later in the process, Hines would have chosen Notre Dame. As a freshman last season, the 6-0, 195-pound pass catcher showcased his big play ability, hauling in 34 receptions for 561 yards and two touchdowns, an average of 16.5 yards per reception. There's a good chance that Hines blossoms into the Trojans' best wide receiver this season, possessing some huge upside as a vertical receiver.
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Barnes isn't necessarily a big need on this year's roster, but it would have been fun to think of the impact he could have had in the slot. When healthy for Clemson over the last three years, Barnes was an outstanding football player. There wouldn't have been a need to move Christian Gray into the nickel this offseason if Barnes were on the roster right now. If you think back to his recruitment, Notre Dame finished second, and the big decider was that Clemson originally offered him the chance to get a shot at wide receiver early on, which never happened. Barnes should be a big part of the Georgia secondary in 2026.
The Irish have struggled to recruit the boundary receiver position in recent memory. They held a commitment from Canion back in the 2024 class, but he eventually flipped to Georgia Tech to stay closer to home. The 6-4, 205-pound pass catcher is expected to fill a big role for the Georgia Bulldogs after transferring this offseason. His combination of explosiveness and long speed is impressive for a wide receiver of his size.
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The misses that probably don't change much
Those weren't the only Notre Dame recruiting misses we have seen under Coach Freeman. Some more misses were viewed as larger at the time, but they probably wouldn't have had a major impact on the 2026 season for a variety of reasons. Here were the other Irish misses to look back on.
OT Monroe Freeling (2023)
Things were looking great between Freeling and Notre Dame until a visit to South Bend, where the 6-7, 300-pound offensive tackle briefly committed to the Fighting Irish, but backed off that commitment before he left South Bend. There's a good chance we would have seen Freeling at left tackle over the last couple of years, but since he ended up declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft instead of returning to Georgia, there's no guarantee he would have any impact on next year's Notre Dame team.
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WR Carnell Tate (2023)
Like Freeling, Tate also declared for the 2026 NFL Draft and was selected by the Tennessee Titans
with the No. 4 overall selection. For the 2026 season, it probably wouldn't have mattered if Notre Dame somehow landed Tate. With the 6-2, 195-pound wide receiver being from Chicago originally, it made it difficult to see Tate opt for Ohio State. It made it even worse to know that Notre Dame didn't finish in his top three.
Moore was once silently committed to the Fighting Irish for about a month and a half. The current Oregon star and UCLA transfer dragged his feet to go public, and then CJ Carr's wanting to commit in the 2024 class fully scared him off. Moore is a tremendous talent at the quarterback position, but there is a very real debate on whether he would be an upgrade over Carr. Perhaps he would boost their championship hopes slightly, but it's nothing but speculation, and not a substantial upgrade either way.
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LB Chris Cole (2024)
If you watched Chris Cole last season, he's a very intriguing inside linebacker who Georgia also blitzes from a lot of different spots. In many ways, his game is very similar to that of current Fighting Irish star Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. While Cole would have been great to have, the Fighting Irish do have a crowded linebacker room. Missing out on Cole was a loss at the time, but it ended up just being a minor one.
LB Cole Sullivan (2024)
Insert pretty much everything said in the Cole blurb above. Sullivan is a really impressive space athlete that Notre Dame liked a lot. After flashing a ton for Michigan last season, he's set to start for Oklahoma in 2026. Sullivan would have been a nice get for Notre Dame, but there just isn't a major need at linebacker going into next year.
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The Bowen brothers (2023 and 2024)
Notre Dame once held a commitment from Oklahoma safety Peyton Bowen, but as many remember, he chose to leave the 2023 class at the very end. After briefly "signing with Oregon", Bowen officially signed with the Oklahoma Sooners. While Bowen hasn't forced a ton of turnovers for the Sooner defense, he has become a very underrated member of a stellar group.
Once the fiasco happened with Peyton, Notre Dame's chances to land his little brother, Eli Bowen, in the 2024 class went completely out the window. It was probably going to be Oklahoma or Oregon regardless, but that National Signing Day moment took the Irish completely out of the running, and for good reason on Notre Dame's side. You could make an argument that the younger Bowen has become the better college player between the two. I wouldn't be shocked if Eli were starting at nickel for Notre Dame right now, although it didn't end up being a major loss for a deeper secondary group.
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CB Brandon Finney Jr. (2025)
The Finney recruitment was a bit of an odd one. Notre Dame had interest in the Maryland native, and even hosted him for a later visit during that recruiting process, but they seemed to value some other defensive backs a bit higher without pushing extremely hard. That would prove to be a big mistake with Finney already looking like an elite player on the college level. It's possible that Oregon would have won the recruitment regardless, but it also would have been interesting to see if Notre Dame could have made a real run.
TE Carter Nelson (2024)
Notre Dame was very high on Nelson in the 2024 recruiting class. His raw athleticism was something the team was extremely high on. While the talent is all still there, Nelson hasn't had the impact many had hoped for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It's reasonable to think that the Irish staff would have better unlocked the overall talent that the 6-5, 240-pound tight end possesses, but this hasn't proven to be the big miss that it seemed to be at the time.
