"Notre Dame fans are going to scream at me": Joel Klatt makes huge prediction for Marcus Freeman to join Big Ten powerhouse

Coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are fresh off a 34-23 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the National Championship Game on Monday. Freeman was praised for helping the Fighting Irish reach the National Championship Game despite having much less star power than many other teams that qualified for the college football playoff. Analyst Joel Klatt was among those.

On Thursday, Klatt spoke about his top 10 teams heading into next season. While speaking about Notre Dame, he said there is a possibility that Freeman could join Big Ten's Ohio State at some point. Not next season, but sometime in the future if Ryan Day leaves the team.

"At some point, if he keeps winning, the NFL is going to come knocking," Klatt said (starts at 17:20). "There’s no doubt. And then the other thing that they’re going to have to pay attention to, and I don’t want to put this in anybody’s head, because Notre Dame fans are going to scream at me, but he did play at Ohio State.

"If and when Ryan Day decides that he wants to move on, that’s the first call that any athletic director (is going to make). Ross Bjork right now is the AD at Ohio State. But when there’s an opening, their first call is going to be to Marcus Freeman."

Marcus Freeman wins the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award

Marcus Freeman was announced as the winner of the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday. Freeman is the second Notre Dame head coach to win the award, joining Lou Holtz who won in 1988.

As a third-year head coach, Freeman has a 33-10 record, including a 5-2 postseason record. He guided his team to seven victories over teams ranked in the AP. The top 25 at the time of the game included No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 15 Louisville, No. 24-ranked Navy, No. 18 Army, No. 9 Indiana, No. 2-ranked Georgia and No. 5-ranked Penn State.