Is James Franklin About to Get Revenge on Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman?

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Any Notre Dame football fan, or Penn State fan for that matter, remembers the Orange Bowl thriller from January of 2025 that sent the Fighting Irish to the National Championship game.

It was just before that game was played though, that then-Penn State head coach James Franklin ruffled the feathers of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman by essentially giving him the “little brother” act during a press conference.

Franklin would keep running his mouth about Notre Dame, complaining about its football independence at last year’s Big Ten Media Days.

It’s fairly clear that Franklin doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about Notre Dame, but he may finally be about to pull one over on Freeman and the Fighting Irish.

No, not on an actual playing field because we all know how the teams of Big Game James play when something significant is on the line, but instead in the world of recruiting.

Notre Dame Committed Linebacker Visits Virginia Tech

It’s starting to look more and more like Notre Dame is going to lose its only linebacker in the 2027 recruiting class.

Last week, IMG Academy (Florida) prospect Amarri Irvin made a visit to Michigan State. That’s a big no-no when it comes to being a commitment to Notre Dame, as you’re not supposed to visit other programs.

Well, Irvin was talked out of a making a trip to Texas A&M, but this weekend he did make a trip to Blacksburg, Virginia, and check out Virginia Tech, where Franklin is now the head coach.

As we’ve talked about before, Notre Dame commitments aren’t supposed to visit other programs. I wondered last week if when Irvin checked out Michigan State, if it was possibly allowed because of his family connection to the university.

His visiting Virginia Tech makes it seem like he’s simply looking for a different place to eventually play.

I can only imagine how thrilled Franklin would be to flip a recruit from Notre Dame.

Nick Shepkowski’s Quick Thoughts

I would never expect Marcus Freeman or the Notre Dame staff to come out publicly and bash a young man for not following the rules of a commitment, but at some point, that commitment has to stop being honored.

Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.

Irvin had that visit to Michigan State, was talked out of visiting Texas A&M, and then wound up on Virginia Tech’s campus the following weekend. I get that Irvin is Notre Dame’s only current committed linebacker in the 2027 recruiting class, but at some point you’ve got to honor the rule.

Either you’re in and you stop visiting elsewhere, or you’re out and you can go wherever you please.

I would assume there is resolution on this sooner than later, as Notre Dame is already behind in linebacker recruiting for 2027 and needs to up to efforts to get something in the class if Irvin is indeed out.

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