SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The words continue to be more encouraging, with each passing press conference, from Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman when it comes to kicker Mitch Jeter returning to form.
The on-field results are still buffering.
Perhaps Friday night at Notre Dame Stadium — when the stage is the biggest, most frozen tundra-esque and most snow angel-friendly — is when the Jeter who made 92 percent of his career field goals at South Carolina before transferring in, will reappear.
"This is as close as he's been to where he was before he got hurt,” Freeman said Sunday during a pre-practice press conference in preparation of 7 seed ND’s College Football Playoff first-round matchup with 10 seed Indiana (11-1).
TV start time on ABC/ESPN is 8 p.m. EST, with Friday night’s survivor advancing from the expected mid-20s temps to a Jan. 1 quarterfinal date with bye-receiving/2 seed Georgia (11-2) at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
Can Jeter help the Irish (11-1) get there?
Related Content
► Chat Transcript: Figuring out Notre Dame's portal plan around CFP focus
► Portal Roundup: Former Notre Dame DT Tyson Ford commits to transfer to Cal
► An early look at Notre Dame Football's 2025 Scholarship Chart in the making
► Notre Dame football depth chart projection for CFP matchup with Indiana
► Transcript: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman opens Indiana week
Individually, he’s ranked 114th out of 115 in the FBS in field-goal percentage (50% 6 of 12) among kickers who have enough attempts to qualify. Backups Zak Yoakam (2-of-5) and Marcello Diomede don’t (0-of-1) qualify, but collectively, the Irish are 8 of 18 (.44.4%) for the season, and 3-of-11 (27.2%), including Jeter’s own attempts, since Jeter suffered a hip injury Oct. 12 during a 49-7 home romp over Stanford.
Jeter is perfect on extra points (45-of-45), including hitting all 25 PAT attempts post-injury.
“He's had a really good two, three weeks of practice,” Freeman said. “Now we got to let him truly recover. He needed a chance to recover.
“We probably have had more live field goal opportunities and field goal periods in practice just for him, but everybody to get their confidence back in our field goal unit, some of the protection things we have to fix. He's had a really good few weeks of practice."
Indiana’s kicker is redshirt freshman Nicolas Radicic. He’s 9-of-10 this season with a season/career long field goal of 41 yards. His miss came from 46 yards in IU’s Nov. 30 season finale vs. Purdue.
The Irish, including Jeter, continue to practice outdoors to get ready for the conditions they’ll face Friday night. They’re also working around final exams this week. ND will practice in the mornings and take exams in the afternoons, with players individually responsible for asking permission from their professors to move any morning finals that might have been scheduled.
Planning ahead
While Notre Dame essentially faced elimination from playoff consideration in every game it played once its margin for error was erased on Sept. 7 with a loss to Northern Illinois, the Irish didn’t wait until a playoff spot was assured on Nov. 30 to put together a playoff preparation plan until they were guaranteed to be part of it.
Instead that process actually began in the summer.
“Understanding that you've got finals, understanding that you're going to have Week 13 off,” Freeman said. “You're not gonna have an opponent until after the championship game. So some of those logistical things we've had a plan for.”
And then they got tweaked after the Irish subdued USC 49-35 on the road Nov. 30 to essentially lock up a home game. They learned their opponent would be Indiana eight days later.
“I have a vision that I want in terms of the practice schedules and the periods, and I bounce it off John Wagle and Loren Landow and Rob Hunt and that [performance team] group,” Freeman said. “We meet about looking at the loads and the numbers. ‘Hey coach, this will be high, this will be low.’ It's a collective decision.”
Wagle is ND’s associate athletic director for sports performance, Landow the football director of performance and Hunt the head athletic trainer for football.
“I have to use the wisdom that is around me,” Freeman said of devising a plan for which there really wasn’t a template, given the new playoff format and timing relative to the old format and bowl games.
“Those are some of the brightest individuals here at this university that can give me feedback. And then I’ve got to make a decision. I have to make a decision that I believe is best for this football team. Before I do that, I want to use all the wisdom available.”
As for planning for the weather. Freeman has a philosophy for that too.
White the mercury soared into the 40s Sunday and is supposed to top 50 on Monday, it’s predicted to be in the 20s at game time Friday night with a chance of light lake-effect snow.
“You'll hear me say all the time, 'There's no cold tough guys.'” Freeman said. “‘If you don't want to wear sleeves, don't wear sleeves. But don't be on the sideline shivering either. Make sure you're warm. Whatever it takes to be warm, let's make sure we're prepared. … Coaches too.’”
A chance to reset?
Early in the season, while Notre Dame’s offense was showing its growing pains, Clemson transfer wide receiver Beaux Collins seemed largely immune to them.
But in November, when the Irish offense hit its stride — heading to the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 scoring offense nationally — Collins has largely been quiet.
He heads into the Indiana matchup still Notre Dame’s leading receiver on the season — 34 for 427 with two TDs. But in November games against Florida State and Virginia he had once catch in each of those matchups. And back home in his native California against USC on Nov. 30 his 55 snaps translated to one passing target, which he dropped. That gives him six drops on the season.
The two weeks since the last game, though, have given Collins a chance to recalibrate, and quarterback Riley Leonard’s demeanor has factored in greatly with that process.
“It’s amazing, because everybody knows this guy has our backs and he’s not just going to be out here chewing our butts out and things like that,” Collins said Sunday. “He actually wants to see us succeed and it’s kind of like full circle [because] he’s going to benefit off of it too. We can just see like the unselfishness.”
And what has that looked like in practice?
“Beaux's had a wonderful few weeks of practice,” Freeman said. “He's confident, practicing fast, high-level, making some big plays in practice and that's all you can control. You learn from the things that are behind you and the mistakes that you've made, but what I've seen in Beaux Collins in these past two weeks of practice gives me a lot of confidence in what he can do on game day.”
Upon further review
Somewhat lost in the brevity of Freeman’s postgame press conference after the USC game on Nov. 30 and some of the other pressing elements of it was the fact that wide receivers coach Mike Brown picked up a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and defensive tackle Rylie Mills was lucky he didn’t do the same in a play near the goal line.
"They'll be the first ones to tell you that nobody's worth 15 yards,” Freeman said on Sunday. “We can't react to a situation in a way that could hurt our team. That's what both of them were. They were reactions that were poor decisions — poor decisions in terms of the way they reacted to a situation. Those are the first two guys that will own it.
"That's what I love about this program. I don't need to demean you and get all over you. At times I will. But these guys own it. They understand it. We’ve all got to learn from it. It's a reminder for me as the head coach. Nobody's worth 15 yards.
“Let's make good decisions no matter what happened the previous play or the previous moment. We’ve got to be smart in terms of how we react.”
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
