Marcus Freeman: Notre Dame Safety Houston Griffith Has Been ‘Unbelievable’
Kyle Hamilton came and went from the upstairs lobby inside Notre Dame’s indoor practice facility. He finished his interviews with print reporters and was escorted down the stairs.
Houston Griffith started his interviews just a minute or two after Hamilton, but he was far from finished. Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman climbed the steps and sat down at the other end of a long table 20 feet to his senior safety’s left. Griffith still had a couple writers in front of him prying for information. They didn’t get up and bolt for Freeman, either. They wanted to keep talking to Griffith.
It might’ve been a small matter on the surface, but the fact that in the end Griffith spoke for longer than Hamilton and ultimately Freeman, too, was telling. It said two things about him; 1. The media understands how important Griffith is to Notre Dame’s defense this season, and 2. Griffith has come a long way from where he was just a few months ago.
Where was that? The transfer portal. Griffith went from potentially leaving the program to being slated to start alongside Hamilton, a preseason All-American as a junior, in Notre Dame’s safety slots. He spent Tuesday afternoon candidly talking about it all.
“The whole transfer portal thing, that’s in the past,” Griffith said. “I’m here, and I came back for business. It’s a business year. I’m just trying to go out there, ball out and show all my talent.”
Freeman was a huge factor in getting Griffith to stay in South Bend. One of Freeman’s selling points was that Hamilton would be held out of spring practices to nurse a minor ankle injury. That opened the door for Griffith to get first-team reps for the entirety of the spring session.
He turned that opportunity into the chance to start for real — when it counts — this fall.
“He’s been awesome,” Freeman said. “Obviously, with Kyle being out in the spring he and DJ (Brown) were the two safeties to go out there with the ones. Now here in fall camp, he has done an unbelievable job. And it’s great because we have competition in that room.”
There will be ebbs and flows for Griffith and Brown throughout fall camp. At the moment, it’s unclear how far ahead the former is in front of the latter. Brown could raise his stock tremendously with a strong camp. Griffith could take a tighter hold on the position with an impressive camp of his own.
That’s all to be decided in the next month, and Griffith is elated to be in the middle of it.
“Honestly, we’re pushing each and every day,” Griffith said. “Everybody wants everybody to have a great camp. There is not anybody in that room that's just saying, ‘I don’t want him to have a great day.’ Everybody is saying, ‘Look, I want you to make a big play today.’
“The big plays in our defense are contagious. Once one person makes a big play, the other person is going to make a big play. That’s how it’s been all summer. I'm looking forward to us continuing to compete and pushing each other.”
Griffith’s commitment to the team has been unwavering from the moment he took his name out of the portal and decided to continue his college career at Notre Dame. He very well might get rewarded for it with the third start of his career on Sept. 5 against Florida State.
And subsequent starts if he plays well against the Seminoles, too.
“I try not to look in the past,” Griffith said. “My whole thing in 2021 is to be focused on where my feet are. Worry about being a better safety today, worry about being a better safety tomorrow. I’m just trying to take it one day at a time and continue to work on my game and my football IQ and translate it to the field so on Saturdays we can go out there and play fast and dominate teams.”
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka and @ToddBurlage.
• Like us on Facebook.