Notre Dame was one of the feel-good stories in the 2024 season. This was a rare time when even neutrals were rooting for Notre Dame. Not something one sees regularly in the case of Notre Dame. This was only possible due to their flamboyant head coach, Marcus Freeman. He not only made them a winning team but also influenced their image all over the country. But, as charming as Marcus Freeman might be. He also knows when to be ruthless.
One of the ways it can be evidenced is by seeing his recruiting hirings. He recently lost Deland McCullough as his running backs coach, who departed for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. But he didn’t spare much time to rue his chances. He got out all the way to James Franklin’s Penn State and landed Ja Juan Seider, one of the best running backs coaches in the business. The move was not only a steal but also opened a whole new Pandora’s box for Penn State.
Well, Ja Juan Seider was more than just an RB coach at Penn State. In fact, he was at the center of various major recruitments. One of those was the commitment of RB Messiah Mickens. A 4-star rated running back in Penn State’s 2026 class. Standing at 5 feet 10 and weighing 210 pounds, he is just built to make those incisive runs on defense. But Seider’s departure brought on a new turn in Messiah Micken’s story.
Messiah Mickens has been committed for almost 16 months now to Penn State and has always looked forward to his time at Penn State. All that can change after Seider’s departure. Mickens is now widely touted to change camps, according to various media reports. The major factor in his decision to change can be Ja Juan Seider going to Notre Dame. And the possibility is that he will be potentially joining Seider at Marcus Freeman’s camp. Thomas Frank Carr of Penn State Football on Blue White speculated on the update.
My guy pic.twitter.com/qc2j4i1ryJ
— Messiah Mickens (@Messiah_1M) February 11, 2025
“They’re not going to have the depth in the rotation, and it’s just going to be the same as it was last year. There is a concern that you could be in a position like they were a couple of years ago, where suddenly you thought you had a lot of talent in the room, and now in 2026, there’s less if a guy like Mickens moves on and decides to maybe follow Seider to Notre Dame.”
Well, it’s more than a possibility that Mickens could move to Notre Dame due to his relationship with Seider. With that, Freeman would catch two birds with one stone. But why the hype?
Messiah Mickens’ potential destinations
First and foremost is the reason that Messiah had hinted recently about being open to the possibility of moving from Penn State. He spoke to On3 about his recruitment strategy and also speculated on the idea that he planned to visit a few more programs personally. Notre Dame was one of them. Furthermore, Rutgers is also another program that is actively pursuing the player. Ryan Snyder of On3 provided the update and said…
“We know Rutgers want aggressively after him (Messiah Mickens), and a lot of things have also changed in the NIL market over the last year and a half. There’s a little bit of a part of him that’s kind of curious to learn maybe what his market value would be or things like that.” And it’s true also because the player has also stressed the importance of NIL in his previous statements, so looking at options wouldn’t be something off-limits for him. The verdict?
Well, the player is highly talented in his 2024 season at Harrisburg High School; he completed 1,214 rushing yards on 155 carries and has a total of 3,523 yards at an average of 8.2 yards per carry. That’s quite remarkable for someone on his level. Surely, he has the potential to do much more, and thus we could see Notre Dame or maybe Rutgers trying to snatch him for that.
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