Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman met with the media on Monday at Notre Dame Stadium ahead of a Saturday home matchup between the 11th-ranked Irish (4-1) and Stanford (2-3).
Here's everything Freeman had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Opening statement:
Marcus Freeman: “We last met after the Louisville game. So, since then, just recapping that game. It's a big win for our program. Really proud of the way the coaches and the players handled the highs and lows of what a college football game tends to present. We've really looked at and evaluated and said, 'How do we eliminate the lows?' Like, that's the challenge. When I think of lows, the turnovers, negative yardage plays on offense. Defensively, continue to eliminate some of the big plays and stopping the run. We really attacked a lot of those issues during the bye week. I always tell our coaches and our players we have to have a process to eliminating and fixing issues. No. 1, we've got to own it. Then we have to come put together a plan to attack it and really attack it to fix it in practice.
“We have to continue to enhance the things we did well in that game and have done well in the season. We won the battle of field position by seven yards and won the turnover margin. When you face a good opponent, those two factors are critical to having success. It was a really good team win, and a lot of positives from all three phases.
“Players of the game was Jeremiyah Love on offense, defensively, it was Xavier Watts and on special teams, it was Max Hurleman. The scout players of the week were Justin Fisher on offense, Isaiah Dunn on defense and Teddy Rezac on special teams.
“Our focus for the bye week was No. 1, we had to improve. We have to improve as a team, and that's improve at our fundamentals, improve at the tactical execution of what we're doing and improve on some of the unforced errors that we've committed during the game. The second thing I want to do is make sure we prepare for upcoming opponents. Offensively, we continued to prepare for Stanford. Defensively, we prepared for Stanford but also took a minute to work on some triple-option stuff, as we know we have Navy in a couple of weeks and then Army following that. And we had to recover. Our guys were banged up, and we had to be smart in terms of how we prepared and improved, but also actually recover at the same time.
“So, a couple injury updates. Boubacar Traore will be out for the year with a torn left ACL. Questionable for the upcoming game is Cooper Flanagan with a foot, Gabriel Rubio with his foot. He's feeling good, but his role is still to be determined, so he's questionable for this game. And then Billy Schrauth with his foot is still questionable for this game. Probable, expected to play will be Jordan Faison and his ankle, Josh Burnham and Christian Gray. A couple other updates: Sam Pendleton will be full go. He ended up having a concussion late in the game versus Louisville, but he's back and expected to go. Ashton Craig had surgery on Friday with Dr. [Brian] Ratigan to repair his ACL. Brauntae Johnson is in the return-to-participation phase but still a few weeks away to being able to help our team. Then CJ Carr, he was injured in practice a couple of weeks ago and had just some elbow soreness, so really just trying to focus on some other areas of improvement for him as he goes through rehab. Other than that, no other injuries.
“Just turning the page of Stanford, a rivalry game, playing for the Legends Trophy. It's an important rivalry for our program. Obviously, two years ago, they came in here and they beat us, and last year in the second quarter we were down, I think, 14-13, at one point. So, we really have to prepare. It's a team that has some injuries, that offensively is so multiple in what they've done, and what they've shown on film, and then defensively, really pride themselves on stopping the run, is going to force you to try to take some shots. So, another challenging opponent to prepare for and a rivalry game that we're going to be looking forward to playing in Notre Dame Stadium.”
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Q: When there’s so many injuries, a lot of people ask about strength and conditioning and why this is happening. What’s your take on the number of injuries your program has sustained and what can be done in light of them?
MF: “Yeah, I think that's something we always evaluate. Is there something different that we could have done or should be doing moving forward? I think as you look at the ACLs, you had a couple that were non-contact. With Jordan Botelho, who wasn't an ACL, it was a patella, but his was non-contact. Ashton Craig was contact.
“I think you've always got to try to look for cause and effect, but you also can't make something up, right? Our sports performance team is a team that I have so much confidence in terms of the way we prepare, the way we get our athletes ready to go. This is just a part of the game. Injuries happen, but you always look for ways to prevent injuries. But you also have to make sure you're prepared. So, there is no perfect formula, but I'll tell you every day, every week that we meet, we always look for a way to improve.”
Q: Will Josh Burnham will play both defensive end positions? Do you add people at the defensive end positions?
MF: “Josh is a guy that could play either field end or vyper for us. RJ Oben and Bryce Young, obviously, have done a good job at the field end position. Junior [Tuihalamaka] has done a really good job stepping up at the vyper position as well as Loghan Thomas getting some reps. You have five quality individuals that can play the end position for us. We've got to have guys step up, just like Junior has done. And I'm confident that if something would happen again that we'll have to have another guy step up.”
Q: Why have you been so successful coming out of bye weeks?
MF: “There is no magic formula, but I think every bye week is different, right? Where it occurs in your season, what injuries you have going on, your upcoming opponent. There's a lot of different things that you have to focus on during that specific bye week. We have another bye week after three weeks coming up, and what we do during that bye week, although probably the overall focus will be similar, the details of what we do during that week will change, just being where it's at in the season and the upcoming opponent after that.
“Most importantly, you have to evaluate your team at this certain period that you get the bye week. You can't just say, 'Hey, this what we did last year. Let's just throw it right here in this window and do it this year.'"
Q: What did you see from Riley Leonard during the bye week and what he learned from the Louisville game?
MF: “I thought he did a really good job of decision-making. Two weeks ago, I said we have to continue to focus on our move-the-pocket throws, which I thought he did a better job at. Again, I have a lot of confidence in Riley. Nobody plays perfect, but I thought he did a really good job in terms of his preparation, in terms of his execution in the game and we're going to continue to build on that. It's let's do things that your players do well, and he did a great job versus Louisville. We look forward to continuing to improve as we move forward.”
Q: What did you learn about your third-down inconsistencies on offense during the self-scouting process?
MF: “It’s mostly down-and-distance driven. It should be common sense, but the longer the third down yardage is to convert, the less percentage you have at converting them. What we really looked at is, OK yeah, you evaluate what you’ve been doing on third down, but how do we make sure we put our offense in better situations to have a shorter conversion on third down. That’s most important is that we gotta be better on first down. As you look at the second half of Louisville game, we played a lot of that game behind the sticks, and that could be because of a couple of penalties, that could be because of, hey, we didn't gain yardage on first down. Why? Let's figure out why.' But most importantly, we got to put our offense in a position that it's a more manageable third down, instead of the third and long and extra-long down and distance that we don't convert well.”
Q: When Troy Taylor has the trigger man of his offense at quarterback, what issues does Stanford’s offense create?
MF: “I have a lot of respect for him as an offensive playcaller. As you look back at last year when we played them, we knew they were a unique offense in terms of what they did. You’ll see a lot of stress put on a defense based off motions, shifts, formations. They did some unique things in last year’s game where they gave us some extra wide splits. I think he’s a creative offensive mind.
“They utilize different personnel. They have some injuries, so we’re not 100% sure what we’ll see. They probably were a majority 11-personnel team as you go into the first couple games of the year, but they had some injuries. Will we see more 12? Will we see 13? Not 100% sure, but he’s a creative playcaller that will put a lot of stress on our defense.”
Q: What’s your evaluation of where Anthonie Knapp is right now and Tosh Baker and Guerby Lambert behind him?
MF: “Knapp, I feel like, he’s just gotten better. It’s common sense. You’re going to get better over time. You get better through experience. What he’s done is constantly improve from week one to week five. There’s a lot of confidence we have in Anthonie Knapp, but he is continuously improving as an offensive lineman.
“Tosh Baker’s been great. A guy with a shoulder injury, probably at some point, could have said, ‘Look, I need to get my shoulder fixed. I’m gonna hang it up this year.’ But he put his team first, and he’s given us everything he’s got in his body. He’s ready to go if we need him to go in there and play for us. I love Tosh. He’s a team glory guy. He puts the team before himself. He’s a special individual as a senior to have on your team.
“Guerby Lambert is continuously improving. He got here in the summer. He has a lot of talent. There’s always a lot to learn as a freshman, but he’s progressing. He’s very smart, very athletic. He’s going to be a great football player for this team when his time presents itself.”
Q: Is anyone cross-training at vyper or field end?
MF: “No. Burnham is a guy that we know can play both. We feel RJ and Bryce are true field ends for us, and then Junior and Loghan are true vypers for what we need them to do. Burnham, right now, would be the only one who would cross-train. Again, if there’s injuries that could happen, you have to have a Plan B and Plan C. And we do have that ready to go if something unforeseen happens.”
Q: Was part of your self-scouting if you can continue to lean on Riley Leonard as a runner? Do you want to able to take a little bit of the load off him on those designed runs?
MF: “He’s a threat with the ball in his hands. He gives our offense a chance to have success running the ball. We have to utilize his legs. We have to utilize his ability to run the ball, but also understand you don’t want your quarterback getting hurt. He wants the ball in his hands. He’s a competitor. We’ll continue to utilize him in the run game where we feel necessary.”
Q: Running back Jadarian Price did play following his fumble vs. Louisville. What are you looking from him in practice this week?
MF: “We have a lot of confidence that he’ll respond the right way. Coach [Deland] McCullough and our program have standards for the running back room and holding onto the ball — similar with what happened with Audric [Estimé] last year when we played Navy. Jadarian Price would be the first one to come up here to tell you that’s the standard of that room is to always hand the ball to the official. There’s so much confidence we have in him as a running back and giving him the ball. He’s going to do great things this week and in future weeks moving ahead.”
Q: Where does Notre Dame need to improve the most?
MF: “As an entire program, what we can’t do is hurt Notre Dame. We have to eliminate some of the unforced errors. We have to eliminate penalties. We have to make sure our ball security — there’s no excuse, the weather, anything. We have to make sure we hand the ball to the official, so without certainty we have the ball in our possession. Those are things we want to clean up.
“We got to continue to, defensively, tackle better. That’s something we’re always going to try to do. We gotta be crisp in our run fits and have some ways you can attack that in practice. Overall, the execution is important. Great teams don’t beat themselves, and we gotta make sure that we’re not doing that either.”
Q: What is Justin Fisher doing that help you guys? Outside of scout team, is there a role for him on the team?
MF: “Yeah. He’s playing some special teams for us. He’s been out on a couple kickoffs and done some KOR (kickoff return). He’s a valuable member of our program to have success. I often want everybody in our program to understand that although your roles might be different, the value of you executing your role is so crucial for us to reach our full potential. Justin Fisher’s a great example. What he provides for the defense in terms of his effort, in terms of his execution as a scout team running back. But then what he does on game day being a special teams member, it’s crucial that he gets his job done in practice and in the game for us to have success. He’s a great example of your role doesn’t define your value. His value is tremendous for us to have success.”
Q: What’s the process of finding players who can help outside the 85 scholarships? Who leads it? Why is it so important to enhance your roster in that way?
MF: “It’s so important. The walk-on process, our personnel department led by Chad Bowden, is in charge of finding those guys who can help our football team win and fit this place. Max Hurleman, Justin Fisher are crucial in terms of helping us win games. Max has been great. It happened with Jordan Faison two years ago. Max has been an amazing addition to our program. He fits this place, but he’s also a really good football player that came in here with the right mindset and has earned everything he’s gotten. He’s built a lot of trust in the coaching staff. He’s been our starting punt returner last week. Making big plays on kickoff. All those things matter for us to have success.
“We’ll see what happens with college sports and roster limits as we move forward, but the walk-ons at Notre Dame, WOPU Nation as they call themselves, have been so crucial for the success of Notre Dame football. It’s something I hope we don’t lose, because it’s invaluable to our success.”
Q: How important was the bye for TE Mitchell Evans? Do you see him getting closer to the guy who looked like an All-American at this time last year?
MF: “It takes time, right? The more time that he has to get his self to his full potential is crucial. And so this bye week, I think, was crucial for him in terms of continuing to develop in the recovery as he still comes back from the ACL of last year. But we have a lot of confidence in Mitch. There's a lot of times that he's been open that maybe the play call didn't mandate that we throw him the ball. He's really working on his routes but also working on blocking and is committed to being the best tight end he can be. I have a lot of confidence in Mitch Evans.”
Q: What did Loghan Thomas show you in the summer and fall camp that led to him helping in special teams and now at vyper?
MF: “I think it starts off with his development in high school. He played at a great high school football program where he was challenged to be a really dominant football player in high school. He came in here and had an injury but was committed to learning the playbook, committed to rehabbing and putting his body to be in a position where he can play college football. He's going to get bigger and stronger and faster as we continue to move forward. But it's his commitment to being the best player he can be that's giving him a chance to play. I've said this before, but what prevents guys from high school at playing early in college is just the ability to play fast. He's a guy that it hasn't taken him long to play fast, because I think the development started in high school when he had to learn a college-type defense. He's been a guy that's just gotten better and now you’ll see him more and more on the football field.”
Q: Freshman CB Leonard Moore led the defense in snaps. What did he show you on film against Louisville?
MF: “We had a lot of confidence in Leonard. He earned that in practice, fall camp. He has a length and speed and just a natural ability to play the corner position. He got his opportunity on Saturday with Christian [Gray] being out. He continues to gain trust from his coaches, because he does it practice and he went out and did it in a game versus some really good wide outs. Leonard's got an extremely high ceiling, a bright future. This is just the start of what's going to be a special football player for our football program.”
Q: Jordan Clark said that his head butt was prompted by the Louisville player spitting on him. What’s the teaching point out of that?
MF: “You got to put team glory in front of yourself. Jordan Clark would be the first one to tell you. It’s tough. Sometimes people test your manhood. But you still have to be able to put team before me. I know we've had a long conversation, and he regrets the penalty. He regrets his response. Nobody's worth 15 yards. It's such a challenging situation to have to do that. We're all innate selfish people. I think we're all naturally that way. But in that moment, and there’s moments in every game, you have to put your team before yourself. You have to let things go. That was my message to the entire team and to Jordan. As you move forward in life, there's gonna be times — this is bigger than the game of football — you're gonna have to let some things go because of what could happen in that situation. It's not the outcome that you want. I thought it was a great teaching opportunity by a guy who cares about the team. He does. He had just a selfish moment. He knows that. We love him. He owned it like Adon [Shuler] did the week before. But we gotta continue to learn from it. He has to understand that football is just a reflection of life. That at times you're gonna have to let some things go and put maybe the greater good of your family, your kids, your wife, in front of yourself. Because what you don't want to do is make a decision that's going to negatively impact a lot of people.”
Q: In terms of your game day at home, you're everywhere. You almost clone yourself. How have you evolved that process in terms of visualizing positive outcomes and making good decisions? Do you have a carve out time to be still?
MF: “There's certain things that you have to do as the head coach of this football program on home games that are different than what you have to do on away games. But you can't cheat that. You can't cheat meeting with recruits, because that's the future of your program. You can't cheat going to mass, that's most important. That’s more important than anything. You have to talk to the officials and some other things that you have to do. But I'm intentional about making sure that my mind is in the place it needs to be before I take that field. Just like we need every person in this locker room to do. Before you take the field, you have to make sure you're centered, your focus is narrow and you're ready to really go out and execute your job and your role, no matter what it is. I'm intentional about making sure my mind is where it needs to be before we take that football field.”
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