Editor's note: A version of this story ran in the Blue & Gold Illustrated 2021 Football Preview. Purchase the magazine here.
Marcus Freeman wants his defenses to be easy to learn.
His first offseason as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator has revolved around the ideas of ease and simplicity, which at this stage are more conceptual than they are an identity with game tape and a visible definition.
For now, they’re best explained by the players Freeman is teaching.
“This year is definitely less thinking and you just play faster,” sophomore cornerback Clarence Lewis volunteered.
Added senior linebacker Shayne Simon: “The main thing is find the ball, go hunt and make plays.”
When put that way, it’s a contrasting style to that of predecessor Clark Lea. Executing Lea’s defenses required advanced read-and-react ability and widespread memorization of rules. Freeman’s is freer, with fewer rules and the opportunity to cut loose.
In one word, it’s different.
But different does not have to come with superlatives. Different can be just that.
After all, Freeman will be hard-pressed to do better than Lea’s three seasons. A complicated scheme worked because Lea and his assistants were skilled teachers and recruited players who could grasp it. He is not the head coach at Vanderbilt by accident. Notre Dame allowed fewer than 20 points per game in each of his three seasons and went 33-5 in that span.
“Both defenses are definitely great,” Lewis said.
In the end, Freeman is here to continue Notre Dame’s recent defensive excellence, even if he goes about it in a different way. Notre Dame will rotate between three- and four-man fronts after being exclusively a four-down team under Lea.
It will blitz more, and from more exotic looks. Freeman’s defenses at Cincinnati were often shape-shifting and full of disguises. In four years as the Bearcats’ defensive coordinator, he ran a 4-2-5, 4-3 and 3-3-5.