Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman met with the media for 50 minutes Monday in New Orleans during Sugar Bowl Media Day ahead of Wednesday night's College Football Playoff semifinal with Georgia.
Here's everything the Irish third-year coach had to say.
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OPENING STATEMENT
COACH FREEMAN: “All right. Thank you. Thank you to the Sugar Bowl and everyone that has a part of putting this wonderful event and game together. I want to especially thank CEO Jeff Hundley, president Walter Becker, and president-Elect Dottie Reese for hosting us. I want to thank the City of New Orleans for the great welcome yesterday as we arrived here and the hospitality they're providing over the next few days.
“And so we're excited to be here. It's great to have all of our players here and our coaching staff. So we want the media to be able to get a chance to know our team. And after this, we'll get back to work. So, with that, I'll open up for questions.”
Q. I just had a question, your use of Aneyas Williams in the game against IU. He was on the field in a lot of key spots. I'm curious what he maybe brings that's a little bit
different from your other two backs. And do you intend for that role to be similar against Georgia?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah. I think all of our backs provide different skill sets, and we use them in different ways, and Aneyas is a guy that has progressed all season long and has really done a great job of earning the trust that we demand from your coaches and players. And he's a guy that can be in there a lot more. We've just got a lot of running backs that are able to help this offense be productive. And so, I see him continuing to elevate his role, continuing to be a big part of what we're doing offensively, and look forward to seeing what he does on Wednesday.”
Q. How difficult was it to lure Mike Denbrock from LSU, and how has that worked out? And also, you are quite a bit younger than both of your coordinators. Is there ever a generation gap culturally or anything like that?
COACH FREEMAN: “I guess I'll start with your second question first. Is there a gap? There might be a gap in terms of maybe our fashion sense or — the ages of our kids are close. But there's a lot of wisdom there. There's a lot of wisdom with those coordinators and all of our coaches that I'm able to utilize to help myself. But with hiring coach Denbrock, obviously, we've had a past together for four years when we were at Cincinnati. He was the offensive coordinator, I was the defensive coordinator.
“And I knew during those times what type of coach, but person, he is. And when I had a chance to hire an offensive coordinator last year, he was the No. 1 person I was going to go after. I didn't know if he would say yes or no. And ultimately, he made the decision to come back; and he made it because it was what's best for him and his family. It wasn't the opportunity to work for me, work with me. It was the opportunity for him and his family, being able to come back to South Bend. And that's what was best for them.
“So, we're extremely grateful. I'm extremely grateful to have him leading our offense. And there is a comfort knowing that our offensive coordinator is Mike Denbrock.”
Q. How do you prepare for a guy like Gunner Stockton, knowing that there's not a tremendous amount of game tape for him?
COACH FREEMAN: “I think you utilize the game film that's there. There's 80-something plays of him playing this year, and doing a really good job at running their offense. I don't think they're going to change their offense completely because of who's at quarterback. He does a lot of things well that Carson Beck did well. He can throw it. Carson Beck is more athletic than I thought, until I started watching the film. He can do a lot of really good things, and he makes great decisions in those 86 plays that we watched him.
“So, I don't assume it's going to be that much different, but it's also a game of adjustments. We have to be able to see what they're trying to do and their plan of attack versus our defense and be able to adjust, and that's what the game of football has been all year.”
Q. When you studied this team — Georgia, on offense and defense — how stylistically similar do you find them to be to what you guys do at Notre Dame?
COACH FREEMAN: “There are some parallels. I do believe they're an offense that believes in running the football, and that's what we believe in and our offensive philosophy. We have to be able to run the football. That creates a lot of openings in the pass game. And although we might throw for more yards than we do the run sometimes, it doesn't matter. It's a philosophy of being able to run the football.
“And I think Georgia has a similar mindset. They've got big, old linemen that are tough, that can drive you off the ball. Do a really good job of trying to take advantage of what you are giving them defensively. And so, those are similar things that we do. We want to get the ball to our playmakers in space, no matter who those playmakers are, and let them make plays. And so I think there are some overall general philosophy similarities between the two offenses; but obviously, there's some differences, too.”
Q. I think yesterday, Penn State coach James Franklin talked about the need for a commissioner-type person to lead college football. With everything going on in the portal and transfers and NIL, everything else, is there a need for some kind of centralized leadership in college football?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, I think there's always a need for leadership, what the organization is, how do we continue to enhance it. I don't know if there's just one answer for how you make college football better. I think it's a collective group of individuals and thoughts and a commissioner. And there's a lot of different things that I think could really go into the equation to enhancing our sport.
“And so, I think everybody wants it to improve, but we also have to have empathy for all different sides. We have to have the understanding of the demands of our young people academically, NIL-wise, socially — all the different demands they have on them. And also understanding the expectations we have as a football program and the football programs across the country. So, I don't believe there's just one answer to truly fix or enhance college football and college athletics. But I do believe we're progressing. I believe every year you're seeing enhancements and decisions made that I think everybody has the mindset of how do we make this thing better, and I foresee it continuing to improve.
“And so, I don't ever want the headline to be that Marcus Freeman said, ‘This is what you need to do to make college football right.’ There is no one right answer. There's a collective group of thoughts and people that are continuously investing into this sport and trying to find a way to continue to make it better for our young people.”
Q. Trevor Etienne has the highest third-down usage by Georgia and then their highest standard-down usage besides Carson Beck. How are you going to key in on him? What does he present that's kind of a challenge to stop?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, trust me, it isn't just third down. It's first, second, third, and fourth. He is a really explosive, very good football player. If you give him space, he's going to take it, and he's got the ability to take it the entire way. So, he's a challenge, and he's a challenge in the run game, but also in the pass game.
“And so, we have to know where all their backs are at all times. They utilize their backs in really unique ways, and it's not just one guy. I think Etienne is extremely talented. He does a lot of things well, but they've got a stable of backs that present challenges. And so, we have to know where they're at. We have to know where they're aligned, and really have a great plan for their running back situation.”
Q. The loss of Rylie Mills, can you just allude to what he meant to your football team this year?
COACH FREEMAN: “No. 1, he's a captain. He's a captain. He's a leader. That's the one thing that hurts you. You can't replace a captain, and you can't replace his leadership. You have to try to replace the production with multiple different people, ways, schemes, schematic things.
It's not going to be just one person that's going in there to replace Rylie Mills.
“You feel terribly for him as an individual. He came back to really lead this program to the position it's at, to improve his draft stock. And I believe in my heart that he improved his draft stock, and he's led this team to a great position. But now we have to be able to replace his production with capable guys that we have in this program. And so, we've got some guys that have played a lot of ball behind Rylie that will step up to the challenge and I believe will do great things.”
Q. Riley Leonard has your second-highest usage on rushing plays. As we just talked about with an injury, how do you balance when you run him, because he's such a critical opponent to the offense, with trying to protect him from injury, to dissipate with having two more games to play?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, we know the ability that Riley [Leonard] has to run the football. It's something that helps our offense. It's not always a designed quarterback run. It's sometimes his decision to take off and make a play with his legs. As the head coach, you hate to see your quarterback get hit, but it's a part of the game. And it's what makes him unique and special and productive for our offense. So, I don't want to take that away from him. We have to utilize what he does well but also understand that he's our quarterback, and we've got to protect him.
“So, I think there's a fine line of how much he runs versus how much we design QB runs versus, hey, stay in the pocket and throw the ball. We have to utilize all three different areas in our offense, and that will be a part of our plan coming up.”
Q. When you look at Georgia offensively and defensively, what do you think their identity is on both sides of the ball?
COACH FREEMAN: “You can tell they're a physical, aggressive, attack in mindset. They're big on the offensive line. They run the ball. They've got some good backs. And again, they can throw the ball, too. They've got some skill that presents challenges. Defensively, again, they're big up front. They've got multiple ’backers, like they do running backs, that make plays, that are difference-makers. And they've got good skills.
“So, a really balanced team. I think when you say, what's their identity, I know what I see is a physical, sound team that plays with velocity, and it's something we often talk about in our program, is that at the end of the day, it's not going to be about tricking your opponent. It's going to be about playing with velocity, which equals violence and some other physical attacking words. So, it's a really good football program.”
Q. Y'all are obviously able to enjoy being at home against Indiana for the first round of the playoffs. Here you're coming down to a bowl trip and you've made them before. And you've had three, four, five days, and now it's coming in, one day of practice and so forth. Is this conducive to the team — both teams being prepared as well as they can, or would you rather see more home fields for the playoffs?
COACH FREEMAN: “I thought the first round of playoffs was amazing, to have a home playoff game and multiple — I think four of them around the country. It was amazing. It really was. But you don't want to take away from the history that makes college football special in these bowl games. The Sugar Bowl, I think, is the second-longest bowl in all of the bowls, right? And I grew up watching the Nokia Sugar Bowl, which is now obviously the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and the Rose Bowl, and some of these famous bowl games.
“I think it's awesome that we're able to have these home playoff games in the first round, and you still keep the tradition and the history of these bowl games as you go into quarterfinals and the semifinals and the finals. I think it's a great mixture. I think they got the formula right in terms of the location and being able to play that first round at home or on a college campus and then still keeping intact the history and tradition of our bowl games.”
Q. Coach, I don't know if you were still there during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl a couple years ago against Cincinnati, but your offensive coordinator was when they played Georgia. How much crossover is still there?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, I was there. That was my last game at Cincinnati. I don't know. I mean, are there some similarities in terms of the defense? There might be, because the coordinator was on — the coordinator now was on staff there, and obviously Kirby Smart was the head coach. The personnel, it was elite then. It's elite now. The way they play the game with physicality and running the ball and stopping the run, it was the same then as it is now.
“But the personnel is different. The quarterback was different. The guy back then was the Daniels kid, JT Daniels. I remember [George] Pickens was the wideout, and they had the big No. 0 [Darnell Washington] was the tight end. I mean, I could go on and on about some of those guys, but schematically, we do things differently here under coach [Al] Golden and our defense than we did when I was the defensive coordinator. So, it's a game you reference. At least you know, OK, hey, this is a Georgia team that you faced when you were at Cincinnati. But I think this team at Notre Dame and this current Georgia team are different programs.”
Q. What do you think about the timing of the portal window being open while you're trying to get ready for the playoffs?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, it's difficult. It's difficult. I've always been a guy to just say, hey, how do we do the best we can within the rules of the game? And there's a lot of people that put a lot of time and effort into creating these rules and timelines and guidelines. I don't. I try to say let's maximize the opportunities that we have. And so, yes, there's difficulties to it; but there's not — me complaining about it isn't helping. Let them figure out what's best.
“There's always a better way. There's always a better way. There's always a better way no matter when you put the transfer portal window. There's a lot of different opinions about it. We've just got to make sure we maximize every year what's best for this program within the rules of the calendar that have already been set.”
Q. How has this football team changed since that Northern Illinois loss? You guys particularly over the last month look like a completely different football team.
COACH FREEMAN: “I think it's a constant improvement. There were some issues and mistakes that we made in week one versus [Texas] A&M that were probably masked to the outside by the outcome of the game. And they were obviously magnified the following week because of the outcome of the game. And what we have to do is continuously improve. I think there were some valuable lessons that the loss to NIU taught us, but it's this constant chase for improvement, every week, every day, that we have been able to make, and we still continue to have that mindset.
“So, how different is this team now? It is different because we've improved. No matter where you're at, no matter what the outcome of the last game was, it's a mindset of constant improvement. And I know we're a much-improved team now than we were back then.”
Q. Anthony Knapp was telling me, you went up to him and said, “Hey, this week is personal for you.’ Tell me a little bit about that conversation. He was even saying, “Hey, listen, every week is personal for me. He's always got that chip on his shoulder.”
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, that was just a little, ‘Hey, you're from Georgia. We're playing a team from Georgia.’ I don't know if he grew up wanting to play for Georgia. I didn't ask him that. That was a little bit of motivation to get him going for practice. Every week you've got to be motivated to the utmost degree. And so, as we probably get closer to the game, you're going to talk about how it's less personal, how this is about getting your job done. Take personal feelings aside.
“Sometimes before you practice, you've got to push some buttons. It can be monotonous. It's another practice. My job as head coach is to find those buttons that you've got to push to get them motivated to practice. But at the end of the day, when you've got to go out there and perform, you've got to play with a clear mind and clear vision of what you've got to get done. So, make it personal in terms of as we build up to this game. But as we get to the game, it's about getting your job done for these guys in this room.”
Q. More of a recruiting philosophy question. You guys have extremely smart football players, not just blue chippers for a locker room. Georgia has the same thing going on over there?
COACH FREEMAN: “I think we want the perfect football player. Everybody wants the most athletic, the most intelligent, the most motivated, the most competitive football player you can find. We've got to make sure that we find guys that fit Notre Dame in terms of what we're looking for athletically, but also there's requirements that it takes to get into school.
“They've got to embrace what this place truly entails. It's not a big school. It's about 8,500 kids in South Bend, Ind. It's going to have some cold winters. But we say to the guys in this room ‘choose hard.’ That's the one thing we talk about all the time. You've got to choose hard, and these guys have chosen hard, and they've got to choose hard every day.
“And so I don't think we go and we look for GPAs to say ‘that's a smart kid,’ let's go bring them into Notre Dame. No, we go out and we evaluate your film. We talk to your coaches. We talk to the kids. We talk to the parents and say, ‘OK, is this a person that's going to thrive at this place?’ And a lot of these kids are extremely intelligent, they are. It's a difficult school. It's a challenging school, a challenging education; but they're great football players, too.”
Q. A lot of your guys are saying you talk about being misfits and changing things, changing the culture. I guess, tell me a little bit more about that and the group you try to communicate with.
COACH FREEMAN: “I think it's trying to fight being normal every day, and we embrace that. I want our guys to embrace that and to want that. I think it's normal for the normal person to wake up and just go in and say, ‘Let's get my job done and go home.’ And I want our guys to be misfits and to find a way to push yourself outside your comfort zone every single day, to look for ‘hard’ and to run to ‘hard’ and to choose ‘hard’ every single day.
“I think that's the mindset we, as a program, have to have. I want misfits. We want to be misfits. We don't want people to look at us and go, ‘Oh, yeah, you're just a normal coach. You're a normal football player. We want to be a little bit of a misfit and embrace that and do the things that misfits do. And that's not just one thing, one example. If everybody's doing something, you want to probably try to do something harder, do something different. That's kind of that misfit mentality that I believe we've got to keep and we've got to be.”
Q. You've got two guys on the team whose dads were on the last Notre Dame team to win a major bowl 31 years ago. What do you make of this major bowl skid type of thing, and how do you explain it?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah, I don't know what's considered a major bowl, you know? If you would have said two guys that their dad was on the last national championship team, I would say, ‘Oh, yeah?’ But every bowl has got to be a major bowl. You've got an opportunity to go out and compete and win. If you're waiting to be in the Sugar Bowl to consider it a major bowl, then you're not the competitor we need you to be.
“And so, listen, this is an opportunity for us to go and compete against one of the best teams in the country in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. It's a privilege. We're grateful for the opportunity, and we're going to prepare in a way that's going to give this program the best chance to do that. But I don't believe much in a ‘major bowl.’ I believe in the opportunity to go out there and compete and win with guys that prepare like heck with you. And so, that's the mindset we've got to have. But I think you've got to be grateful for this opportunity, because that will reflect in terms of how you prepare.”
Q. You spoke about this a little bit on Signing Day, where a lot of the incoming class are athletes that have — not just specialized in football, they're pretty outstanding in other sports as well, be it hockey, baseball, lacrosse, whatever. You do have a number of athletes, at least
compared to any other team in the playoffs that are also playing a sport at a D1 level and winning championships for the lacrosse team. So, is there a certain thing about that type of profile of athlete that you look for on the recruiting trail? And why — I mean, doing that is incredibly hard. So why do you think these athletes are able to be successful with that at Notre Dame?
COACH FREEMAN: “I don't know if we say, ‘Let's go target all the multisport high school
athletes,’ but I do love when I hear the guys we're targeting play more than just football. There's a competitive side of things that just training doesn't give, it doesn't provide. And I love to hear about multisport athletes.
“I love guys that run track. I love guys that play basketball and lacrosse and different sports, because it just shows that they're not in the offseason just looking to specialize in football. They're willing to go out there and compete. And what I really love about it is sometimes they're not as good in the other sports as they are in football, and so they're willing to put their ego aside and say, ‘I know I might lose in track, but I'm going to try to make myself better as an athlete.’ And that speaks volumes to me.
“Now, as you look at some of our guys, [Jordan] Faison was a lacrosse recruit and signee first. And then we were able to say, ‘Hey, this guy can play football. Let's watch his film.’ And then, all of a sudden, he got in fall camp and he was better in person than we ever even thought. We got a kid named Matt Jeffery who is one of the top — if not the top — lacrosse players in the country last year. And we said, ‘Man, this is a very similar situation to Jordan Faison.’ We've already got the example right in front of us, and he's been a huge addition to our program.
“It's something that's hard to balance for those guys, to be a full-time football player and, during the spring, be a full-time lacrosse player. It's a lot of load in terms of the physical load on their body. But we've got a great sports performance team that's able to balance both of them. And if it's an opportunity for us to attract the right kids that can help us in our football program and play lacrosse, play baseball — got a couple kids that play baseball — that's what we're going to do. I think it's something that we can start to sell now that makes us unique and different.”
Q. What are the biggest things that Al Golden has done to help you and this program and this defense?
COACH FREEMAN: “I don't know if there's just one thing that I could say. The enhancements that we've made from year 1 to year 3 with him leading our defense has been tremendous. The knowledge that he provides, the teaching that our young people are able to learn has been
tremendous. The addition to our coaching staff, the wisdom he's able to provide to our coaching staff, and the part of our — the piece of our coaching staff that he is, it's been tremendous. The knowledge that he has a former head coach, I can go on and on.
“I've utilized some of his experience in terms of being a head coach, asked him what he's done. There's a lot of different things I could say that he's provided to this program, but I don't know if there's just one thing that's more important than another.”
Q. I believe your first job in football was GA at Ohio State. How did you get that job, and what are your most vivid memories of working there?
COACH FREEMAN: “I played college [ball] at Ohio State. And then when I found out I had an enlarged heart valve — I was in the NFL and they found an enlarged heart valve — I called coach [Jim] Tressel, who was my college coach, and I said, ‘Coach, I want to get into coaching.’ And there was an opportunity to go to Ohio State and be a GA. I wasn't looking to just say, ‘Coach, hire me at Ohio State.’ It was just, ‘Coach, I need your wisdom, I'm looking to get into coaching.’
And there happened to just be an opportunity available at Ohio State. I think I started off actually as like a quality control [position] and moved into the GA role sometime during that first year, but that's kind of how that happened.”
Q. With the roster limits coming up, how are you going to go about figuring out who you're going to retain and who might not be able to make it?
COACH FREEMAN: “I mean, nothing's for certain yet. There's a vote coming up in the new year that will determine if those roster limits are put in place. We have a plan for both. We have a plan for if the roster limits are put in place. We have a plan for if there's some type of phase-in, which some people have talked about being a phase-in. And then we have a plan if there's not going to be roster limits in place.
“So, you can't wait until the final decision happens to come up with a plan. We have plans for all three, but we don't need to move on anything until a final decision is made.”
Q. How did you pry Jerome Bettis Jr. out of Georgia? And secondly, you talked about playing at Ohio State. You're coaching at Notre Dame. That's two tradition-minded schools. With so much going on in transfers, it seems like players may be more interested in money than the opportunity to play. How much does loyalty, for want of a better word, becoming maybe a lost quality in college football?
COACH FREEMAN: “What was your first question about Jerome Bettis Jr.?”
Q. From Georgia.
COACH FREEMAN: “We say blood is thicker than water, right? His daddy wore a gold helmet, and we were somehow, some way able to convince him this was the right opportunity for him. But I think his dad wearing the gold helmet had a factor; but, also, he knows he's going to create his own path. He's a great player, going to do some great things.
“As far as the loyalty question, I do believe there is loyalty in terms of young people staying at their school, as long as they believe in the vision that the program has for them. Now, I'm not saying everybody. But it's our job as coaching to make sure they understand the vision you have for them.
“It's almost an everyday conversation, because there's very few people, especially young people in our program, that are content with where they're at in the present moment. But you've also got to be able to show them that, ‘Hey, here's a plan. Here's where we see you progressing. Here's what you have to do to progress. Here's an example of a young person that has progressed.’ Xavier Watts, we use him all the time, a guy that came in as a wideout that moved to DB. And, all of a sudden, in his fourth year was the Bronko Nagurski Player of the Year and this year is a captain and doing amazing things and will go get drafted.
“But you've got to use him as an example for young people to show that sometimes there's delayed gratification. You've got to work and you've got to continue to understand the vision, but focus on the present, and I think that's so important. And so I think when young people don't see a long-term vision, they don't see themselves having a future at your place that is fulfilling to them, that's where you see a lot of them say ‘I'm going to decide to leave.’"
Q. In terms of the concept of confidence and how you've tried to develop the confidence of this team. Some of that is play-calling fourth down, going to punt fakes. But from where you guys were in week 2 to today, how do you get a team to be confident again?
COACH FREEMAN: “Confidence sometimes is fueled by execution and success. And I think there's a fine line between how do you get them to be confident when they're not having the outcomes they want in terms of how do you continue to get them to be confident, and you're having somebody the success you aspire to have. I think early in the season, there was a choice that you had to make to be confident, and you had to make a choice. Be confident. Quarterback, be confident. I don't care what happened last play or last game, be confident.
“I think now, when you talk about in week — what are we, 14 now? — that you can show them some of their previous successes and say, ‘Hey, have confidence. Look how good you are and look how good you can be.’ And so, I think it is a fine line. It's psychology to try to get them to be confident, not overly confident, to be humble enough to put the work that you have to put in to give yourself the chance to have success. Like, that's important.
“I want them to be confident. But sometimes if you're overly confident, you don't put the work in that humble people must do. And that's why you often hear me say, ‘Keep the pain,’ because we've got to remember, we've got to be those desperate individuals that we were after that loss. We've got to be that same desperate individual now in terms of the preparation that we put into this week as we get ready for this game.”
Q. How do you balance really getting after them but making sure you weren't crushing them at the same time?
COACH FREEMAN: “I don't believe in after that loss to Northern Illinois to jump on them and point fingers. They feel just as bad as you as the head coach. In those moments, I think it's important to look at yourself and put blame on yourself. I don't want them to worry about pleasing me in that moment. I want every person in this program, every coach to look at themselves in that moment. You've heard me say this before, when you don't get the outcome you want, it's an individual sport. And that's what I want them to do after Northern Illinois, look at yourself.
“After having success, that's when you've got to have a team sport. That's when you've got to be able to go outside of your comfort zone, be a pleaser. Why? Because it's a team sport. The guy next to you needs you to do it. And so, that's the psychology of this whole thing, is that — not after Northern Illinois, it's after Louisville or after — I don't know, after Army or Navy, one of those undefeated wins. We need them to be pleasers, because that's when complacency will set in. Hey, let's just keep doing what we've always done.
“And every week, I'm telling them to elevate. I asked them to elevate before we played Indiana. And then I go back in there the first day that we get ready for Georgia and say, ‘All right, we've got to do more. We've got to enhance what we do.’ And if they put others in front of themselves, especially after success, then you're willing to do that. If you're just — if it's an individual sport at those times, it's like, ‘Coach, I'm doing everything I need to do.’
“And so, I think it's all in the psychology of being able to push them at the right times but in the lowest moments. We're in this together. Hold on. This is on me, just as much as it's on anybody in this room.”
Q. To follow up on that thought about the psychology of responding to challenges, when the challenge is potentially four consecutive high-intensity games in a playoff, do you manage that any differently, or what's your approach?
COACH FREEMAN: “Yeah. I think every week, you have a plan for what you need to get physically in your preparation. In a bowl game, in terms of we know this is the last game of the year, and so it's a unique approach to each week in terms of how do we make sure we're ready? But also, you could have a game after this, right?
“And so, we have a great sports performance team that we have spent some time in the summer, spent some time each week of really looking at how we're progressing physically each week. And do we need to adapt — I mean, do we need to adjust based off the previous day's load? It isn't a perfect science. It's an ability for me — and every coach is different — an ability to say, ‘OK, hey, our loads were a little too high yesterday. We need to pull back just a little bit in terms of our overall volume tomorrow.’ Or, ‘Hey, we've got room to pick it up.’
“And so, it's the ability to really take feedback and be adaptable in terms of what you believe your team needs to be prepared for the opportunity in front of them.”
Q. I'm wondering, who are the football coaches that you took the most from during your life, whether it be as a football player or as a coach? Who are some of the guys that you find yourself maybe taking some gems from and giving them to your players now?
COACH FREEMAN: “I think there's so many I can go to. I think every coach, every person — my father was never my coach, but I've taken so much out of leadership from the time we spent together. He was in the military for 26 years. I think about my high school coach. I think about Jim Tressel, as my college coach. Luke Fickell was my linebackers coach. I worked for him at Cincinnati.
“And so, I think you take bits and pieces from everybody that you've been around. You still have to be who you are as an individual. But if it's a piece of knowledge that can help you enhance, you're a fool not to take it. I probably have bounced more ideas off of coach Tress [Jim Tressel] than anybody in this time, probably because he's retired, he's got more time.
“But the resources you have when you're in this position are humbling, to be able to talk to some of the greats, the current coaches that are coaching — the Mike Tomlins of the world, the Tony Dungys. I can go on and on about coaches that are willing to be a sounding board to give you their advice. And it's a humbling, humbling position to be in. But I think at the end of the day, you've still got to be yourself. I can't be anybody other than Marcus Freeman, but I can take wisdom and bits and pieces from everybody that's had an impact on my life.”
Q. Coach, what is the one thing you want to see from your football team on Wednesday?
COACH FREEMAN: “Velocity. You know what I mean? It's playing with velocity for 60-plus minutes. And in order to do that, you have to have clarity in terms of what you're being asked to do. And that's going to be important in these last 48 hours, to gain as much clarity as we can so then you're not thinking. I told them yesterday, if you wait until you know to make a decision, it's going to be too late, and you're not playing with much velocity then.
“And so we've got to continue to prepare in these last 48 hours to gain as much clarity as we can. And listen, when the ball snaps, let's go play with velocity, man. Go play with speed, go play to make plays, and win this play. I mean, I know that's coaching talk, but win this play. Win this play with velocity on Wednesday.”
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