Welcome back to Irish Illustrated Insider. It is Monday, December 22nd. I'm Tim O'Malley, joined

today by Drew Bentock of Irish Illustrated John Bryce of Football Scoop. Guys, before we get into

Notre Dame's one NFL draft announcement, the Portleers out, and some speculation on Portleers

in or staying. We should talk about what everybody talks about around college football in Notre Dame.

That's not being left out of the playoff anymore, but Marcus Freeman's immediate future in

2026 and that still pending contract extension.

Yeah, look, there's a lot of high-level money people at Notre Dame that remain nervous,

that are antsy to see the formal announcement when you speak to people on campus. There's less nerves, certainly, in that regard.

We know that the NFL network said Marcus Freeman is the New York Giants top collegiate

coaching candidate, but that doesn't mean he's the New York Giants top coaching candidate.

We've shared on this podcast for several weeks that he's been vetted by the Giants.

Some have indicated they've spoken.

I have not independently confirmed that, but there's clearly been like interest from

the Giants and finding out and learning as much about Marcus Freeman as possible.

That, again, does not make him the Giants top choice.

You know, last year, I think, before hiring Aaron Glenn, the New York Jets interviewed

Mike Loxley from the college ranks.

So some of these things take place every single year to check some college coaches that have the profile.

Certainly, Marcus Freeman's an exponentially superior coach to Mike Loxley, but both those guys

are very personable, and Loxley's been around Saving and some other people, so you understand

why that was done.

But people on campus seem overall confident that Marcus Freeman is going to get this thing done

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