SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman came prepared with some numbers from Saturday’s jersey scrimmage inside Notre Dame Stadium that served as preseason practice No. 15 for the Irish football program.
Freeman knew the final score, 42-40 in favor of the offense. He knew that the offense gained nine first downs in the first segment. He knew that Notre Dame’s defense forced three three-and-outs and two turnovers.
As for the scoring system, he’s not as worried about that.
“It's a unique way of scoring,” Freeman said. “Nobody really knows how it's scored, and [you] just kind of look at the scoreboard.”
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Freeman had his own way of judging what he saw from top-to-bottom on Notre Dame’s roster. He saw competition among the first, second and third units. He liked what he saw so much that he described it as the best jersey scrimmage in which he’s been involved.
“That's the most-prepared group I've been a part of on both sides of the ball,” Freeman said of what he told his staff. “Really competing, really executing, not trying to trick each other, just doing what you've been doing. It was a great scrimmage and [I was] very pleased. [I] look forward to going back and watching it and finding ways that we have to improve.”
Notre Dame’s offense has ongoing battles for starting spots on the offensive line but not at quarterback with Riley Leonard continuing take all of his reps with the first unit. The depth at running back, wide receiver and tight end should give the Irish plenty of different options for personnel looks throughout the season. But what’s impressed Freeman is how much the offense has improved throughout the fall in offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s scheme.
“I think the elimination of mental errors, pre-snap errors, formations,” Freeman said of the improvement. “Like, it’s clean. From practice 1 to practice 15, we've seen it become clean. It's an explosive offense. They do a lot of different things — a lot of motions, a lot of shifts. They utilize a lot of different personnels. And when you do that, it takes time to get clean, right?
“And what I say is when there's clarity, then you see velocity. You see guys playing with speed. And that's, to me, the biggest positive, that the execution, the way you eliminate pre-snap penalties has really been pleasing to see.”
The lone pre-snap penalty in Saturday’s scrimmage came on a delay of game, but Freeman thought the play clock may have been reset too soon, which led to the issue. That Notre Dame’s offense, which has a lot more new faces in new roles, can be competitive with Notre Dame’s defense, should be a good sign for the Irish.
It’s no coincidence that it’s happening with Leonard ascending at quarterback.
“He's progressing in the passing game, making checks, being able to put the offense in great situations,” Freeman said. “That's what you're most pleased about. But he's taking care of the football, and that's what we need out of our quarterback.”
Depth emerging on the defensive front seven
Though Notre Dame will have to throw no more than three linebackers on the field for the first defensive play against Texas A&M, linebackers coach Max Bullough has been adamant that there isn’t a clear delineation between the first and second units at linebacker. Instead, he described the rotation as five guys rotating like starters.
Freeman described it the same way.
“It’s been wonderful,” Freeman said. “We've got five guys, and we have a lot of confidence. And I think that creates a little bit of unity. Hey, whoever's on the field, they’re representing the entire room. We'll find ways to get them all on the field.
“We demand you play with an effort that I don't know we can only play with two or three linebackers the entire game. The effort that we demand of the guys on defense and [that] our entire team plays with, it's really hard to just have one group out there. And we'll find ways to get all five of those guys on the field.”
Those five are expected to be graduate student Jack Kiser, junior Jaylen Sneed, sophomores Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry and freshman Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. Some of those guys can even be used as pass rushers on third down.
Notre Dame’s looking to get its best pass rushers on the field in those situations, but there will be more than four top options.
“It’s hard to name just four, but [sophomore vyper end] Boubacar [Traore] has done a good job of really rushing after the passer,” Freeman said. “It's not just the defensive line. You can utilize linebackers, which you saw Jaylen Sneed do last year. I really like our pass-rush package in terms of who we're able to get on the field, but it's a deep [group].”
Can Notre Dame handle the Texas heat?
The last time Notre Dame opened a college football season in Texas, the temperature at kickoff was reported at 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Notre Dame lost that game in Austin by a 50-47 margin in double-overtime to the University of Texas on Sept. 4, 2016.
The Irish should expect temperatures in that range in College Station for the Texas A&M game, which is slated for the same kickoff window as the 2016 Texas game. Freeman has tried to take a measured approach in preparing his team for the heat that awaits it.
“Sometimes you can overdo it,” Freeman said. “We can’t control the weather here. We’ve had some hot days. We’ve had some not-so-hot days. As we change our practice schedule to the afternoons, you’ll have more heat. But the thing we have to continue to remind our guys is how to replenish your body, how to make sure that you’re fueling the right way in between practices, in between series, in between plays. That’s important. It’s not just before the game you make sure you hydrate.”
Notre Dame primarily practiced in the morning over the last 18 days of the preseason, but it did a couple of practices in the evening as well. In addition to practicing good hydration, nutrition and rest, Freeman wants the team to have the right mentality.
“Is it going to be hot? Yeah, it’s going to be hot,” Freeman said. “We’ll be fine. We’re hydrated. We’re well-conditioned. Our strength staff has done a great job. Don’t let things that shouldn’t distract you, distract you.”
The latest injury updates
The only injury from Saturday’s scrimmage on Freeman’s radar was one to senior cornerback Chance Tucker. Freeman didn’t immediately know the severity of the injury, but he described it as a possible lower-leg/knee injury.
Freshman cornerbacks Leonard Moore, who has also been limited in recent practices, and Karson Hobbs have been pushing Tucker for the fourth cornerback spot behind a clearly established trio of junior Benjamin Morrison, sophomore Christian Gray and junior Jaden Mickey.
Notre Dame held graduate student nose tackle Howard Cross III (hamstring) and senior tight end Mitchell Evans (knee) out of the scrimmage, but Freeman said both would be good to go if the Irish were playing a game Saturday. Cross tweaked his hamstring this summer and has been limited in his workload. Evans is returning from a torn ACL suffered last October but is on pace to play in the season opener.
Extra points
► Freeman has not yet appointed captains for the 2024 season. That will happen “soon” after allowing the team to vote for their choices. Freeman will then decide how many captains the team should have.
“That’s always based off what does the team view as captains,” Freeman said. “Usually [the vote] tells you. There’s a clump. There might be one captain. There might be two captains. There might be five captains. It’s going to be based off the voting.”
► Notre Dame recently hired Anthony Treash from Pro Football Focus into the role of director of analytics for the football program. It’s a new title on Freeman’s support staff.
“Obviously, the director of analytics would be a guy that helps you out, using the book during the game, but also a guy that can evaluate trends of prospects, trends of your current team, looking at numbers,” Freeman said. “And I think he's a guy that’s going to be very beneficial as an addition to our recruiting and our support staff. It was a position we felt that we didn't have, that we needed to have to really be able to maximize this football program. And he's only been here a couple days, but I think he's going to be a valuable asset.”
► In light of Notre Dame’s athletic department suspending its men’s swimming program for at least one academic year following investigations that revealed cultural issues and gambling violations, Freeman has taken the opportunity to emphasis the behavior required within his program.
“It’s a great reminder for you as the head coach to make sure your student-athletes, your coaching staff, everybody that’s part of your program understands the rules and the expectations,” Freeman said. “We have to — and this is in football and the example you’re mentioning — learn from the mistakes of others. We can’t always depend on the mistakes we make to learn from.
“We have to be able to utilize mistakes that other football teams make, other sports programs, other students, other adults. We have to utilize those opportunities. This is another great example of that.”
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