Notre Dame second-year head football coach Marcus Freeman met the media Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium following training camp practice No. 15, a closed scrimmage. Here's everything Freeman had to say. Questions have been edited for length and clarity.
Opening Statement
“I don't know how many — the last time I counted it was at 80-something plays, and that was with two series left. So, we just finished close to a 100-play scrimmage. Really good work. Offense ended up winning.
“It’s a unique scoring system, but the reality is if offensively you don't turn over the ball and you don't consistently go three-and-out, you’ve got a great chance of winning. And they only have one turnover. And they did a really good job of executing.
“Defensively, they did a good job, too. Earlier in the scrimmage, the defense was leading. and the offense kept going. They kept coming back, and it was good to see. And so, a really good battle on both sides. I'm excited to go back and watch, but I was really pleased with what I saw. And so, with that I'll open it up for questions.”
Given that, where do you see the need for the most improvement in the next two weeks, before Navy?
“Well, I think defensively, it's time to really turn your attention to Navy. We've been doing normal defensive things that you'll see for the majority of the year to defend against [the teams we’ll see] the majority of the year. We have not been doing much Navy-specific defense, and so now your attention will truly turn to defending the triple-option and what Navy's offense will present.
“Offensively, it's been an up-and-down first 14 practices, and it's really good to see them go out and execute at a high level. Had some guys that practiced today that have been out a little bit. Jeremiyah Love looked really good, just seeing him out there. He's been out for a week or two. And again, now it's just fine-tuning the foundation that’s been built. And so, that's kind of got to be our focus.
“The true physical part of all camp is over. We still have to have some good practices as we get into next week. But the true physical part is over. Now we're going to get into some more scout work and really focus on our opponent.”
There's probably been more barking and trash-talking than I can recall in a Notre Dame camp. Is that something that — if you don't encourage — at least don't discourage? And what does that say to you about your team this year?
“We definitely encourage competitive spirit, and we want to have energetic practices and we want our guys to provide energy. When it becomes a distraction, that's when we’ve got to make sure we cut it out. And there have been times in camp — like any camp you go to — that it's crossed the line, and we’ve got to make sure at that point we address it.
“I don't want to pull back that competitive spirit that they have. But I want to make sure that we understand there's a certain level that we can get to, and we can't cross that line. It's a fine line, because we're going to push into that edge. We're going to push them to right there, where we want you to play with that energy that truly, I believe, it takes to have success. But what you can't do is [get] hurt, [cause] fatigue. And we’ve got to make sure we always correct it when we get to that point.”
Related Content
► ACL injuries sideline Kevin Bauman, Aiden Gobaira for Notre Dame football
► Jayden Thomas wants No. 1 role for Notre Dame football in more than one way
► Notre Dame WR Tobias Merriweather playing catch-up with consistency
When we talked to the safeties the other day, many of them talked about the physicality of this team, and I think that we've seen an improvement or an increase in the physicality. Are you seeing that, and is that a Marcus Freeman imprint on this team?
“I hope it's the players that we have in this program. I’m going to encourage us to be physical, because you have to be physical to have success in this game. And you’re talking about men going 20-something miles an hour, full speed and with pads on, but you’ve got to be courageous to play this game. And so what you're trying to do is see who's going to run into the fire, and who's kind of tiptoeing in there.
“That's got to be promoted from the head coach, but at the same time, I really want to evaluate, ‘Hey, are you going to play with the effort and attitude that we demand? Or, is this something that it's going to take some improvement for you personally.’ And so, I think it's a way to truly see, really, what our guys have inside at times.
“We have to be smart. We can't have injuries for no reason. And so that's that fine line: It's how do you push them with the physicality that we need to have but also make sure to understand that we have to be at our full potential as we get ready to play in Dublin, Ireland? So, it is truly both sides of it.”
The defensive backs have mentioned the Aztec position. How would you describe that role? What kind of players are you looking for there? How did it evolve that you wanted to add this wrinkle to the defense?
“Yes, it's the ability to get another DB on the field in certain passing situations. I'm sure we've given it a creative name, but all you're doing is adding a DB and taking out either a D-lineman or a linebacker. When we're in passing situations and we think we're going against an offense that might have four wideouts or truly in a passing situation, you’ve got to be able to match up. And so, they like it because we created this cool name called the Aztec, and it's just another way to get another safety on the field.”
And candidates for that position?
“Yeah, all of them. I mean, we're pretty deep in the safeties room. As you look at Xavier Watts, DJ Brown and Ramon Henderson and Thomas Harper and Antonio Carter, it’s pretty deep. And so, we’ve got to be creative in terms of how do we get those guys on the field and maybe not take one off? And so, who that guy becomes, when we bring in another safety, is still to be determined, but I think it will be multiple guys that you'll see out there.”
Maybe stretching all the way back to when you first got here as defensive coordinator, how much have you seen the depth on the roster improve, 1 through 85? And what are the benefits of that as you’re going through this camp?
“You have to have depth. And so, we've made sure to truly work on developing our 2s and our 3s. Our 2s don't have a lot of game experience, and so that was something that I kind of challenged the coaches with. It's easy to always rely on those guys that have played a lot of ball. They know what they're doing, but what we need to do is develop the depth of our team.
“And so, I challenged the coaches, like I want 2s in there with 1s. Let's see what they can do against the best players that we have. And then the same thing with the 3s. We stay after practice every day, and we have our own session of what we call ‘Basics with the 3s’, and it's all for development. As we get ready to get closer to the Navy, we're going to have to have some scout teams, but we're going to need the 2s. We're going to need depth throughout the season. So, we have to develop that now in camp.”
Safeties coach Chris O’Leary the other day was talking about his ‘cat reps’ and ‘dog reps’, and the safeties made it clear they don’t want to be on the cat rep. I'm wondering how much does that speak to the competitive nature that you want in your program?
“ I don’t know a lot about the cat and dog [reps]. I don't spend a whole bunch of time in O’Leary's room. But that's a unique way of creating competition. It sounds like to me — and I'll have to ask him about it when I get back to the office about the cat and dog reps — but it sounds like you want to be a dog, right? That's a good description. So, listen, I hope that coaches give off the vibe of the competitive spirit we're looking for. We need that madness. There's a truly tactical aspect of playing the game of football. We have to be intelligent. You have to make sure your schemes are good enough to help you win. But I've challenged our players and our coaches, like we're going to be best when our great players play great.
“So, that's the challenge: How do we get our great players to play great? If you have so many different schemes, offensively and defensively, that they're not playing fast, then your great players aren't playing great, right? And so, it's a challenge of the coaching staff to see what can this group handle that they can play fast? Because our great players will play great when they play fast, and they play fast when they have clarity in what they're doing.”
With two weeks to go, do you have, at the top of the depth chart, the starters? How close are you? Do you have a lot of jobs that are still open right now?
“I think we have a good idea of who the guys are who will play a lot versus Navy. It isn't like we haven't done Navy. I've been working with the Navy scout team the entire fall camp. We're doing it at night, me and a couple of the GAs. I think the Navy scout team is ready to go. Today we started the scrimmage off with five full-speed, live [No. 1] defense versus Navy scout team. And I thought it was good just that our defense could get a feel for the speed that we're hopefully going to be practicing against. I'm not ready to say who's going to be the starters on the defense versus Navy. That's still to be determined, but we have a good idea of the guys we’re going to count on against Navy.”
Offensively, I think the one that we've heard about the most in the last week is your left guard position — Pat Coogan and Billy Schrauth. What has differentiated and separated those two?
“It's a great competition. Coogs has been getting more reps with the 1s, and he's done a really good job and he's going to be a good player for us. I love the competition that we have going on at the guard spot. Rocco Spindler has been doing a heck of a job, had a really good camp, and Billy has too. So, you want to have four guards. And I think right now we feel really good about three going in there. And I look forward to evaluating today's scrimmage with coach [Joe] Rudolph and the offensive staff and saying, ‘OK, who's going to be the third and fourth guard that we say can go in a game at any point?’ But I love the competition that they're having. Nobody's comfortable with those guard positions [in terms of job security]. And I think we all know who the tackles are going to be, and we all know who the center’s going to be. And so, to continue to create that competition is something that you love as a coach.”
I'm going to take a stab at the injury question here. What is the status of Aiden Gobaira and Kevin Bauman, who we’ve seen off to the side at practice with KK Smith, who you’ve already addressed? And is there anyone else who won’t be able to play against Navy?
“Bauman partially tore his ACL again. So, he'll be out for the season. And Gobaira, same thing. He tore his ACL, so he'll be out for a season. Both of those guys will be gone to season-ending injuries. KK, as you said, is still expected to return at some point during the season after his shoulder surgery. Other than that, there's nobody who will be out.”
So Eli Raridon is coming along? He thought he'd be ready around the opener.
“He’s still on that same timeline. We're just continuing to phase him into more and more practices.”
With the linebackers, it seems like there are so many different roles and different people involved. Do you anticipate a wide rotation with those guys? And then, where do Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau fit in, with the camps that they've had?
“We know what Marist can do. We know what Kiser can do. They can play multiple positions. They can play a true linebacker. Marist is a guy we can use to rush off the edge. We used him last year to rush in passing situations. You're going to need three guys for sure, if we’re in nickel, to start at two positions. You're going to need that rotation, and all three of those guys [Liufau, Kiser and Bertrand] can play either position in the linebacker room in nickel.
“The other part, you’ve got to be able to have some depth. Jaylen Sneed has got to help us, Jaylen Sneed is going to give us, really, depth at linebacker and in rushing situations, like he did [against] South Carolina. And the other guy that's really shown — there's two young guys. Drayk Bowen has really run with the 2s for the most part of fall camp and [has] done a really good job, especially being a freshman. And Jaiden Ausberry, too. I think those two guys are both freshmen that you're truly going to count on. And, w’ll see what [Preston] Zinter ends up doing as the season progresses, but we're going to need a lot of people out of that linebacker room to play multiple positions.”
How close are you to naming captains and do you have any idea how many?
“In the upcoming days. I would like to be able to name captains pretty soon. Could be the next 24-48 hours. The number is to be determined. That will be based off of the results of the voting by the players.”
Who among the freshman wide receivers, the young guys, who might you be able to count on soon?
“I think you’ve got to expect to see Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores both play for us this year. I don't consider Tobias [Merriweather] a young guy, even though he's only going into his second year here. But those two young guys I would see having to help us immediately. And they've shown the ability to do so in practice. Braylon James has had a good camp. We’ll see how that progresses with Braylon. but I really think we'll see Greathouse and Flores.”
We saw you pretty animated prior to last Saturday’s practice. How have you been able to find the balance of when to push these guys and pull back a little bit?
“I don’t remember. Was last Saturday the night practice?”
The grass field. You gave an impassioned speech with a few choice words.
“I can’t remember what happened. There are moments as a coach you have to have a feel for what your team needs. There are certain guys that I can really walk into a team meeting and look at and say, ‘I feel like I know what this team needs today.’ Our standards will never change. Our demands will never change. But the pressure you put on them to reach it can change. They didn’t need motivation today. It’s a scrimmage. We said there’s a winner and loser today. The winner gets the blue jerseys. That’s all the motivation they need.
“I had to be clear on the expectations. Here’s what I expect to see out of this scrimmage. But they didn’t need it. Maybe that day they were dragging, they needed push, they needed some intensity. And some days you need to be able to calm your team down. That’s one of the great challenges of a head coach. You have to have a feel. This doesn’t change the standard. The standards are the standards. Once you say this is the standard, the way we practice or the way we perform will never change. But what that group needs in terms of maybe motivation for that day can change depending on what the day is.”
Now that you’re through training camp, what do you know about this team that you maybe didn’t in July?
“It’s a physical bunch. It’s a competitive, physical, passionate bunch that we are still pushing to reach its full potential. I constantly tell them: that’s the challenge that we have to focus on. Every day continuing to improve to reach our full potential. The result of that is the result of that. Like I said today, I know it’s a jersey scrimmage. I said, ‘Why are we having a jersey scrimmage?’ Well it’s to get the blue jerseys. But earning a blue jersey is a result of winning the interval is what we say. That has to be their focus. Don’t worry about blue jerseys and all those different things.
“Focus on doing your job on this very first play with the attitude and effort that we demand. That’s kind of what I’m pushing this team to continue to focus on. Don’t worry about — we’re not even at the point where we’re playing Navy right now. Let’s continue to focus on today and really improving and fixing the issues that we have with urgency. So that when we play Navy on August 26, this group is as close to that full potential as they can be.”
What have you seen from Christian Gray as a potential fourth cornerback?
“He’s had a really good camp. Chance Tucker’s been down with an Achilles a little bit. He practice a little bit, then we pulled him back. So it gave Christian valuable reps versus really good wideouts. I’ve seen him perform. He’s really developed some trust in coach Mickens and myself to say, OK, I can be the fourth corner.”
Have Thomas Harper or Clarence Lewis separated themselves as the nickelback?
“Both of them are going to help us. I don’t know who’s going to run out there first yet, but both of those guys are going to play a lot of ball for us and both of those guys have had a great camp.”
How did you design camp for backup quarterbacks Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey to get a good evaluation of them?
“When you have a quarterback in certain positions, especially in the 3s, that need evaluations and valuable reps, you have to script 3s in there. That’s something in the past that I’ve said, ‘All right, we’re good on the 3s.’ We’ll get them later. We’ll get them after practice. We’ve had a lot of reps with our 3s. We have — not just at the corner position — guys on the D-line, the O-line that have to be able to show us what they can do. We have to give them a chance to develop. I’ve seen a lot of good out of Steve and Kenny. Coach Gino Guidugli and Gerad [Parker] have done a great job of getting those guys to understand what the scheme is, really how to perform. Both of them performed really well today. Really, really well.”
Do you know what the strength of the offense is? Or does it change by the practice?
“Sometimes I can do opposite of maybe what I tell the players all the time. Don’t be so outcome driven. If I’m standing back there and I feel like the defense is winning a drill, you can feel like it’s an up-and-down day for the offense. But as I’ve gone back and evaluated it, they’ve truly just continued to progress. You’re not going to win every drill. You’re not going to win every team competition. But they have truly progressed. Today they peaked. They really performed at a high level in the run game and Audric [Estimé] didn’t practice today.
"We kept Audric out. Jadarian Price, he came out after the first series. So you saw them perform in the run game with Jeremiyah Love, Devyn Ford, Jadarian Price, guys that haven’t proven it so much here yet. You saw them perform in the run game, protection for the pass game. Today was a great peak. But I hope this ain’t a peak for what we’re going to see in the future.”
What do you think about the stuff Spencer Shrader has done off the field? And how impressive has he been on the field this preseason?
“He’s going to be a great weapon for us. He’s been as consistent as anybody in fall camp. He has a huge leg. He’s definitely a huge enhancement to our football program. As far as off the field, I got to learn a lot of those things as we were recruiting him as I got to visit with him. He’s a really unique, mature individual that’s thinking about life beyond the game of football. That’s part of what attracted him to Notre Dame. He could have went to a lot of different places, but he understood this place. That’s what I told him in our meeting. If you have interests beyond this game of football, understand this is one of the most powerful networks there are in all of college education. You can maximize your off-the-field interests as well as playing football here at the highest level.”
What have you thought about the partnership with Under Armour and where it can go in the next 10 years?
“I’ve been wearing Under Armour since my time at Cincinnati. We were an Under Armour school when I was there. Throughout this entire process of the apparel deal, I’ve been in communication with Jack. I trust Jack Swarbrick. He’s going to do what’s best for Notre Dame. That’s exactly what he’s done. I’ve been wearing it for a long time. We have a lot of Under Armour clothes for our children at the house that I would like to be able to keep. It’s been great. Jack’s never going to put our athletic department in a bad situation. He asked me. I’m like, ‘Jack, listen, I have no problem with Under Armour. I love Under Armour. And I know you’re going to do what’s right for our players and for our athletic department.’ And that’s what he did.”
Has the interior defensive line exceeded or met your expectations? They seem like a violent, active group.
“They take after their coach. Wash [Al Washington], that’s a passionate dude. He’s a lot of fun to coach with. I remember when we first coached together at Cincinnati. I had known Al from my days in college. But to coach with him, he’s an energy provider. He’s a great football coach but an energy provider. When you had the chance to hire him, it was without hesitation that I wanted him a part of our staff.
“What you see is that our D-line is reflecting their position coach. It’s a huge credit to him and what he’s done with that room. The passion, the effort, the fundamentals that they play with. I wish I could take credit for it, but he’s done a really good job with that room. You have some young guys that haven’t played a lot that are performing well in Jason Onye and Gabe Rubio and some of those guys. Donny Hinish, I told him, you’re reminding me of another 41 that played here when I was the defensive coordinator. He’s showing up, and it’s been really good to see.”
Do you expect Nolan Ziegler to rejoin the program at some point?
“Yeah. He’s here. He’s here with the program. He’s just dealing with some off-the-field issues. He’s a part of our program, and he was at practice today.”
How are you preparing to deal with the jetlag and travel that comes with playing in Ireland?
“We have a great team, Ron Powlus and Olivia Mitchell and some of our operations team, John Wagle, who’s director of sports performance. We got together in the summer and came up with our plan. You talk to as many people as you can who have done it. NFL teams do it weekly. We came up with our plan that we think is going to help our players ultimately feel the best Saturday night in Dublin time. That’s what we’re going to do. We’ll leave out of here Wednesday and get there early Thursday morning. We have a great plan once we get there.”
Are you any different entering your second season than you were entering your first?
“Yeah. You have a year of experience. That’s what I like to tell people. Last year, I had a blueprint based on other individuals’ experiences as being a head coach. I gathered my own ideas, but I’ve never done it. This year you can make enhancements based off your own personal experience. That's what I’ve done, really. Say, OK, what things did I learn from being a head coach last year? What ways can you enhance and give your players a better chance to perform at the level we need them to? There’s no substitute for experience. I’m going to be better next year than I was this year, because I’ll have two years of experience. That’s, to me, more valuable than anything.”
What adjustments have you made in training camp from last year to this year?
“The intentionality of how we practice has been big. I spent some time with John Wagle and evaluated the total output of all the practices. Hey, what are we trying to get out of this practice? There are certain practices like today that won’t change. We had to have a jersey scrimmage. We had to play 100 plays. How do I make sure I can tweak the practices before this to try to perform at the level I want them to for this practice. Really utilizing some of the feedback in making small tweaks to the plan that we’ve set. Ultimately it’s all about making sure for those 12 guaranteed opportunities that we have that we can perform at the highest level. Nothing else matters. It really doesn’t. That’s what I told them.
“Everything we do is to give our players the best chance to succeed. So if we’re not doing that, shame on us. That’s what we have to continue to focus on. We all might have different opinions in terms of how to make sure this team’s prepared. We utilize our thoughts and opinions, but ultimately everybody in that room, we want to make sure our players are able to perform at the highest level possible on those 12 guaranteed opportunities that they have.”
What are your thoughts on the mentorship and accountability from the older players?
“It just speaks to the brotherhood that this program has. There’s a level of respect that you have to have to be able to take accountability from a peer. But there’s also a level of humbleness that you have to have. That’s the biggest thing we have to understand is that our guys that have experience, our leaders, they have to hold the young players accountable, because that’s going to make them better. Young guys, you have to embrace that accountability, because it’s going to make you better. So if everybody understands that this isn’t personal attacks, this is everybody trying to improve, which ultimately is going to help Notre Dame football improve, everybody’s going to be more willing to do that. You try to show them examples.
“I showed them Aaron Rodgers and Zach Wilson. We showed them just part of the first episode of “Hard Knocks.” You talk about a guy who was two years ago the second overall pick and the humility he has to take the coaching of Aaron Rodgers, one of the best to ever do it. And Aaron Rodgers coming in saying, you know what I’m going to help this young guy grow because he has a chance to be special. So we showed it to our players like this is what it’s about. It’s about understanding the road to where you want to go is bumpy but embracing your role and embracing your road.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
• 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.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @cbowles01.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
