Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame's Last-Second Recruiting Hail Mary Shocks Rival USC

Star linebacker Madden Faraimo's last-minute commitment brings back memories of Manti Te'o

Nick Shepkowski

Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Helmets at the line of scrimmage as Notre Dame Fighting Irish long snapper Rino Monteforte (39) snaps the ball against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Nov 30, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Helmets at the line of scrimmage as Notre Dame Fighting Irish long snapper Rino Monteforte (39) snaps the ball against the Southern California Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Sometimes college football off the field can mirror exactly what happens on the field and that almost seems the case with Notre Dame's final signee of the 2025 recruiting class.

Last Saturday it appeared USC was heading in for the game tying touchdown against the Irish late. Instead, sophomore cornerback Christian Gray intercepted a Trojans pass and returned it 98 yards to put Notre Dame back up by two touchdowns. Shortly after, safety Xavier Watts would intercept another USC pass and return it 100 yards to put the final nail in the coffin.

Not even four full days later Notre Dame football has again stunned USC in the final seconds, this time in the recruitment of star linebacker Madden Faraimo.

Who is New Notre Dame Signee Madden Faraimo?

Madden Faraimo is regarded as one of the very best linebackers in the nation in the 2025 recruiting cycle. In the 247Sports composite rankings, Faraimo is rated as the 61st best player nationally and the No. 3 linebacker.

The J Serra Catholic star checks in at 6-3, 230-pounds and held at least 20 offers, including from powerhouse programs Texas, USC, Alabama, Miami, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, and plenty others.

How Madden Faraimo Chose Notre Dame Over USC

According to just about everyone in the know with college football recruiting, it looked like Faramio was headed to USC. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif. native lives in the shadows of Los Angeles and had just made his official visit to Notre Dame's biggest rival for this past Saturday's game.

Headed into the early signing period on Wednesday, seven-of-eight experts on 247Sports projected Faraimo to land with USC.

Faraimo's faith was clearly very key in ultimately choosing Notre Dame over USC based on Marcus Freeman's comments above.

Notre Dame remained relentless in its efforts to land Faraimo despite seemingly trailing USC and perhaps the fact USC linebackers coach Matt Enz left to become the head coach at Fresno State on Wednesday, put the Irish over the top.

Madden Faraimo Brings Back Memories of Manti Te'o Choosing Notre Dame

If you're of a certain age and have followed Notre Dame recruiting for an extended amount of time, you recall the memorable commitment of star linebacker Manti Te'o.

Te'o was the nation's top linebacker and the Hawaii native appeared to be headed to USC. The Trojans were still in the Pete Carroll era and held a dominating grip on the rivalry with Notre Dame at the time. Te'o was a self-described USC fan and as signing day approached it seemed like him signing with USC was a foregone conclusion.

Notre Dame however stayed in pursuit and despite finishing just 7-6 the year previous and hosting Te'o for his official visit for a senior day loss to a lowly Syracuse team in frigid northern Indiana conditions, when signing day came it was Notre Dame that Te'o chose.

If you lived it, you can't help but think of some of those memories after how the Faraimo news went down on Wednesday.

Notre Dame Football General Manager Chad Bowden on Madden Faraimo

“The reason we got Madden is because we have the best coaches in the country recruiting him. We have Coach Freeman, he’s a linebacker guy as our head coach. You have Coach Bullough, who will obviously coach the linebackers, and Coach Golden, who in the NFL coached linebackers, those three are the reason why Madden is here today and why he signed with the Irish.”

“Well, I heard Coach Freeman screaming, so I didn’t know if something was going on. I really wanted to check on him. But no, we were fired up. The whole staff came out. Everyone was hugging each other. It was a really special moment, a moment I’ll never forget.

“But it’s really like that with everybody. It’s so funny in recruiting, everyone cares so much about what happens at the end, they forget about what we have before that. We have an unbelievable class. I love this class. It’s got incredible depth. It’s solid at every position. But we celebrate every win in recruiting, and we evaluate every loss.

Now, as you go down the stretch, I know everyone says you can be after certain people. There are certain people that we pushed, some we didn’t. When you recruit a kid for so long you figure out towards the end who’s really worth it, who values this place and wants to be here, and those are the guys we push, and those are the guys that we got.”

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Nick Shepkowski
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