SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman doesn’t want to give too much praise to any of Notre Dame’s early enrolled freshmen.
The head coach of Notre Dame football said as much and did plenty of dancing when asked broad and specific questions about the 15 scholarship freshmen who officially joined the program in January. Four practices into Notre Dame’s spring football schedule, Freeman wants his young players to avoid comparing themselves to each other or ones that came before them.
“I spend so much time explaining to the freshmen how everybody's journey is different, right?,” Freeman said Saturday after practice. “Some guys come in here and they're ready to go. Some guys are gonna take a couple of years. You've got your Xavier Wattses and you've got your Benjamin Morrisons. The ceilings are the ceilings, right? But I hope our players see the Xavier Watts journey as well as some that see the Benjamin Morrisons.”
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► Transcript: What Marcus Freeman said after Notre Dame spring practice No. 4
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► Notebook: Notre Dame's offensive line competitions are just getting started
► Notre Dame football depth chart projection for spring practice
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Watts, a former wide receiver recruit, waited until his senior season in 2023 to become a full-time starter at safety and ended the year as the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner as the top defensive player in the country. Morrison, a cornerback, took on a starting role as a freshman in 2022 and became a Freshman All-American.
Freeman showed so much concern for crowning anybody too early or making someone feel behind that he steered his answer to a question about the pass protection capabilities of freshman running backs Kedren Young and Aneyas Williams into the same refrain.
“I don’t want to keep going around some of these direct questions, but it’s so important that they hear that. That everybody’s journey’s different,” Freeman said. “Aneyas’ journey is going to be different than Kedren’s. It might be different than Audric [Estime]’s. I don’t think Audric played much his freshman year, right? Look at Audric now. He’s going to be one of the top backs taken.
“If we can continue to use those guys as the example instead of in high school they get all this pressure and stars and social media and parents. I’m a parent too. I just try to take all this pressure off those kids so they can just focus on improving, focus on their journey and not worry about [anything else].”
Young has been slowed by a hamstring injury the last two practices. Williams did get some live action Saturday as the Irish wore full pads.
“He looked good,” Freeman said. “I’m excited about the way he comes in and it’s like, ‘Coach me. Make me better.’ He’s like a sponge. On punt I remember watching him and it was like just make me better. Those type of individuals, they continue to grow.
“Every once in a while, you might get an excuse maker. That prolongs the improvement. Whereas a guy like Aneyas is such a sponge. I’m excited to see his journey.”
Freeman cited his own journey as a college football when speaking to a player at practice. Even though he arrived at Ohio State ranked by Rivals as the No. 4 inside linebacker and the No. 31 overall prospect in the country for the 2004 class, he wasn’t expected to play as a freshman. There were exceptions, like wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., on that Ohio State team, but the pressure to perform early wasn’t as high.
“You didn’t have social media. You didn’t have your parents saying you should be starting. You didn’t have all this pressure.” Freeman said. “So you went through your progression. I want our young people to really understand and believe it and try to tune out that noise and just focus on improving. If you do that, watch out.”
Despite all that, Freeman couldn’t help but highlight one freshman in the middle of his answer: defensive end Bryce Young. Journeys be damned, the 6-foot-7, 246-pound freshman is hard to ignore.
“Bryce Young has stood out physically I think more than anything, physically being college-ready. He's got work to do like all of them do, but he's the one that's probably stood out the most, I think just being physically ready at this point.”
What to expect from Notre Dame’s tight end usage
The Irish have been practicing without senior tight end Mitchell Evans and graduate senior tight end Kevin Bauman as they recover from ACL injuries suffered last season. And even junior tight end Eli Raridon has been limited in his workload as they try to protect him after two ACL injuries the past two years.
That’s led to Notre Dame’s offense operating primarily out of 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers) through the first four practices. That doesn’t necessarily mean that new Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock will abandon the 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) or 22 personnel (two backs, two tight ends) that it used before him.
"The conversations I have with Coach Denbrock is we are going to ultimately put the best guys on the field,” Freeman said. “If we get into fall camp and we feel like our two tight ends give us a better chance to succeed than having three wideouts, then we'll put two tight ends on the field, which I've seen him do at Cincinnati when we were down there.
“The thing I love about it is it's not about as much, 'This is our scheme. Who fits it?' His mindset is, 'OK, who are the best 11 or the best 22? And how do we tailor the offense around those guys?' The concepts will stay the same. What we do will really stay the same. It's just who is it? Is it a tight end? Or is it a wideout?”
As for short-yardage situations, Freeman is more concerned about results than personnel. If a pass is an easier path to a first down than a run, so be it.
“As long as it's a first down, you're dang right,” Freeman said. “You know what I mean? Now, if it's not a first down, which we haven't always gotten first downs in 22 and 13 personnel. At the end of the day, as long as we can guarantee we're gonna get that one yard, I'm good with it.”
Evaluating the safety options
Not only does Notre Dame have a new coaching setup in the secondary, the Irish are also looking for a new starter to play alongside Xavier Watts. With previous starter DJ Brown’s eligibility expired and third safety Ramon Henderson’s transfer to UCLA, Notre Dame has a lot of inexperience options working next to Watts this spring.
That will change this summer when Northwestern graduate transfer Rod Heard II, who was watching practice this week, joins the program and competes for the starting role. But until then, sophomores Adon Shuler, Luke Talich and Ben Minich will have plenty of opportunities to show their potential.
“They’ve been really impressive,” Freeman said. “I’ve been really impressed with Adon and Luke in what they’ve done, especially getting some reps with the ones. Those dudes in four practices have really improved.
“Ben has gotten more reps with the twos, but Ben has shown a lot of growth too. All three of those guys are going to help us in some way. I don’t know what the role is going to be this year: starter, backup, special teams. But I think all three of those guys will and I’m really pleased with how they’ve performed in four practices.”
Shuler played safety the most of that trio in 2023. According to PFF, he played 52 defensive snaps compared to 15 for Minich and six for Talich. But Talich, who missed the last three games with a broken collarbone, played in the most games, eight, because of his special teams roles. Shuler totaled six tackles, Talich tallied two and Minich made one.
Special teams coordinator Marty Biagi and defensive coordinator Al Golden have been providing extra help to defensive backs coach Mike Mickens to handle the expanded responsibilities. Mickens previously worked strictly with cornerbacks prior to safeties coach Chris O’Leary leaving to join the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers this offseason.
“I have a lot of confidence in our entire back end: the coaches and the players,” Freeman said. “I love walking by their offices. Coach Biagi, Coach Golden and Coach Mickens all have those corner offices in our building, and you often see either Coach Mickens and Biagi together meeting with a player or separately with Coach Golden. That's what makes me feel confident that our defense is going to be great.”
Extra points
► The official athletic director transition from Jack Swarbrick to Pete Bevacqua will take place at Notre Dame on Monday. Because Bevacqua has been around since last July as the known successor, Freeman expects an easy transition. And he doesn’t expect it will be hard to find Swarbrick if he needs him.
“This kind of passing the baton has been going on for months,” Freeman said. “You’ve really been working with both of them, Jack and Pete, in terms of, hey, what’s going on with the College Football Playoff? What’s going on with TV deals and different things like that?
“The unique part will be if Jack’s not here, which he ain’t going to be able to stay away. That’s what I told him. He can have my office. He’s going to be around here. But he’s a phone call away.
“That’s the thing with myself and Jack Swarbrick is although he might not be my immediate boss anymore as Pete will, he’s always been a mentor and a phone call. He knows I’m going to blow him up if I have questions. He’s a phone call away. We’ll always have a relationship. I’ll always use the wisdom that he has.
“It’s been great with Pete even in this transition. I’m excited for the next steps for Notre Dame football.”
► Quarterback Riley Leonard wasn't the only player who underwent surgery this week. Senior wide receiver Deion Colzie needed surgery to fix a dislocated finger, Freeman said. He’s expected to return next week at some point, but he likely won’t be catching passes right away.
► Freeman said Notre Dame’s Pro Day on Thursday was attended by 70-plus representatives from professional football. The list included head coaches Dan Quinn (Washington Commanders) and Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys) and general managers Adam Peters (Commanders), Will McClay (Cowboys) and Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers).
“It’s a testament to our guys that have put in the work and really put themselves in position to excel at the next level and get the opportunity to go to the next level,” Freeman said. “It was wonderful. I thought our staff did a wonderful job at presenting that and putting it on. They did a great job.
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