Just one day after Notre Dame landed its first commit of the 2023 recruiting class in defensive end Keon Keeley, the Irish have landed another big fish along the defensive line. Brenan Vernon — a 5-star prospect via the 247Sports Composite — has verbally committed to the Fighting Irish.
@Coach_MattGray @CoachBerwald @MentorRedline @GPicheco @Nolan1vernon @megggss_22 @louislag77 @CoachMikeElston @Marcus_Freeman1 @NDFootball @CoachBrianKelly pic.twitter.com/ZnJyvXaNp6
— Brenan Vernon (@brenanvernon) June 29, 2021
Landing the 6’5″/245-pounder out of Mentor, OH is a huge coup for Mike Elston and Marcus Freeman. Being an elite defensive line prospect out of Ohio, most assumed he would be a lock to Ohio State. Every single one of the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions and Rivals FutureCast picks for Vernon were on Ohio State, but Notre Dame is the school to earn his commitment.
Recruiting Service Rankings
Rivals — 4 star (6.0 rating), #9 overall, #3 SDE, #1 in OH
ESPN — Not Yet Rated
247Sports — 4 star (94 rating), #39 overall, #8 DL, #2 in OH
247Sports Composite — 5 star (.9908), #18 overall, #6 DL, #2 in OH
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (93 rating)
Cohort
Brenan chose the Irish over other Power 5 offers from Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Michigan State, Nebraska, Kentucky, Duke, Indiana, and West Virginia.
Highlights
As with all new commits, Jamie at Irish Sports Daily has a film review up on Brenan that I recommend reading if you want a professional’s opinion. The Film Don’t Lie for Brenan Vernon can be read here at this link.
Brenan has all the physical tools to look for in a defensive lineman. He has a great frame with length and plays with strength and a high motor. He’s listed as a defensive end by most of the recruiting services (247 recently combined SDEs and DTs into a new category simply titled DL) but the idea seems to be that Brenan can grow into a guy that plays both defensive end and defensive tackle, similar to current Notre Dame defensive lineman Rylie Mills.
Impact
This is a huge start for Notre Dame in the 2023 class, particularly along the defensive line. It’s one thing to start off a class by landing a good offensive lineman or tight end — it’s another to kick things off by land two absolute studs on the defensive line. Brenan seems like the kind of guy that Ohio State usually lands and turns into a first-round draft pick. To be able to pair him with a guy who probably has even higher upside in Keon Keeley is huge. The days of Notre Dame struggling to land quality defensive linemen feel like long ago at this point. Mike Elston and Marcus Freeman are doing work on the trail.
Fingers crossed that the Irish can continue this momentum with a couple more of their top targets in the 2023 class. They’ve placed themselves in good early position with a few more blue-chip and even Top 50 level prospects, but it could be a long way until closing for some of them.
Welcome to the Irish family, Brenan!
Well, this is fun.
Hopefully there will be a lot more fun to come.
I just checked 247 for some of the elite recruits – who are “warm.”
Right now these ones are crystal balled to ND:
Styles – S – (from Ohio!) 15 natl – so a comp. 5 – star
Bowen – LB – IN – 25 natl – comp. 5 star (seems pretty strong to ND with 4 predications all ND)
Markway – TE – MO – 77 natl
Can you imagine 3 5 stars in one class and 2 of them from Ohio???
And then Tate – WR – IL 42 natl. – we are in a battle with OSU – one says ND, another guy says OSU. These are the guys we need to get to close the gap. The elite players that might go to OSU or other elite schools (though OSU is the most natural competitor for recruiting because of location). Though to be fair, it looks like the OSU prediction was made more recently than the ND prediction.
n.b. there are a few other top 100 prospects that are warm with no predictions yet.
Mots self-reply
Wait is the S- Styles Lorenzo’s brother?
And is there anyone he doesn’t end up at LB – currently listed as 6-5 216?
Yes, Lorenzo’s “little” brother. Could end up as a Wu-type linebacker or a Kyle Hamilton-type safety, depending on how he develops physically
3 five stars and top-25 would be absolutely silly. All on defense too, you say? Isn’t that a weird coincidence….
AND it looks like we are legitimately in the mix for an elite QB comp. 5 star (natl. 14, QB 3) Dante Moore from Michigan. He visited recently and hopes to come back for another visit.
Well said. It definitely is
Freeman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is how you close the gap. Not just get the elite player but steal them from one of the 3-4 elite teams.
So true!
There are some really good quotes from freeman in Sampson’s article on the athletic
Honestly, Arizona State should probably just fire Herm and all the guys who committed recruiting violations right now, today, and offer Marcus Freeman the head coaching position right now, today.
No, honestly they shouldn’t. That sounds like a horrible idea, dude has never coached a snap above Gof5 (dude, don’t tell them!)
But, kidding aside, would that even interest Freeman? I haven’t seen if the result could be sanctions/restrictions on the program, if so can’t imagine he would touch that. He can be picky. Given his roots and the fact he’s turned down jobs, he’s grooming his career very carefully. There’s a reason he went to ND and not LSU this time around. I don’t think he’s leaving for like Purdue or Illnois or something, but if Michigan or Penn State opens up? That would worry me. I think he’ll stay away from a middling western school that’s coming off a scandal
I doubt PSU opens up in the next two years, but Michigan likely will. Can’t see a tOSU guy taking it, but it would be a great spot for him.
It’s a projection but a possibility. 4-5 last year, which maybe it’s COVID and cut them a break but also that might be strike 1. Their recruiting has also gone down steadily lately 6th overall class in 2018 to 12th to 15th to 21st last year (6th in Big10), so I kinda see the ship pointing in the wrong direction for the future.
All that said, I’d project Freeman to a fairly big time job in the Midwest/Big 10 before seeing a fit out west to a program coming off scandal. But we shall see. Hopefully nothing intriguing opens up for a bit
I really really hope Freeman does not end up somewhere nearby. Here’s hoping he ends up at UCLA and steals all USC’s recruits.
But mostly just hoping we can keep him for 3 full years. We would have a very stocked cupboard at that point.
Question. Who are some of the HCs who were considered stud recruiters as coordinators? And how are they doing? Ed O was definitely one. Kirby Smart probably. Maybe Jimbo Fisher? Chad Morris, or was he just a scheme guru?
I’d put Lincoln Riley on your list.
3 years for Freeman would be amazing. I’m hoping for 2. Kelly kinda had like a “I’m gonna keep coaching as long as I’m healthy, we’re winning and the message is working” vibe in his Sampson article, but I really wonder if in 2ish years he might consider stepping aside of his own volition.
If it keeps going in this direction it really might be the best thing for the program possible to not lose Freeman. I would think a lot of Kelly if his parting gift was making sure Notre Dame kept Freeman, if it keeps going in this direction. But if it’s still going well and he’s making money and maybe doesn’t want to retire, who knows, tough to blame him if he’s still going strong.
I imagine it would be even harder for him to leave on his own if we land a couple top 5 classes (wishful thinking in itself). Would give him the best overall talent of his career. Could be hard to leave that.
Swarbrick doesn’t like the “coach in waiting” situation, but given Kelly’s age and the fact that you’d think he can’t keep going forever, it might make for a Muffet-like situation 2-3 years down the road. If not publicly at least behind closed doors to be like, “dude, you don’t really want Purdue or NC State, do you? Here’s a better plan..”
From Freeman’s perspective he can’t wait around forever, at some point branching out is going to be a necessity if Kelly intends to stay 4+ more years at this point. That’s the factor out of everyone’s control at this point.
It is funny that we are worrying about whether we can get a guy to be our HC after 6 months on the job as a DC. But I’m totally with you!
I know, right? Pretty wild indeed. Feels exhilarating to have an uptick like this.
Least best of the Best Case Freeman timelines is he leaves after a single year for a HC position after recruiting and coordinating defense like a monster in 2021. ND comes out with a better than average 2021 class, and maybe better than average 2022 class.
Best best of the Best Case Freeman timelines is 2-3 years of monster recuiting and coaching good trending toward great defense before leaving for a HC position. ND comes out with top 5 recruiting classes for consecutive years, maybe win playoff game or two or a Championship (in year three). But, here I agree Kelly is not leaving after 2-3 years of this best case, not with multiple classes of his best-ever recuits just becoming upperclassmen. They way he might leave is if he won a national Championship.
So, despite other factors (i.e., Jack) that might hold-up Freeman as coach-in-wating, the trajectory of his career at this point probably makes it unlikely.
I will say though, what Freeman’s shown so far, at least from my own perspective, is that ND’s next coach ABSOLUTELY has to be an ace recruiter if Jack (or whatever AD is after him) and ND admin are serious about winning a championship. As much as I appreciate Clark Lea, and would be happy to have him as HC at ND after Kelly, only now with Freeman does it seem that selling ND to the top top-players is not impossible. And I know even great/energetic recuiters can mismanage a program (like Brown, Herman, Smart, Helton have), but Kelly runs a great program and probably would have at least one national championship if he was at a school like USC or (barf) UMich that draws top5 classes no matter the coach.
I don’t feel like most Big Time jobs in the Midwest are open to hiring guys with no head coaching experience, but I could be wrong. In the cases where they do, it seems like they only tend to make the move to somebody in house (i.e. Ryan Day).