SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Five days before Notre Dame kicked off its 2024 football season in soupy/sweaty College Station, Texas, Marcus Freeman had a declaration about the team’s ever-evolving strength-and-conditioning approach.
And he brought receipts.
Five games and a bye week after declaring Notre Dame’s runway to the season — preseason training camp — as producing the fewest injuries in the past 15 years per Freeman’s research, the third-year head coach faced the flip side of that conversation.
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Is there a correlation between that same approach, led by first-year director of football performance Loren Landow, and the season-ending knee injury sustained Sept. 28 and announced Monday to recently elevated starting vyper end Boubacar Traore? And the one that occurred two games prior, in game 3, to vyper end Jordan Botelho? And the one that occurred in that same Purdue game on Sept. 14 to starting center Ashton Craig?
“I think that's something we always evaluate,” Freeman said during his weekly Monday press conference, as the 11th-ranked Irish (4-1) prep for a Saturday home matchup with Stanford (2-3).
“Is there something different that we could have done or should be doing moving forward? I think as you look at the ACLs, you had a couple that were non-contact. With Jordan Botelho, who wasn't an ACL, it was a patella, but his was non-contact. Ashton Craig was contact. I think you've always got to try to look for cause and effect, but you also can't make something up.”
What is real is that the Notre Dame injury report lists nine scholarship players and 12 overall who are out for the season. But only three of them — Traore, Botelho and Craig have occurred since Freeman’s late-August feel-good audit.
“We practiced 15% more this fall camp than we had previously,” Freeman said on Aug. 26. “We only had one concussion, and we’re down 30% overall in concussions, strains and sprains. Just wanted to say I’d like to give credit to our sports performance team and the way they’ve supported our players outside of practice, and to our coaches that have bought into the adjustments we’ve had to make going into each practice.
“The way we’ve structured practice, the results have shown and it’s been really good. We’ve practiced more and had less injuries, and that’s a great statistic.”
And Freeman, who’s likely getting as many as three key injured players back this week and as many as six, still applauds his sports performance team that leans heavily into sports science. And yet that doesn’t mean the template is fixed and not subject to tweaking and adjusting as new data comes in.
“Our sports performance team is a team that I have so much confidence in terms of the way we prepare, the way we get our athletes ready to go,” Freeman said. “This is just a part of the game.
“Injuries happen, but you always look for ways to prevent injuries. But you also have to make sure you're prepared. So, there is no perfect formula. But I'll tell you every day, every week that we meet, we always look for a way to improve.”
Burnham brings versatility
Traore’s season-ending injury left Notre Dame looking for answers in the bye week to fortify a depleted vyper end position. Last week also presented head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff a chance to recalibrate the field end position, which has lacked the punch and production of 2023, when Javontae Jean-Baptiste was a dominant figure.
It appears the answer to both dilemmas is the same. More Josh Burnham. And the 6-foot-4, 251-pound junior’s left ankle appears ready to fully cooperate.
Burnham was listed as probable on Monday’s weekly availability report after he saw four snaps of game action Sept. 28 against Louisville. That was Burnham’s first game action since suffering the ankle injury on the final defensive series of Notre Dame’s 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois back on Sept. 7.
Burnham came to Notre Dame has a linebacker prospect, and a four-star one at that, after playing quarterback and linebacker for a Traverse City Central High School team that reached the Michigan Class Division 2 state championship his senior season.
Burnham’s classmate Junior Tuihalamaka is the new starting vyper, with undersized but explosive 6-4, 224-pound freshman Loghan Thomas heavier in the mix, Duke transfer RJ Oben and freshman Bryce Young have shared the field end reps in Burnham’s absence.
“Burnham, right now, would be the only one who would cross-train,’ Freeman said. “Again, if there’s injuries that could happen, you have to have a Plan B and Plan C. And we do have that ready to go if something unforeseen happens.”
Winning with walk-ons
Take a late-night walk near Notre Dame Stadium and you might hear the music from the soundtrack of the movie Rudy playing outside the gates to the main tunnel.
That’s not to say big dreams don’t drive walk-ons to the football program anymore, as they did in Daniel Rudy Ruettiger’s day, but the Irish coaching staff has gotten way more scientific about adding players beyond the 85-scholarship limit. A limit that appears to be perhaps in its last season as the NCAA student-athlete model continues its radical makeover.
In the meantime, the Irish are winning with walk-ons, especially on special teams.
Eleven of them have logged action on special teams, led by Colgate walk-on transfer Max Hurleman’s 63 special teams reps.
“It’s so important — the walk-on process,” Freeman said. “Oour personnel department, led by [general manager] Chad Bowden, is in charge of finding those guys who can help our football team win and fit this place. Max Hurleman, Justin Fisher are crucial in terms of helping us win games. Max has been great.
“It happened with Jordan Faison [last season]. Max has been an amazing addition to our program. He fits this place, but he’s also a really good football player that came in here with the right mindset and has earned everything he’s gotten.
“He’s built a lot of trust in the coaching staff. He’s been our starting punt returner last week. Making big plays on kickoff. All those things matter for us to have success.”
In addition to Hurleman and Fisher, the other walk-ons who have played at least one special teams snap are Tre Reader, Rino Monteforte, Chris Salerno, Leo Scheidler, Isaiah Dunn, Zac Yoakam, Eric Goins, Andrew Kros and lacrosse crossover Matt Jeffery.
“We’ll see what happens with college sports and roster limits as we move forward,” Freeman said. But the walk-ons at Notre Dame — WOPU Nation as they call themselves — have been so crucial for the success of Notre Dame football. It’s something I hope we don’t lose, because it’s invaluable to our success.”
Upon further review
Midway through the third quarter in ND’s Sept. 28 win over Louisville, Irish nickel Jordan Clark picked up a 15-yard penalty for head-butting Cardinals receiver Chris Bell well away downfield from a running play that picked up a yard.
Clark later defended his penalty on Twitter/X, claiming he had been spit on.
Freeman said Clark later regretted his reaction.
“You’ve got to put team glory in front of yourself,” Freeman said. “Jordan Clark would be the first one to tell you. It’s tough. Sometimes people test your manhood. But you still have to be able to put team before me.
“I know we've had a long conversation, and he regrets the penalty. He regrets his response. Nobody's worth 15 yards. It's such a challenging situation to have to do that. We're all innate selfish people. I think we're all naturally that way. But in that moment, and there’s moments in every game, you have to put your team before yourself. You have to let things go.
“That was my message to the entire team and to Jordan. As you move forward in life, there's gonna be times — this is bigger than the game of football — you're gonna have to let some things go because of what could happen in that situation.
“It's not the outcome that you want. I thought it was a great teaching opportunity by a guy who cares about the team. He does. He had just a selfish moment. He knows that. We love him.”
Squibs
With the bye week came a delay in announcing players of the game from Notre Dame’s 31-24 win over Louisville. The are running back Jeremiyah Love on offense, safety Xavier Watts on defense and Max Hurleman on special teams. Scout Team players of the week were Justin Fisher on offense, Isaiah Dunn on defense and Teddy Rezac on special teams.
• Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard on Monday was named one of 25 players still in contention for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, with the winner to be announced on Dec. 6.
The Golden Arm Award annually recognizes the top senior or upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class.
Golden Arm Award Top 25
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