Notebook: Physicality will remain a priority in Notre Dame practices
Marcus Freeman still has plenty of firsts ahead of him at Notre Dame.
He has already served as Notre Dame football’s head coach in his first bowl game and his first road game. Next on his to-do list will be entering Notre Dame Stadium as head coach for his first home game.
That opportunity will come Saturday against Marshall (1-0).
“It’s something you dream about,” Freeman said Monday. “Ever since I’ve been named head coach, I’m looking forward to this moment to be able to lead our team into this stadium and play a really good opponent in terms of what coach (Charles) Huff has done since he’s been the head coach there — going 7-6 last year, 1-0 this year.”
Fulfilling a dream doesn’t guarantee the memory will be a good one. Freeman is still looking for his first win as a head coach after the 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl and Saturday’s 21-10 loss at Ohio State.
In both games, the Irish blew second-half leads. Each loss provided opportunities to learn for Freeman and his team. Even the smallest details in sideline operations have to be ironed out.
Freeman said the communication was “really good” in the first game Saturday with the current coaching staff. But ND needed to do a better job having players ready on the sideline to be subbed in at a moment’s notice. And Freeman himself needed to be ready to share his opinion with his coordinators in important moments.
Freeman pointed to a moment near the end of the first half against Ohio State when he was caught up talking with the defense and unable to inform offensive coordinator Tommy Rees that he wanted to take a shot to score some points. That probably explains why Notre Dame took a timeout with 28 seconds left after the Irish handed the ball to running back Chris Tyree for a one-yard gain from ND’s 21-yard line.
The deep shot instead came on second down to wide receiver Braden Lenzy. An incomplete pass from quarterback Tyler Buchner allowed Ohio State to save a timeout, take one after a five-yard run by Tyree on third-and-9 and force Notre Dame to punt with 18 seconds left. Fortunately for the Irish, punter Jon Sot boomed a 49-yard punt that was fair caught, which led to Ohio State kneeling the football with 11 seconds left.
“I have to do a better job of being able to click over from one side to the other and make sure that I'm communicating with both sides,” Freeman said.
Notre Dame shouldn’t need extra motivation to win its first game of the season even though Marshall is a Group of Five team from the Sun Belt Conference. But the Irish won’t have as many motivating factors to point to as they did a week ago.
“It's easy when you walk into the team meeting and say, “We're 17.5-point underdogs,” to get them motivated,” Freeman said. “And it's easy to say, ‘We’re going to a hostile environment with 105,000 fans’ to get them motivated. Now we have to use that same motivation when we get ready for this Marshall team.
“And maybe we’re not looking at the spread or something like that, but we are looking at this as an opportunity. We get 12 guaranteed opportunities. 12. We understand that we work 300 days a year for 12 guaranteed opportunities, so for us to waste an opportunity in Notre Dame Stadium, it would be a shame.
“So, we'll have them motivated for practice. We’re going to practice with intensity, physicality and really, really an attention to detail and the execution of what we're looking for.”
Freeman doesn’t want to dial down the physicality too much ahead of Saturday’s game (2:30 p.m. EDT on NBC).
“We still have to have physical, tough football practices,” Freeman said. “You get later in the year, you kind of pull back on the physicality because of how the body’s get beat up. But week two, we're going to continue to be physical. We're going to go good-on-good. We're going to have to have speed. We’re going to have to practice. We're going to start fast.
“That's something that that's been pushed from the minute I became head coach. What we have to do is start fast. There are periods of practice, moments in practice where you kind of just put the ball down and say let's go. We're going to open this practice up and go good-on-good. That's an important piece for us."
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On the mend
• There’s no guarantee yet that fifth-year offensive lineman and second-year captain Jarrett Patterson will play in Saturday’s game.
The starting left guard wasn’t able to play at Ohio State after he tested out his sprained right foot in early warmups.
“When you get into that environment, sometimes the excitement and what that environment will do for you, it will kind of numb the pain sometimes. He wasn’t able to go after warmups,” Freeman said. “So we made the decision, ‘OK, you won’t go.’
“We’ll reevaluate him (Monday) and this week. I would still think he’s questionable, but let’s see. Hopefully if he’s ready to go, we’re going to play him this week.”
• Freshman punter/kicker Bryce McFerson was sidelined last week with a groin strain, Freeman said. That prevented him from taking on his projected role of kickoff specialist against Ohio State. Instead, fellow freshman Zac Yoakam, a walk-on, performed kickoffs in his place.
“We’re going to try to rest (McFerson) for Saturday, Sunday, Monday,” Freeman said. “Let’s see how he is this week. If he can kick off for us, he will. If he can’t, we’ll just have to wait until that groin heals.”
All three of Yoakam’s kickoffs made it to the end zone and two of them were held for touchbacks.
• Both cornerback TaRiq Bracy and linebacker Bo Bauer are in good shape after receiving some medical attention from trainers during Saturday’s game, Freeman said. The Irish were dealing with some cramping even with Sot.
“I’m like, ‘How does the punter cramp?’” Freeman said. “Holy cow, but I guess that’s what that environment does to you. It adds a little bit of anxiety to you.”
• Buchner, who Freeman said was dealing with a minor ankle issue Saturday, assured his coach that he’s ready to go again this week.
More opportunities for freshmen?
Only four freshmen made appearances in Notre Dame’s season opener: Yoakam, linebacker Junior Tuihalamaka and cornerbacks Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison. Mickey and Morrison were the only two who played beyond special teams roles.
Freeman would like to get freshmen more opportunities, but those may have to wait until the Irish can put themselves in commanding leads. He doesn’t want to assume that will happen against Marshall.
“If the opportunity presents itself, yeah, you want to give anybody (that). Experience is important,” Freeman said. “But we’re not going into this game thinking we’re going to be able to play some guys who haven’t been able to play. We have to go in this game ready to go. This is a good Marshall football team that’s going to come in here and be motivated and ready to go against Notre Dame.”
Morrison and Mickey played 29 and 12 defensive snaps, respectively, according to Pro Football Focus.
“To have Jaden Mickey and Ben Morrison play and perform at the level they did in that game as true freshmen, wow. They’re going to be special. Both of those two players are going to be special football players for our program for years to come. (Cornerbacks) coach (Mike) Mickens did a good job of evaluating those two guys.”
Freshman wide receiver Tobias Merriweather, who turned heads in preseason camp because of a skill set that’s not necessarily duplicated on Notre Dame’s roster in a 6-foot-4, 198-pound frame, did not play.
"He's continuing to progress,” Freeman said. “I know that partly through camp, it could have been a hamstring or a knee or little injury, the typical camp injuries that prevented him from progressing at a faster rate. He has to continue to gain confidence.
“The coaches have to continue to gain confidence in him in terms of him being able to help our offense. He has a lot of talent. He's going to help us. Between Tobias Merriweather to both of those freshman tight ends (Eli Raridon and Holden Staes), at some point that talent will catch up with the execution of what they have to do within our offense.
“They're going to help us. How fast that happens will be determined on the execution in practice."
Extra points
• The failed double safety blitz against Ohio State was indeed what Notre Dame defensive coordinator called on the play that allowed the Buckeyes to score the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter. But the execution, Freeman explained, didn’t match how the play was intended to work.
Wide receiver Xavier Johnson beat freshman cornerback Jaden Mickey to the middle of the field from the slot for a relatively easy 24-yard touchdown reception from quarterback C.J. Stroud on third-and-11. Safeties Ramon Henderson and Brandon Joseph blitzed from the secondary. Linebacker JD Bertrand dropped back into coverage after showing blitz prior to the snap.
“The safeties were a little bit too late,” Freeman said. “We had a guy drop out when he probably should have been going. We have to get inside leverage with the nickel. You have a freshman in that big moment.
“If we could go back and do it over again, I wouldn’t change the call. I’d probably just change the way we communicate and the execution of it. That was a heartbreaker and obviously changed the tide of the game.”
• The tradition of pregame Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for the football team will return Saturday ahead of the Marshall game. The Irish held a pregame Mass ahead of the road game at Ohio State as well.
“As we move forward, I want to make sure these guys are calm,” Freeman said. “And part of that is making sure we spend some time in reflection in Mass. And coming over here when the foot hits the ball at kickoff, we’ll be ready to roll.
“But I really want to be able to be at peace and be a little bit calm as we get ready to come into the stadium and embrace this place. And when it’s kickoff time, we’ll be ready to roll.”
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