Segun Alexander met Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, his mother and his godmother in an office, then went to Freeman’s house for the real meeting. Alexander likes to ask questions. He asked a lot of them, and he said Freeman had a good answer for each.
Three days later, on Tuesday, June 23, the Georgia defensive tackle committed to the Irish.
“For me, I would say the dealbreaker was the people,” Alexander told Irish Sports Daily. “I feel like when I go there, I won’t be just developed on the field, but off the field. I’ll become a better man, a better human being and a better father.”
He also cited the education. “I’ll be set for life after football, which is really important to me,” he said. And the visit itself: “I just felt at home when I visited. I feel like it was like a second home to me that I could be there and thrive in.”
A rushed recruitment
Alexander, who plays at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee, was a Class of 2028 prospect until he reclassified to 2027 this spring. That squeezed the whole process. Schools that expected months to build a relationship got a few weeks.
He used them. Official visits took him to Cal and Texas A&M first, then Georgia Tech, Clemson and Vanderbilt, with Notre Dame last. Texas A&M had been considered the favorite going into the South Bend trip, according to A to Z Sports, but Freeman and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge changed that over the weekend.
“Compared to other schools, Notre Dame stood out a lot because of how detailed they were,” Alexander said. “They went over a lot of stuff that other schools didn’t that I realized was important.”
He said he watches how people act on visits. Freeman, he said, “was a standout person with how he talks and how he cares for people.”
Partridge got just as much credit. “He came to me with love and care. He made me feel like I was needed and wanted at Notre Dame,” Alexander said. Their meetings ran long and he never got bored, he said, because he kept firing questions and the two ended up trading football talk back and forth.
What Notre Dame gets
Alexander is the 20th commitment in Notre Dame’s 2027 class and the first true defensive tackle in it. Slap the Sign described him as the No. 397 player nationally in the Rivals Industry Ranking. In 12 games last season he had 36 tackles, 18 for loss, 13 sacks and 19 quarterback hurries, plus a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The pledge also beat Clemson and Texas A&M, and it stung a little less after the Irish lost five-star linebacker Kaden Henderson to Texas A&M the week before. Alexander joins a defensive line group that already includes five-star edge Abraham Sesay, defensive tackle David Folorunsho, defensive end Aidan O’Neil and pass rusher Jackson Vaughn.
One target remains on that board: Chicago Brother Rice defensive tackle Brayden Parks, listed at 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, who is down to Notre Dame and Oregon.
Sources
- COMMITMENT | 2027 DT Segun Alexander Chooses Notre Dame
- Newest Notre Dame commit laid out the 'dealbreaker' that led to Irish pledge
- Notre Dame football lands a high upside defender over an elite offer list, moves one step closer toward a historic DL class
