Transcript: What Marcus Freeman said after Notre Dame spring practice No. 4
Head coach Marcus Freeman spoke with reporters Saturday after Notre Dame football completed its fourth spring practice.
Below is a lightly edited transcript of his press conference inside Notre Dame Stadium. Questions may paraphrased.
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Opening statement:
“I know we’ve got to be quick. I’m sure a lot of you guys have got to head over to the women’s basketball game. So, I’ve got to go shower and get over there, too. We’ll get rolling. I’m excited to go watch Niele [Ivey] and her team go compete here this afternoon and make a run in this ACC Tournament. I mean, I’m sorry, the NCAA Tournament. That’s why you laughed. I’m like what are you laughing about? The NCAA Tournament. They won the ACC. They already took care of that.
“The last time I saw you was after one practice, I think. We just completed practice four, which was good. Today was the first day we had full pads on, guys competed. I let them do a little bit of live at the end. The ones were pretty upset that I only gave them six or seven reps, but again, I just wanted to sprinkle a little bit in to see them scrimmage. I let the twos and threes go at it a little bit longer.
“But it was good. It was a good day. I love the progression in four practices of where this team’s going, the maturity of this team. Where we’ll go is still to be determined, right? How good this team can be — right now, I just told them we’re planting roots, and we’re just continuing to try and improve throughout these next, however, 11 practices that we get a chance to go out there and compete.
“I was really pleased with our Pro Day. It was awesome to see 70-plus scouts, NFL personnel, head coaches, GMs at our Pro Day. 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. It was wonderful. I thought our staff did a wonderful job at presenting that and putting it on. They did a great job.
“A few injury updates: [Quarterback] Riley Leonard will be out the next few weeks due to an additional surgery he had on his ankle on Friday — so, yesterday — to address a stress fracture that was beginning to develop. Basically the surgery was to exchange the current plate he had his ankle with a new one. The doctors thought it went extremely well. The overall prognosis and health of his ankle is excellent. So, we'll see when he can get back. We're not putting a timetable. We know it’s going to be a few weeks, but we're not saying he's out for the spring. There could be a chance he comes back and participates in some capacity during spring ball.
“[Wide receiver] Deion Colzie will also be out for a few practices. He had a dislocated finger that required surgery to fix. He's expected to return, probably, sometime next week in some capacity. Again, I don't see him catching balls next week but expect him to be back out there next week. So, those are the two real injury updates as of right now. And I'll open up for questions from there.”
What is about Marty Biagi that allows him to coach special teams and help with the safeties?
“He has defensive coaching experience, that's one. Two is just the want to, the ability to put the work in to coach those guys, put your ego aside and work with [defensive backs] coach [Mike] Mickens and [defensive coordinator] coach [Al] Golden and then say, 'OK, what exactly did these safeties need?'
“And he's really helping the safeties, but whatever Coach Mickens needs as the entire defensive backs coach, they're working hand-to-hand to kind of make sure that group gets what it needs, because you talk about at certain instances, there's three different groups — corners, safeties, nickels — and each group needs a specific coach at a certain time. He's done an excellent job in these first few weeks.”
Has there been a moment where you've seen Biagi working with the safeties and you thought you're going to be OK there?
“I have a lot of confidence in our entire back end: the coaches and the players. 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, right? The relationship that they're continuously in those position coaches' offices to improve, to watch film. That's what tells me 'Hey, we're going to be fine.'”
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Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock discussed the idea of using less 12 and 13 personnel. What offensive concepts has he introduced this spring?
"Most of it has been 11 [personnel] in the spring, No. 1, is because of the injuries to [tight ends] Mitch [Evans], Kevin Bauman and even Eli [Raridon]. We're holding [Raridon] in certain areas of practice. We're not just saying his load is 100%. We're monitoring his load. So, that's why we've been majoring in 11 for the spring.
"The conversations I have with Coach Denbrock is, again, we are going to ultimately put the best guys on the field. 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?
Can you deal with the fact that on third-and-one Denbrock might want to throw the ball out to a receiver?
“As long as it's a first down, you're dang right. 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.”
How does the injury to Leonard impact the structure of your practices and the timeline to name a starting quarterback?
“Right now, what we've done is just have Steve with the ones, Kenny with the twos and CJ with the threes. If we only go ones and twos with certain parts of practice, Kenny and CJ will rotate a little bit. That's probably the plan going forward. Right now we know Steve is ahead of the other guys, just through experience, just through the evidence that he's shown us. And so it's kind of made it simpler for Coach Guidugli to kind of script reps, ones, twos and threes. It's easy to do that.
“Listen, at some point, we have to name a starting quarterback, and not having Riley for spring ball has kind of changed the process to being able to do that. Again, all I'm gonna say is that at some point, we've got to name a starting quarterback, and when we feel like we're ready to do that we will. Is it fall camp? Is it after spring ball? I don't know. What we've got to do is we've got to continue to look at the body of work.
“I love competition and so the ability to have a quarterback competition is exciting to me, because I think it makes everybody better, but I also understand, as Coach Denbrock and Coach Guidugli will say, is we need the continuity between a quarterback and the offensive line. So, at some point, we'll name one. I don't know when that time will be.”
Which early enrollee freshman has stood out this early in spring practice?
“It's so difficult to do sometimes because everybody's journey's different. I spend so much time explaining to the freshmen how everybody's journey is different, right? 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. The guys that have come in here that have really... 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.
“I just don't want to crown anybody too early and also deter any of these young guys from 'Well, am I behind?' No, your journey is different. So that's why I'm always cautious of crowning somebody too early, right? But Bryce Young has stood out physically to be able to fit right in and really do a good job.”
Will the QB competition involve Minchey and Carr?
“Every day, you evaluate and say, 'Hey, is there a way to put some pressure on all of them?' I don't want anybody getting comfortable. I don't want Steve to feel here, 'I'm the one, and I'm not worried about Kenny and CJ.' He shouldn't be worried about him. He should be worried about Steve, but at the same point, I don't want him comfortable. You don't want anybody comfortable in a position they're in. You want that competition, that adversity to really get those guys to thrive. So no, this is just for today. I'm sure it will probably be for the next practice, but if there are ways to create competition, we will definitely do it.”
How does the skill set of your wide recievers fit together? Do you have more balance? What does that do for your offense?
“Each guy has probably a natural skill set, 'Hey, am I a slot guy, an outside receiver?' The ones that are versatile are the ones who are going to have opportunities to help you at multiple different positions. That's what you see with a guy like JG, Jaden Greathouse, is that his skill set was probably, as he came in, built to be in the slot. But he had enough skill set to help us on the outside.
“And so [Jordan] Faison, right now, is probably more of a slot guy. Jayden Harrison is more of a slot guy. Some of those other guys are taller, longer — JT, Jayden Thomas, and some of those guys. But again, the more depth you have, the more opportunities you can say, 'OK, hey, if your best skill set has to be in a slot, stay in the slot.' But at the same point, the more versatile you are, the better opportunities you have to play. Does that make sense?”
Al Washington said he's teaching a 300-level course on the defensive line. What are the benefits of having a veteran defensive line?
“As you look at Rylie Mills and Howard Cross, those guys are probably at a 500 level, and they're working on really just enhancing the tools that they have. The experience that some of those other guys have, now you can start teaching them new things. And so that's what I think Coach Wash means by [that]. You're not teaching them how to get in their stance. You're not teaching really just the concepts. They know the concepts. They know which defenses and stunts that we're doing.
“Now, how do you perfect them? That's actually a great example for the entire defense. A lot of those guys that have been back for year three of this thing. Defensively, we do a lot of different things. They understand it now. Can you continue to perfect it and enhance that skill set that you have? So it's exciting, not even just for the D-line, but for the entire defense, especially those guys that are coming back.”
What are the benefits of having such a strong culture in place?
“You never want to take for granted the things that you believe in that make you successful, right? The relentless effort and attitude that we have to play with. I spent a lot of time with our team today talking about that in our team meeting. That's gotta be our identity. That makes up for a lack of talent. That makes up for a lack of intelligence. The way you play the game, how hard you play, to me, overcomes all those different things."
"There's some guys that just understand that, right? They create habits because they do it over and over and over. That's how they practice, and that's how they play. It's other guys that are new that you've got to continue to make that choice every play, to play with that relentless effort and attitude that's going to help us be successful.
"I don't want to take that for granted. That's our culture. Our guys just play hard. No, we're gonna make sure that it's impounded in their brains, and it becomes habits that they play that hard. When you have guys that exemplify that, and guys that hold each other accountable, like some of our older guys, yeah, it does free up some coaches to maybe coach on some other things, right?
“We're not just coaching effort. You don't let a lack of effort not be addressed, but you're not spending time just coaching effort. That, to me, is now you're able to coach other specific things you brought up. I just don't want to take those things for granted. It's our job to never overlook that. Like just continue to preach relentless effort and attitude every single day and demand it.”
What have been your first impressions of RJ Oben now that the pads are on?
“You sometimes forget because a guy is proven at another place he can be an elite football player, as RJ has, that doesn’t mean the minute you get here you’re just going to pick up right where you left off. He has to learn new terminology. He has to learn the exact way coach Washington coaches that position. What I’ve seen is a great progression from one to four. That’s the most impressive thing I’ve seen in RJ. Practice one to four to remind him, hey, you’re on the bumpy road. You’re good, man. You’re an elite player. We’ve seen you on film do at a high level. Just trust the coaching, listen to the coaching, embrace it. Don’t worry about how others perceive you right now. Just continue to focus on RJ Oben. That’s what he’s been doing, and I love the progression I’ve seen.”
The players you said were out for the spring — Mitchell Evans, Kevin Bauman, Armel Mukam, Loghan Thomas, Aiden Gobaira — do you expect those injuries to carry into fall camp?
“No. Uhh. I guess I probably, I don’t, I have no clue right now. I don’t. I’d expect them not to come back for spring ball. I don’t know about fall camp yet. That’s a long time away.”
How are Kedren Young and Aneyas Williams in pass protection?
“I didn’t say this to start, but Kedren’s been limited with a hamstring. I think it happened practice two. He really hasn’t done much the last two practices. But I did start to see him those first two practices really progress in that pass protection, even getting the ball a little bit and running it. Aneyas today got the chance to go live. He looked good. 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. 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. 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]. I told one kid today, I think back to when I was in college and you weren’t ever expected to play as a freshman. Some guys did. Teddy Ginn did. But you weren’t expected to play. But you didn’t have that extra pressure on you. You didn’t have social media. You didn’t have your parents saying you should be starting. You didn’t have all this pressure. 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.”
How have Adon Shuler, Luke Talich and Ben Minich looked at the other safety position?
“They’ve been really impressive. 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. It goes back to they’ve got a brand new coach with coach Mickens and coach Biagi. To see they way they’ve really just bought in and performed in these four practices, I’m really pleased.”
Aamil Wagner with the Wayne High School connection said he hopes to someday be in that same display case as you and coach Mickens.
“He’s got a long way to go to do that.”
What do you think of that connection? How often do you reach out to people at Wayne to give them updates on his progress?
“I don’t get much time to get back there or talk to many folks. His high school coach, Coach Mukes, and me communicate often. Coach Mukes was the wideouts coach when I was at Wayne. He’s had a huge impact on me still to this day. I’m so proud of him. We’re really proud of where we’re from. It’s a special connection that we have being that we both went to the same high school. You got a unique relationship where you can talk a little mess to him. You better act like you’re from Wayne today. He’s been great to have here. Where he’s progressing to as a tackle right now has been really good to see. I’m excited to see how he does these next 11 practices. He’s in a battle in terms of a position battle. He’s just constantly working. It’s a unique connection, obviously, have a guy from your high school. But he’s just such a great kid.”
With the athletic director transition on Monday, how strange will it be if Jack Swarbrick lives up to his prediction that he won’t be hanging around much? How strange will it be to not have him as an in-person resource? How far have things come already with you and Pete Bevacqua? Do you find yourself getting him up to speed in terms of personnel or needs for your program?
“This kind of passing the baton has been going on for months. 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.”
You mentioned the ones only got six or seven reps, but give us a snapshot of what you saw.
“It was good. I was upset because we had an undisciplined penalty, which was a false start, an offsides. It was good. There was one first down. I really can’t remember. Nobody got hurt. I thought it was pretty good. It was good enough where I said, ‘Listen, after those six plays, get them off the field.’ They’re good. We had some situational stuff. We did some third down today.”
You’ve been positive, but I’m sure you’ll have things to improve on in practice five. What still needs the most improvement on your team right now?
“There’s so much. We don’t have enough time to go through those things, you know what I mean? But today was the first third-down day. For the offense, as I told them, you’re going against a defense that’s three years of third down. They have so many different things they can put in day one. Offense, don’t get frustrated. It’s the bumpy road. You know what I say. Let’s get it fixed. We’ll come back on Monday and really address more third-down situations. Then we got a lot of situational football to still get in. Some short yardage, some goal line, some backed up situations, red zone. There’s a lot of situations that we got to get in there. I’m really pleased with how we take care of the ball. I’m really pleased with the effort that overall the team has shown. Those are things that if we want to be a great team, we gotta take care of the football and we gotta play with relentless effort and attitude that it takes to really have success. I’ll go watch the film and maybe we’ll follow up next time I see you.”
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