Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman has to be feeling like a proud dad after his son's latest announcement.
The Fighting Irish head coach, who shares six children with his wife Joanna, saw his first-born son, Vinny, take the next step in his athletic journey by committing to wrestle in the Ivy League.
It also had to be a little funny for Freeman to be on the other side of his son's recruitment. But after Vinny chose to commit to academic and wrestling power Cornell, ND's head man opened up to reporters about the 17-year-old's achievement.
"I'm proud of him, I am. I'm proud of him," Freeman said at Saturday's press conference.
"And you know, it was unique being on the other side, being a father trying to guide your son, when a lot of times I wasn't on a lot of visits, it was his mom. ... Mom liked Cornell, and somehow Vinny chose Cornell. I'm proud of him though, he's earned that right through some hard work, and look forward to seeing what's in the future for him."
"You know, one of the things that was important to Vinny was the people. He really viewed the people, the wrestlers, the recruits, the coaches, as he said to me, he's like, 'I feel like they're family,' and that's a great reminder for us as coaches," he continued. "We can sell Notre Dame, we can sell our football program, sell this university, but today, the young people want relationships, too, and that's a great reminder for us all."
Since his arrival at the varsity level, Vinny Freeman has been nothing short of excellent on the mat. As a freshman, he went 30-10 in his matches before improving on that record even further with a 34-4 mark last year.
The Big Red have a long list of NCAA champions in their program's history and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Vinny's name alongside them one day.
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