SOUTH BEND, Ind. — If Marcus Freeman used his Saturday pulpit to apply spin to what looked like a defensive-dominant Notre Dame football practice four days prior, he’s going to have to carry on the alleged ruse for the balance of the 2023 season.
The second-year Irish coach designated Saturday’s 15th practice of preseason training camp a “jersey scrimmage,” meaning the winning side of the ball — offense or defense — gets to wear the more-coveted blue jerseys in practices, and the losers get the white ones until the next jersey scrimmage — likely in the spring of 2024.
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The Saturday scrimmage — won by the offense, per Freeman — was closed to the media. Meanwhile, Tuesday’s off-campus practice at nearby School Field in South Bend, was open to them and featured several scrimmage periods that set off social media hyperventilation over concerns that the offense might be behind schedule, if not overpromised and underdelivering.
“It’s a unique scoring system, but the reality is if offensively you don't turn over the ball and you don't consistently go three-and-out, you’ve got a great chance of winning,” Freeman said post-scrimmage Saturday of how he arrived that the offense won the day. “And they only have one turnover. And they did a really good job of executing.
“Defensively, they did a good job, too. Earlier in the scrimmage, the defense was leading, and the offense kept going. They kept coming back, and it was good to see. And so, a really good battle on both sides. I'm excited to go back and watch, but I was really pleased with what I saw.”
Freeman had roughly 100 plays to choose from in his evaluation, including the first five mimicking the aberrant triple-option offense that the Notre Dame defense must navigate in two weeks in the season opener against Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
The Irish leave for their off-site home game a week from Wednesday, Aug. 23, and arrive the next morning.
“I thought it was good just that our defense could get a feel for the speed that we're hopefully going to be practicing against,” Freeman said of the five-play sample size.
The 13th-ranked Irish, up to this point in training camp, have been working primarily on defending the 11 conventional offenses they’ll face in the weeks succeeding the Navy game, but Freeman and some of his graduate assistant coaches have been practicing at night with a special scout team whose job it is each year to simulate the Navy offense in practices. Walk-on running back Chase Ketterer plays the part of the triple-option QB.
And the group will move toward center stage in practice with each passing day, moving forward.
Navy went 4-8 last season and purged head coach Ken Niumatalolo after 16 seasons last December. Defensive coordinator Brian Newberry was elevated to the head coaching position.
Last season, the Irish (9-4 in 2022) romped to a 35-13 halftime lead against the Mids on Nov. 12 in Baltimore.
Navy outscored Notre Dame 19-0 in the second half in an eventual 35-32 Irish escape.
Overly conservative play-calling from since-departed offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and a complete lack of awareness of how to deal with Navy’s pressure opened the door for some late-game drama. The Irish amassed just 12 yards in total offense in the second half after running up 323 in half No. 1.
As for the post-Rees Irish offense during this training camp, Freeman admitted, there’s been an up-and-down feel to it leading up to Saturday’s scrimmage victory.
“Sometimes I can do the opposite of maybe what I tell the players all the time: ‘Don’t be so outcome-driven,’” Freeman said. “If I’m standing back there and I feel like the defense is winning a drill, you can feel like it’s an up-and-down day for the offense. But as I’ve gone back and evaluated it, they’ve truly just continued to progress.
“You’re not going to win every drill. You’re not going to win every team competition. But they have truly progressed. … Today was a great peak. But I hope this ain’t a peak for what we’re going to see in the future.”
Deep thoughts
Both Freeman and predecessor Brian Kelly, now leading LSU, stressed the importance of building the strongest possible roster beyond the starting 22 position players. Kelly to be ready to respond to the what-ifs in the injury realm, and Freeman using that depth on an every-week basis.
“We've made sure to truly work on developing our 2s and our 3s,” Freeman said. “Our 2s don't have a lot of game experience, and so that was something that I kind of challenged the [assistant] coaches with. It's easy to always rely on those guys that have played a lot of ball. They know what they're doing, but what we need to do is develop the depth of our team.
“And so, I challenged the coaches, like I want 2s in there with 1s. Let's see what they can do against the best players that we have. And then the same thing with the 3s. We stay after practice every day, and we have our own session of what we call ‘Basics with the 3s’, and it's all for development.
“As we get ready to get closer to the Navy, we're going to have to have some scout teams, but we're going to need the 2s. We're going to need depth throughout the season. So, we have to develop that now in camp.”
A position group that exemplifies that well is the linebacker corps. Notre Dame, beyond the Navy game, will likely be in a nickel look, with five defensive backs, more often than its traditional base defense, with three linebackers.
Grad seniors JD Bertrand, Marist Liufau and Jack Kiser will rotate through the two inside positions. The perceived highest-ceiling linebacker, sophomore Jaylen Sneed, will have niche roles in various defensive packages.
Freeman said he anticipates using freshmen Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry with regularity as well.
“We're going to need a lot of people out of that linebacker room to play multiple positions,” Freeman said.
That is expected to eventually include sophomore Nolan Ziegler, who has missed most of training camp with a personal off-the-field situation for which he’s requested privacy.
“He’s a part of our program, and he was at practice today,” Freeman said when asked Saturday whether he expected Ziegler to eventually rejoin the team this preseason/season.
As for traditional depth concerns, Freeman announced Saturday that senior tight end Kevin Bauman and sophomore defensive end Aiden Gobaira have been lost for the season with ACL tears.
Junior Mitchell Evans and sophomore Holden Staes have been at the top of the depth chart at tight end during camp in the post-Michael Mayer Era. Sophomore Eli Raridon continues to be deliberate and careful in his recovery from an October ACL tear, but Freeman confirmed on Saturday Raridon’s timetable of likely being cleared 100 percent by the end of the month,
Freshman Cooper Flanagan, along with former walk-on Davis Sherwood, are now in positions to expand their roles.
On defense, Gobaira’s injury opens up a lane for sophomore Tyson Ford at the field end spot, as well as freshmen Brenan Vernon and Boubacar Traore. Grad seniors Nana Osafo-Mensah and Javontae Jean-Baptiste are in a timeshare at the top of the depth chart at that position.
But defensive line coach Al Washington is open to going more than two deep at all of the D-line positions.
In other injury news, junior backup cornerback Chance Tucker had been sidelined by an Achilles tendon injury for a large chunk of training camp but is expected to be available for Navy. In fact, Freeman said only Bauman, Gobaira and freshman wide receiver KK Smith (shoulder surgery, possible October return) had been ruled out for the season opener.
That includes starting running back Audric Estimé, who was held out of Saturday’s scrimmage with an undisclosed injury.
“[Freshman running back] Jeremiyah Love looked really good,” Freeman said, “just seeing him out there. He's been out for a week or two.”
Squibs
• Freeman kind of went the word-salad route when pressed about the status of the open offensive guard auditions.
It sounds like junior Rocco Spindler has overtaken grad senior Andrew Kristofic to win the right guard spot, while junior Pat Coogan and sophomore Billy Schrauth continue to battle at left guard.
“You want to have four guards,” Freeman said. “And I think right now we feel really good about three going in there. And I look forward to evaluating today's scrimmage with [O-line] coach [Joe] Rudolph and the offensive staff and saying, ‘OK, who's going to be the third and fourth guard that we say can go in a game at any point?’
“But I love the competition that they're having. Nobody's comfortable with those guard positions [in terms of job security]. And I think we all know who the tackles are going to be, and we all know who the center’s going to be. And so, to continue to create that competition is something that you love as a coach.”
• Freeman has two reasons to applaud Notre Dame’s recent reupping with Under Armour as the school’s apparel/gear provider, not that he wasn’t sincere in his own right.
But athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who brokered the deal, was sitting 20 feet away at the press conference. And the other reason is avoiding a wardrobe turnover of Freeman’s six children.
“I’ve been wearing Under Armour since my time at Cincinnati,” the coach said. “We were an Under Armour school when I was there. Throughout this entire process of the apparel deal, I’ve been in communication with Jack. I trust Jack Swarbrick. He’s going to do what’s best for Notre Dame.
“That’s exactly what he’s done. I’ve been wearing it for a long time. We have a lot of Under Armour clothes for our children at the house that I would like to be able to keep. It’s been great. Jack’s never going to put our athletic department in a bad situation. He asked me. I’m like, ‘Jack, listen, I have no problem with Under Armour. I love Under Armour. And I know you’re going to do what’s right for our players and for our athletic department.’ And that’s what he did.”
• Coming soon captains, perhaps in the next 24-48 hours, per Freeman.
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