Editor's Note: Practice No. 11 of 15 this spring for the Notre Dame football team took place Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium and consisted of a closed scrimmage. The offense defeated the defense by an undisclosed score, meaning the offense gets to keep the (apparently more-coveted) blue practice jerseys. Head coach Marcus Freeman met with the media after the scrimmage. Here is the transcript of that press conference, with the answers largely verbatim and some of the questions modified for length and/or clarity.
OPENING STATEMENT
Marcus Freeman: “It was a great scrimmage. The offense ended up winning to keep the blue jerseys. It was actually a two-point game. It was a unique scoring system, but a two-point game going into the last series. And I was going to go 2s and 1s to finish, but I think we were at 80-something plays, and I kind of wanted to finish with the 1s.
“We cut that last set of 2s, and really it came down to execution. There was a big play, I think second down, offense hit probably a 20-yard gain to [Chris] Tyree to really seal the deal. I don’t know what the final score was, but I think [Sam] Hartman ran in a touchdown at the very end. But it really was a good game. Kind of notes from the game is the offense came out early and really did a good job at executing, getting first downs. And they [the offense] were up by a significant amount of points, and then you almost saw this lull a little bit.
“I don’t know if it was the heat. I don't know if they felt complacent, and then all of a sudden the defense came back and surged back into negative-yardage plays. And again it was two-point scrimmage with the last series as they took the field.
“We’ve got to continue to improve on penalties — had too many penalties. And it's a difference between undisciplined penalties versus aggressive penalties. We’ll take aggressive penalties all day long. We can't be perfect, but if you're undisciplined and you're getting penalties — I don't know, I think we have one personal foul, couple of holdings, defensive line offsides — those are penalties that we have to be more disciplined and can’t happen.
“But it was really encouraging to see. You know at 88 plays, 90 plays, battling, guys stepping up and making big plays today. And you try to create this environment where it's almost like game week. Listen, we can't get 80,000 fans in here, but you try to build this thing up — hey, man, this is for the jerseys. Like, you're going to go into Notre Dame Stadium and run plays and understand it. And then really be able to see who can execute, who can just do their job every play.
“We try to build this up, because it's natural when you get here in the season, when this place is filled, there's going to be pressure. You're going to feel it, and how do we get them to focus on doing the job? And so, it was good. It was a good scrimmage. And so now we have four practices left, including the spring game as we close out this spring.
“Before I open it up for questions, just address the Kaleb Smith situation. He's retiring from football. We wish them all the best. It was what's best for him. And ultimately, as a head coach, that’s all I care about is he made the decision that this is probably what's best for him to retire from football. I think he put out a statement. He went into details on the reasons why, but we wish him all the best, and we're grateful for the time we have with him and wish him the best moving forward. So, with that, I'll open it up for any questions you might have.”
From a game-administration standpoint, how did things go today? I guess maybe especially on the offensive side of the ball, where there's some new faces and new coaches?
Marcus Freeman: "Yeah, it was really good, because I was concerned. We didn't really use play clocks many practices before today. And there were times in practice before today and you're like, ‘OK, how are you going be when you’re using a play clock? I know we're not using the play clock right now.’ And there were no play-clock issues. It was good. The quarterbacks had great awareness.
“So, the communication from coach [Gerad] Parker down to the signalers was really clean, just from my perspective. Obviously, we’ve got to go back and watch film, but it was really good to see the communication really from the press box down to the signaler to the quarterback. Sometimes we huddled, sometimes we didn’t. And we did a lot of different things. And so, it was really, really good to see.”
I noticed the other day a lot of the coaches had on the headsets, whether it was [Chris} O'Leary, Deland [McCullough] and Chansi [Stuckey] at the time. What's the mindset behind that? What are the benefits behind that? How did that kind of come about?
Marcus Freeman: "You have scripted periods, and you have periods that you don't want scripted. And obviously for Gerad and the offensive staff, it's new. It gives those guys the ability to connect and to have conversations, communication on, ‘Hey, what are you thinking here?’ And getting the call and obviously going through the signalers. But defensively there's times that we say, ‘Hey, don't script it. Call it.’ So, they can communicate. It's really loud. We try to create a loud environment to make them overly communicate. So, for coaches, sometimes the best way to communicate is using the headset.”
A bigger-picture question in terms of offensive flow and tempo, last year you slowed it down frequently to maybe mitigate some shortcomings and play to strengths. How are you looking at that this year, regardless of who the quarterback is? Are you more comfortable running at a faster pace? And what does Gerad Parker like to do?
Marcus Freeman: “All I encourage them to do is to vary the tempo. I don't want to be just a 100% tempo team. I don't want to be a 100% huddle team. There are different ways to vary the tempo that I think can keep the defense off balance, and they've done a good job at running some tempo plays. And done some, as you saw from us last year, hurry to the line of scrimmage and scan over to the sideline. We huddle if we need to. So, the ability to have multiple tempos is what I want.”
In terms of how you're trying to utilize Lorenzo Styles, we saw him on both sides of the ball now. What's the big picture moving forward with Styles?
Marcus Freeman: “How much did you guys see him at DB in practice?”
One period.
Marcus Freeman: “One play?”
One play, one period.
Marcus Freeman: “One play? Nah, it’s good. [We’re] kind of experimenting a little bit with him. I think he has a lot of athletic abilities that can really help us on both sides of the ball. The problem is he hasn't spent much time in the defensive film room with the defensive coaches. And so, we said in 1-on-1s, every once a while, go get a rep of DB. And the one rep he got the other day was a really good rep, and I told him, ‘The road to where you want to go is bumpy on either side of the ball, right? It isn't always going to be that easy.’ But we're kind of experimenting with him on both sides. He'll probably get a little bit more DB work next week. And then I foresee him in the spring game probably playing a little bit on both sides. Today was all at receiver.”
Whose idea was that? Did you go to him?
Marcus Freeman: “It was my — coming from my background, I told him, I see a lot of traits that he possesses that really could resonate on the defensive side of the ball. But I wanted it to be his decision. I want him to feel good about what position he’s playing. And so, I said, ‘Hey, if you want to experiment, play a little bit of DB in 1-on-1s. Play man.’
“And now he did it in high school. And I know a lot of people from where he's from — in Columbus, Ohio — and they said he was a dang good DB in high school. And so, I've always just kind of put that carrot in his ear. But it was him ultimately that said, ‘OK, I want to try it. I want to try it, coach. I know you said it.’ And we'll see after next week what we decide to do.”
When Kaleb Smith [the freshman] comes in, you’ll have 10 receivers, which is a lot more than you had last year going into season. What do you need from that group since half of them are young or — Tyree is — transitioning? What do you need to see from that group going into August camp when you're more confident in what you have than when you began with in the spring?
Marcus Freeman: “Just development. Precision. It is exact details, and what happens when you're precise and you’re exact in your alignments and the route running. Now there's a trust built between a quarterback and the wideouts. Right now you see, a lot of times, our quarterbacks — we've gotten tremendously better over 11 practices. At times [our quarterbacks] are waiting for them to get open before they throw it instead of trusting and knowing exactly where that wideout’s going to be. And so, they have to continue to develop.
“They've developed a tremendous amount. Coach Stuckey’s done a great job with that room. Those three freshmen are all practicing at a much higher level than when they came in. And so, as you see this progression getting to August, just continue to improve. And how do you improve — not just your skill set but the exact details of the position? And then that trust is built between the wideouts and the quarterback.”
We've seen Jack Kiser play a lot of roles, and I'm sure he will again this year. When he's inside, does that open the door for someone else at rover? What do you like with his versatility there and how does that help someone else at rover?
Marcus Freeman: “I think the more he can do, it gives others opportunities. And so, if Jack Kiser's a one-position guy, we know Jack Kiser’s going to be on the field. And if he's one-position guy, well, the guy behind him — it might be a younger guy — isn't going to get an opportunity to get on the field as much. But now if you’ve got a guy like Jack that can play multiple positions, you could give those inside guys a break and get a younger guy or inexperienced guy on the field at that rover position. So, again, the guys on the field have to do their job, but a guy that can do multiple positions creates an opening for another guy.”
I wanted to ask about a couple guys I don't think we saw the last couple times. Christian Gray and Prince Kollie, what is their status?
Marcus Freeman: “Christian [Gray] had a knee scope last Thursday, so he'll be out for the remainder of spring. And then Prince Kollie is still in concussion protocol. It happened last week, last Saturday, I think. So, I hope to get him back this upcoming week and try and get some more reps out him for Saturday, but he's in the concussion protocol.”
You talked about the safety position, sort of evaluating it over the course of the spring and then maybe make you know decision on what you might do. So, what have you seen from them and anything that might be going on?
Marcus Freeman: “It's great, the depth. I mean, to have three guys at any moment that can we rotate. Coach [Al] Golden does something really cool. For the first couple of days — really all the practices — he's kind of had a different starting lineup. And part of that is Xavier Watts at safety, Ramon Henderson and DJ Brown and those guys, all three of them, are practicing at a high level.
“And then you get a guy like Ben Minich, who practices for probably eight practices, and he had a procedure on his thumb. He won't finish spring on the practice field. But it's really good to see. Marty Auer. Is there anyone else I’m forgetting? No? But it's really good to see those three I’m talking about — DJ, Ramon, and Xavier — all really play with the 1s, really all continue to improve and practice at a high level.”
Joe Rudolph talked yesterday about coaching to the rule, and in spring that's what he likes to do. Then you get into 11-on-11 and Al Golden defense is forcing you to coach the exception of the rule or the exception to the exception of the rule. How do you balance spring ball in terms of serving both sides of the ball, because there may be a day where you want to let Golden go nuts with blitz packages and exotics and that might not serve the offensive line? But I'm sure there are other days that's flipped, so how do you balance those two things?
Marcus Freeman: “Well, I think there's times where communication is vital, between the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator being on the same page and communicating on what they're going to see. But what you don't want to do is slow down the progress of the defense. You're talking about the defense being in year 2. All the coaches are the same. A lot of guys are returning. But what they're doing defensively is at a totally different level than what it was last year.
“I mean, there's guys that are playing at a really high level and doing multiple different things. And the offense, even though the terminology is the same and there's a couple coaches that are staying, they're still continuing to gel together as they move forward. But communication is vital. The other thing is it can't always be outcome-driven. That’s the one thing you’ll hear me say all the time is that I'm not always concerned about who wins or loses.
“Last year we had to [have a] competitive spirit. Like we’ve got to be competitive. You’ve got to win every drill, and I felt that's what we needed. This year, it's like we have to continue to progress. I'm not worried about all this [inaudible]. I'm just worried about getting better. So, maybe there's exceptions to the rules, and maybe there’s success on defense, because we haven't installed that offensively. But can we teach and get better from it? And that's why I make sure to reiterate to all the coaches — and I'm the worst one — don't be so outcome-driven. Make sure we are continuing to improve, and that's important.”
What did you see from Jordan Botelho today?
Marcus Freeman: “I saw him out there. He did some good things. I don’t know if he had — there wasn’t a whole bunch of sacks. There were a couple. But those guys weren’t live — the quarterbacks for the most part. Tyler {Buchner] and Sam [Hartman] weren’t live. Steve [Angeli] was a little bit. Kenny [Minchey] was a little bit. It seemed like he was out there doing his job. We’ll have to go back and watch the film. I don’t have a great evaluation of Jordan Botelho. Defensively, it was good. Offensively, it was really good work.”
What did you want to see from the offense this spring? How have you processed what they’ve done?
Marcus Freeman: “It’s progression. It’s not just a one-word answer where I wanted to see this. I want to see progression and show them what progression means. Are you taking drills, are you taking examples from practice one or practice two and improving in practice eight and nine. One of those examples was a third-down play in practice six. Sam Hartman versus Cover 2. It was a third down. He’s looking to Tobias on the sideline, and they weren’t on the same page. There was a lack of trust between Tobias [Merriweather] and Sam [Hartman], and Sam and Tobias.
"Then practice eight or nine, the exact same situation came up: third down. Exact same defensive call. And there was a completion. Why? Because trust is built. We’re learning. We’re progressing. That’s what you want to see. You want to see are there drills we’re doing on practice two, are they being implemented in real situations? All those things matter. Are we eliminating pre-snap errors? Are we making sure we’re aligned perfectly in our details. I hear coach Parker talking all the time. ‘Hey, we can’t hurt Notre Dame.’ We have to make sure if there’s 100-percenters, which I said last year. The 100-percenters, we have to be 100-percent on. That means alignments. That means knowing exactly what you have to do. That’s what you want to see. Eliminate the mistakes and really progressing as an offense.”
How do you feel about the progress from practice one to the scrimmage in the offense?
Marcus Freeman: “The one thing that sticks out to me is I don’t think that there was a pre-snap penalty on offense, which is really encouraging. I might be wrong, but I don’t remember stopping play because of the play clock or because of a false start on offense. That’s really encouraging. The rest, the execution, we’ll continue to get better at. But those pre-snap penalties, to me, shows that, hey, you’re progressing, or, hey, we have a lot of work to do in that area of our offense. To have zero pre-snap penalties is really encouraging.”
Can you give us a thumbnail on what you saw from each of the quarterbacks today? Do you have a timetable for naming a No. 1?
Marcus Freeman: “Somebody asked me the same question yesterday. We’ll name a starting quarterback when I’m fully confident we have one starting quarterback. Both of them could be starting quarterbacks for us right now. They’re both improving. They’re both getting better. If you can have a competition and two guys are getting better, that’s what you want. That’s what you want. They’re both getting better, and they’re both practicing at a high level.
"We’ll name a starter at some point. I know we have to. I don’t plan to let this thing go into the season. But at some point I know we have to name a starter, and we will. There were no turnovers — we had on fumble on offense. That was the only turnover in the scrimmage today. You’re talking 90 plays and one fumble, that’s really, really encouraging. No pre-snap penalties. Those are the little things that say, ‘OK, you are progressing as an offense. You’re doing the little things efficiently.’ That’s really good to see. There were no interceptions thrown. Guys seemed to be executing at a high level. I have to go back and watch the film to be able to say, ‘OK, this guy screwed up or this guy screwed up.’ But when you pull back and say, ‘No pre-snap penalties, one turnover,’ which was a fumble by a running back, that’s encouraging."
How do Prince Kollie, Jaylen Sneed and Nolan Ziegler fit into the bigger picture at linebacker?
Marcus Freeman: “That’s the beauty and sometimes the difficulties of a team sport is that you have really good players all in one room. Only one, two, at certain positions three can get on the field at a time. You have to build that trust and that unselfishness in that room while also developing their skill set. It’s a really challenging thing to do as a position coach, which I’ve been in that position. Where, OK, we have a lot of talented guys in this room. I need everybody to get better, and everybody wants to play. But how can we make sure we have a culture of respect and love for each other. No matter who’s on the field where it’s what’s best for Notre Dame and what’s best for the team. That’s a constant message that’s preached every day, because this isn’t an individual sport. I only say this is an individual sport when you have failures. I want it to be an individual sport when we have failures. Everybody looks at themselves.
"But it is the ultimate team sport, so that, to me, is a message that has to be driven every day. I want you to get better as an individual. In order to get better as an individual, you’re going to have to practice. You’re going to have to study. You’re going to have to do things to develop that skill. But at the end of the day, whoever’s on that field represents this room and this program. Ultimately that’s all that matters.”
We saw the offense struggle in our two full practices. How has the offense done through the whole spring? Has it been the defense ahead of the offense for the majority?
Marcus Freeman: “The one day you guys were there was a third-down day. It’s third-and-long, and it’s not a good situation for the offense. As I told them, there are a lot of positives that maybe the outcome doesn’t show. That’s what my focus is. I’m not looking at who won or lost the drill. Is there a positive? Are we getting better at protection? Are we getting better at making sure we can read coverages? Are we throwing the ball and making the right decision? There’s a lot of positives that can happen. We all sometimes — you all, me sometimes too — look at the outcome. They didn’t convert. That doesn’t mean there are not positives. All we have to do is continue to get better. Because if all of a sudden you convert and you go, ‘Man, we’re the best in the world,’ are you really that focused on improving? That’s what I try to continue to preach.
"We need our players to understand, our coaches to understand, we can’t always be outcome driven. The defense lost today. Does that mean they didn’t play well? No. They played extremely well. So how can we find the positives in this progression of practice as we prepare for August. We’ll get to August. We’ll get to Dublin, Ireland, when it gets here. But I’m just looking for progression. That doesn’t always mean that the outcome is what we want. There’s a progression in terms of getting that desired outcome at some point.”
What are your thoughts on the new recruiting rule changes including recruits being allowed to make an official visit to every school rather than just five? Do you think it will impact Notre Dame in any way?
Marcus Freeman: “No. It just means that kids can take more than [five]. They can only take one official visit to Notre Dame. That’s all I’m concerned about: What kids can we get to take an official visit to Notre Dame? The more opportunities we can have to do that, the better. I don’t make the rules. I follow them. You always have to be able to adapt and adjust to the rules that are set in place. With that change, we just have to understand that kids can take more than five official visits. But we all understand, our job is no matter what it’s to make sure that if there’s five official visits, one of them is to Notre Dame. If there’s 100 official visits, one is to Notre Dame. Because that’s what matters for us.”
Have you been able to start preparation for Navy? With Chase Ketterer out, who is your scout-team Navy QB?
Marcus Freeman: “We’ve done some preparation in the film room and game planning, but we haven’t practiced Navy yet. We actually are going to have a practice on Tuesday, I think, that will be focused on Navy. You just brought up a great point that I haven’t even thought about. We better go figure out who’s going to be our scout-team quarterback with Chase Ketterer out. That’s a great point.”
Not an obvious option?
Marcus Freeman: “No, we have a couple guys. I know Justin Fisher did it at Mishawaka. It isn’t going to be perfect no matter if it’s Chase Ketterer or anybody else. It’s hard to replicate what you’re going to see versus Navy. It’s impossible. But we have to be able to teach somebody to be able to get some good reps on Tuesday.”
What does it mean to have four black head coaches at Notre Dame?
Marcus Freeman: “It speaks volumes on Jack Swarbrick, Father Jenkins, our administration in terms of hopefully they made the best hire regardless of color. I’ve always said this: at some point it’s going to be great when we don’t have to make it a big deal that we have four coaches of color in major sports. I don’t want to deflect that there are. It’s awesome. It’s a credit, one, to the coaches. To coach [Micah] Shrewsberry, Salima [Rockwell] and Niele [Ivey] — they’re great coaches. So hopefully they were hired for the right reason. They’ve done a great job.
"oach Shrewsberry, I’m sure, will continue to do a great job as he did at Penn State. It’s still an ongoing process to get to the point where it’s not a big deal. It’s Notre Dame hired the best candidates for each position, and this is their skin color. That’s a progression in our country that we obviously have to continue to make. A special shout-out to Jack Swabrick, Father Jenkins and our whole administration for hopefully making a decision that they felt was best regardless of how anybody looks.”
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