Why Marcus Freeman Has Confidence In Notre Dame Corners Led By Mike Mickens
It hasn’t taken long for Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to get reacquainted with cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and all of his quirks.
Freeman coached with Mickens for two seasons at Cincinnati. The two reunited earlier this year when Freeman arrived in South Bend. Four days into Irish fall camp, Freeman is once again all too familiar with Mickens — for better or worse.
“I was just laughing with [defensive coordinator Mike] Elston in the locker room like, ‘God, I bet you he was hard to coach,’” Freeman said Tuesday afternoon. “He said, ‘Yeah, I coached him. He sure was.’”
Freeman and Elston didn’t mean any harm by their comments. If anything, they were compliments in a backhanded, football-is-for-tough-love kind of way. Mickens would probably laugh and wear what they said as a badge of honor anyway.
A coach will hardly — if ever — complain when a player keeps his mouth shut and stays in line. But teams also need players who are going to constantly challenge the status quo. Vocal guys who can be a little over the top but only because they mean well and want to get better. They want everyone to get better.
That’s who Mickens was as a player at Cincinnati from 2005-08. He has taken some of that moxie and channeled it into his elevated role as a coach. He’s not quiet. He can lead by example, but he’s going to verbally tell you how to do it too. Loudly and assuredly.
And that’s OK. It’s football.
“He’s just an aggressive dude,” Freeman said. “He’s energetic. He pushes those guys.”
Freeman said he’d be perfectly content with a cornerbacks room full of mini Mickens. It worked for Mickens at this level, after all. He is Cincinnati’s all-time leader in interceptions with 14. Notre Dame combined for 16 as a team in the last two seasons. The Irish only had seven a season ago, which tied for 58th nationally.
Still, Freeman said he didn’t think twice about retaining Mickens when the former came on board in January. Notre Dame ranked fifth in the country in passes defended with 49 according to CFBstats.com. That’s right in line with the third line of the “corners creed” Notre Dame has devised under Mickens.
“Be violent.”
Freeman will hoist three fingers in the air during practice any time he sees an example of controlled violence — attacks on the football or whoever is carrying it at the time — and call out to Mickens, “Coach Mick! No. 3 of the creed, I see it!”
Freeman said that’s the only line of the creed he knows. That’s fitting. It’s probably the one that most accurately portrays who Mickens is and what he’s all about as a football mind.
“Do I think our corners are going to be able to be aggressive and play man? Absolutely,” Freeman said. “Why? Because I think they’re unbelievably talented, but they have a corners coach who has that same mentality.”
Still, Notre Dame is going to have to overcome some youth and inexperience at corner. Projected field corner starter Clarence Lewis is just a sophomore. Projected boundary corner starter Cam Hart is a junior, but he’s never started a game at corner in his career. It’s still up in the air who emerges as the go-to guy at nickel in defensive back-heavy packages.
So Notre Dame has two-thirds of its starting corners figured out. That leaves a long way to go. Freeman thinks of rosters in terms of 1As and 1Bs. Lewis and Hart are currently 1As. Who are their 1Bs? Those slots must also be determined during fall camp.
Where does senior TaRiq Bracy fit in? Head coach Brian Kelly said sophomore Ramon Henderson has been impressive. What about the quartet of freshmen — Philip Riley, Ryan Barnes, JoJo Johnson and Chance Tucker?
There are a lot of players vying for playing time at three corner positions. Freeman said he likes the depth. Who gets the most playing time will come down to who channels their inner Mickens and makes the strongest case. Verbally? Sure, but only if they can back it up physically on the field.
Mickens did. Who’s next?
“It’s going to be really intriguing to see those guys actually go out on the field and play meaningful time when it matters,” Freeman said.
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