"Notre Dame is definitely top three now for me": 2028 class recruit Marcus Fakatou shares interaction with mom after official meet with Marcus Freeman

By Maliha

Modified Jun 12, 2024 12:27 GMT

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Notre Dame made an early move in recruitment by targeting rising freshman Marcus Fakatou from Orange, California. The Fighting Irish extended an offer to Fakatou on the evening of June 10, marking him as their first recruit from the 2028 class.

The young star from Orange Lutheran High School was welcomed to the Notre Dame campus for the program’s evaluation camp earlier that day, which served as his first unofficial visit to a college camp. His performance at the camp impressed the coaching staff and led to an official offer directly from head coach Marcus Freeman.

“They made me proud,” Fakatou said (via On3). “Especially when they offered me. Because all the other colleges, when they offered me, it was just their D-line coach. But having it come from the head coach made a good impression on me.”

Fakatou was certainly pleased with how the visit went, and immediately contacted his mother to declare Notre Dame as one of his top choices.

“After Monday’s experience, I immediately texted my mom saying, ‘Notre Dame is definitely top three now for me. I didn’t have Notre Dame in the top three colleges I wanted to go to. After today, man, they are definitely top three.”

Aside from Notre Dame, he has also received offers from several programs, including Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, BYU, USC, Utah, and Washington. Despite his growing list of options, he remains grounded in the process.

“Me and my family, it's new to us," Fakatou told Irish Sports Daily."No one in the family's ever got offers or made it even to the college level. I'm just still taking it in. Of course, I'm still keeping my head down."

Marcus Fakatou reflects on memorable Notre Dame visit

Fakatou had a great time at Notre Dame which prompted him to change his flight schedule to stay an extra day. He was able to tour the campus alongside fellow players Junior Tuihalamaka and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.

Tuihalamaka was the one who encouraged Fakatou to visit Notre Dame. He even shared his perspective on why he chose a college that challenged and pushed him out of his comfort zone.

Meanwhile, Fakatou had a chance to display more of his skills with the defensive linemen alongside their coach Al Washington. However, an interesting incident happened when Fakatou forgot about a request from offensive coordinator and tight end coach Mike Denbrock who asked him to showcase his abilities at the position.

“It was funny because the tight ends coach asked me to actually make my way to him, but it slipped my mind during all these drills we were doing with the D-line,” Fakatou told Blue & Gold. “Afterward, he came over and was like, ‘What happened, man?’ I was like, ‘I totally forgot about it. My bad coach.’

Denbrock took it in stride, and humorously assured him that if the defensive line work was enough, he didn’t need to worry about coming over.

Fakatou's recruiting journey will continue, as he heads to Oklahoma later this week and to Michigan in the next one.