Analysis: Big-picture themes driving Notre Dame in spring stretch run

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A full scrimmage planned for Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday was moved inside to the Irish Athletics Center, with temps hovering in the 30s all morning.

By the time the ND football team practices again — Tuesday, for session 12 of 15 this spring — the Irish will be looking at upper 60s.

The fluctuations of the team itself aren’t nearly that dramatic anymore, two weeks before the spring-ending Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium on April 23. After the roughly 100-play scrimmage won by a narrow margin by the offense over the defense (think golf’s Stableford scoring system, but for football), here are the big-picture themes shaping the trajectory of the Irish, now over 73.3% of the way through Marcus Freeman’s first spring as Notre Dame’s head coach.

Freeman wasn’t hiring just a defensive coordinator to replace himself while he waited for Al Golden’s Cincinnati Bengals to finish their postseason run instead of reaching for a more available option. He wanted a sounding board that could speak from experience.

The depth and scope of those discussions should increase once spring practice concludes — particularly when it comes to gameday logistics and gametime decisions — but the interactions between Freeman and Golden are already having an impact on Freeman’s growth.

“There’s been many times he’s come to my office and said, ‘Hey, here’s something to be aware of, something I as a head coach,’” Freeman said Saturday. “It’s something that’s been very beneficial to me being a first-time head coach.

“That’s one of the main reasons we hired him – not the main reason, but a big reason – was because he’s been in my shoes and he’s been a guy who sees things from a head coach point of view.”

Golden, 52, was a college head coach for 10 seasons combined at Temple and Miami (2006-15) before spending the past six seasons as an NFL assistant.

“I think coach Free is doing the right thing,” Golden said. “He’s being himself. He’s kind of started all over in terms of the way he wants things done. And obviously, I’m sure (offensive coordinator) Tommy (Rees) feels the same way. For us, first of all, he’s a natural leader, but he gives us the freedom to work and be creative.

“And then he really does a great job of setting the tone for the entire organization. So he’s natural at it. He doesn’t really need any advice.

“He’s not a micromanager and he’s really open to ideas from the staff. Not just the coaches, but everybody on the staff. And so from that standpoint, it’s been a pleasure to work with him.”

Golden was most recently linebackers coach with the Bengals. He’s now coaching the Irish linebackers in addition to his coordinator duties, with grad assistant James Laurinaitas — a former three-time Ohio State All-American — collaborating in coaching the linebackers.

“I sit in a lot of (Golden’s) defensive unit meetings just to learn, just to hear him teach,” Freeman said. “He’s a great motivator. He’s a super intelligent guy.

“Our players learn a lot of ball. It’s funny, we were having practice today, and coach Rees was like, ‘Are our linebackers really intelligent? Or is it like this everywhere?’

“And I’m like, ‘No they’re just learning things that I didn’t teach them last year.’ They’re learning situations. They're learning alignments and stuff. Coach Golden is extremely intelligent, has coached a lot of ball. He’s doing a great job.”

The second- best-case scenario when it came to sophomore Tyler Buchner and junior Drew Pyne dueling to replace departed starter Jack Coan as the No. 1 quarterback this spring was for Buchner to surge toward the high ceiling offensive coordinator Tommy Rees envisioned when he recruited him.

Instead, the best-case scenario is unfolding so far — both Buchner and Pyne have shown significant improvement. Not that either is a finished product.

“It’s still going to be an evolving process until you name a starter,” Freeman said, “but I wouldn’t hesitate to put either of the two in the game, because they’re both really, really good football players who can help us win.”

Dealing with defenses that can amp up the pressure and can disguise their looks well remains the biggest challenge for both. Rees plays to each player’s strengths with his play calls, so the offense can look quite different depending upon who’s at the controls.

The three months that follow the Blue-Gold Game can be transformational, and at the very least likely to be more significant in terms of what the QBs look like in September than the final two weeks/four sessions of spring practice.

Think about Rees’ own summer of 2010, DeShone Kizer’s summer of 2015 and Ian Book’s summer of 2018. None of them even hinted in those respective springs about what was about to come months later — especially Rees and Kizer.

“We talk about that as a group. If you want to get better at something, if you want to be a better free-throw shooter, you have to go shoot free throws,” Rees said. “Everybody on our offense is going to know exactly where they need to improve.

“That’s our job as coaches, to make that clear to them. Given the rules, some of that falls on them. Some of it falls on us communicating it. Some of it is (director of football performance Matt) Balis and his staff doing a great job throughout the summer.

“For those two guys specifically, the summer’s a great opportunity for you guys to drive the ship. It’s a great opportunity for you guys to own your leadership, for you guys to continue to get guys to do more.

“That’s something that we’ll push with them. At the end of the day, you have to be a little bit intrinsically motivated to do all those things.”

The two position groups that started the spring with the most questions remain the two with the most questions — cornerback and wide receiver. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been progress and it doesn’t mean they can’t be bolstered with additions from the transfer portal post-spring.

More healthy bodies on the current roster will help as well.

But virtually every other position group not only has quantity but quality. More 1-As than 2s as Freeman likes to put it.

Notre Dame’s interior defensive line added both in the form of pending Harvard transfer Chris Smith. The 6-foot-2, 293-pounder from Bloomfield, Hills, Mich., committed to this Irish this past week and is a direct response to junior Aidan Keanaaina’s torn ACL suffered in the first spring practice session back on March 17.

“We just don’t know when he’ll be ready to come back,” Golden said of the 6-3, 310-pounder. “So we’re erring on the side of being conservative there. And we just needed just a little bit more depth. So when Chris became available, (he was) obviously a kid who met our profile. So we thought the transition would be smooth for him.

“Just a big, strong, physical guy. He played well for (Harvard), both in his ability to anchor, but also his movement skills. He was looking to do this for one year obviously, make an impact somewhere, and we think he can help us. It's exciting to have him.”

If Smith is as good as advertised, it strengthens the argument to move junior Rylie Mills full-time to field end instead of having him split time inside and outside.

With seven new assistant coaches and only one of the holdovers (Rees) having been at ND more than two full seasons, Freeman isn’t leaving staff cohesion to chance.

Almost every day he’s holding full staff meetings. Sometimes they’re five minutes. Sometimes they’re much more extensive. It’s a notable departure from how predecessor Brian Kelly ran things.

“It’s very intentional,” Freeman said. “It’s to make sure we are becoming a unit. Our coaching staff has to be a unit that trusts each other and that leans on each other and realizes that we all have each other’s backs.”

Rees related a story about Freeman recently spending time in the graduate assistant coaches’ office, just talking ball.

“The atmosphere he’s created here of open-door policy — everybody having a voice, everybody feeling loved and together — that trickles down from the top all the way down to the people who are there every day helping us with training table,” Rees said.

“When you walk in that building, it’s not about the bricks and what’s in there. It’s about the people. He’s done an unbelievable job to make sure that all those people feel empowered and feel like they’re in the right spot.”

Practices 12 and 13 are Tuesday and Thursday, with a small break for Easter weekend. Then practice 14 is April 21, two days before the Blue-Gold Game. There will be a player draft, with captains picking the Blue and Gold teams on April 20.

The to-do list for Freeman is relatively short, but detailed.

“What we’ll do is we’ll evaluate what situational football do we need to get on film?” he said. “I know we don’t have enough third-down plays on film from practice. We need to focus on some more third-down.

“But I’ll get with the coordinators and we’ll sit down and say, ‘Hey, what situations do you need on your side of the ball, offensively and defensively and end-of-the-game situations that we need to get on film, so we can teach and coach from it?’

“And I wasn’t pleased with the way we kicked today. We missed a couple of field goals. So I’m going to put those guys more in competitive situations. But other than that, we’ll evaluate as a staff and we’ll end with the spring game.”

For Notre Dame’s offense to be fully functional in the fall, junior tight end Michael Mayer needs a sidekick or two to develop.

The only healthy options this spring have been sophomore Mitchell Evans and junior Kevin Bauman. Freshman Holden States arrives in June. The hope is sophomore Cane Berrong and freshman Eli Raridon will be healthy come August training camp.

As for the two who are playing with Mayer this spring?

“Mitch and Kev have really taken big steps forward,” Rees said. “Kevin has fought through some injuries. He’s kind of through those, and you’re seeing the best version of Kevin Bauman right now.

“For anyone who knows the kid, for as hard as he works and how committed he’s been to this process and this program, you’re seeing that come to fruition, which is great.

“Mitch Evans is a guy who has a very natural ability as a pass catcher. We’re putting him in some situations. ‘Mitch, we know how good you are as a receiver. Let’s continue to challenge you in the other parts of playing tight end.’ (Tight ends) coach (Gerad) Parker has done a great job with that group.”

Mayer was ND’s leading receiver last season, with 71 receptions for 840 yards and seven TDs — all single-season school records for a tight end.

“He’s as special of a kid as we’ve had at Notre Dame,” Rees said. “I’ve been a part of the program for 10 years. There’s this certain upper, upper, upper group of echelon of players that’s probably five deep, and he’s in there.

“That kid wants to be great every day, and he’s not secret about it. He wants to continue to push the guys around him. A big challenge for Mike is everyone knows you, everyone’s looking to you. How are you going to take a step forward in your leadership role? That’s something we’ve challenged him on. He’s taken ownership of it.”

• After a less-than-stellar practice on Tuesday, Freeman changed things up Thursday, including having members of his coaching staff field punts.

He let offensive line coach Harry Hiestand off the hook.

“The only one that dropped one was Ronnie Regula, our (senior) analyst on defense,” he said.

• Junior Tuihalamaka continues to go to the head of the class as far as Notre Dame’s four touted freshman linebackers are concerned.

He’s the only one among Jaylen Sneed, Nolan Ziegler, Joshua Burnham and himself who’s cracked the two-deeps at this point, with Burnham apparently taking some reserve reps now at the vyper end.

“He really prepares. He asks questions. He comes in extra,” Golden said of Tuihalamaka. “You can tell football matters a lot. You can tell Notre Dame and this team matters a lot to him.

"And we’ve asked a lot of him. He's really made a lot of progress. He's a big linebacker that can move. So he’s physical inside, but if we want to make him versatile and move him around a little bit, he can do that.

“He's shown that he can learn quickly. So we’re very impressed with him.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.

• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @ByKyleKelly.

• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports

• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.