Marcus Freeman Press Conference | Fall Camp (8.12.23) | Notre Dame Football

I don't know how many uh the last I was I counted it was I think 80 something plays and that was with two series left so we just finished close to 100 play uh scrimmage really good work um offense ended up winning uh and it's a unique scoring system but the reality is if offensively you don't turn over the ball and uh you don't consistently go three and out you got a great chance of winning and um they only had one turnover and uh they did a really good job of execute defensively um they did a good job too you know earlier in the scrimmage the defense was was leading and um you know the offense kept going you know they kept coming back and it was good to see and so a really good battle on both sides I'm excited to go back and watch but I was really pleased with um what I saw and so um with that I'll kind of open up for questions given that where do you see the need for the most Improvement in the next two weeks before Navy well I think for defensively it's time to really turn your attention to Navy we've we've been doing um normal defensive things that you'll see for the majority of the year to defend against in the majority year we have not been doing much um Navy specific defense and so now your attention will truly turn to um defending a triple option in what Navy's office will present offensively just it was it's been an up and down first 14 practices and it's really good to see them go out and execute at a high level um have some guys that practice today that have been out a little bit I know Jeremiah Love looked really good just seeing him out there who's been out for a week or two um and uh again now is just you know fine-tuning the foundation that's been built and so um that's kind of we got to be our Focus the physical true physical part of fall Camp is over right and we'll have some good we still got to have good practices as we get in the next week but the true physical part is over now we're going to get into more Scout work and really focus on our opponent as a follow-up there's probably been more stock and then I can recall in the Notre Dame camp and that's neither good nor bad is that something you if you don't encourage at least don't discourage and what does that say to you about your team this year well we we definitely encourage competitive spirit and uh we want to have energetic practices and we want our guys to provide energy when it becomes a distraction that's when we got to make sure we we cut it out and there's been times in Camp like any Camp you go to that it's cross the line and we've got to make sure at that point we address it and I don't want to pull back that competitive spirit that they have but I want to make sure that we understand there's a certain level that we can get it to and we can't cross that line you know and and uh that's that's it's a fine line because we're going to push them to that edge we're going to push him to right there where we want you to um play with that energy that that truly I believe it takes to have success but what you can't do is hurt your team and we ought to make sure we always correct it when we get to that point coach in accordance with that when we talk to the safeties the other day many of them talked about the physicality of this team and I think that we've seen a an improvement or an increase in the physicality is that you seeing that and is that a Marcus Freeman imprint on this team I I hope it's the players that we have in this program you know and I'm going to encourage us to be physical you you have to be physical to have success in this game and you're talking about um men going as 20 something miles an hour full speed and with pads on but um you got to be courageous to play this game and so what you try to do is is see who's gonna run into the fire who's kind of tiptoeing in there and I think that's got to be promoted from the head coach but at the same time I'm really want to evaluate hey are you are you going to play with the effort attitude that we demand or is this something that you know it's going to take some some improvement for you personally and so I think it's a way to truly see um really what our guys have inside at times you know we have to be smart now we can't have injuries for for no reason right and so that's that fine line is how do you push them right with the physicality that we need to have but also make sure we understand it we have to be at our full potential as we get ready to play in Dublin Ireland so it is truly uh uh both sides of both sides of it in speaking with the defensive backs some of them have mentioned the Aztec position uh what are you how would you describe that role what kind of player are you looking for there what how did it evolve that you wanted to add this wrinkle to the defense yeah it's it's its ability to get another DB on the field in in certain passing situations um I'm sure we've given it some creative name but all you're doing is adding a DB and taking out either a d-lineman or a linebacker when we're in passing situations and and we think we're going against an offense that might have four wide outs or or um truly in a passing situation you know you got to be able to match up and so they like it because we created this cool name called the Aztec but hey it's just another way to say get another safety on the field candidates for that position yeah all of them I mean we're pretty deep in the safeties room right as you look at Xavier Watson DJ Brown and Ramon Henderson and Thomas Harper and Antonio Carter um it's pretty deep and so we got to be creative in terms of how do we get those guys on the field right and and maybe not take one off and so who that guy becomes when we bring in another safety um it's still to be determined but I think it will be multiple guys that you'll see out there stretching all the way back to when you first got here as defensive coordinator but how how much have you seen the depth on the roster improve one through 85 and then I guess what are the benefits of that as you've gone through this Camp yeah I mean you you have to have depth right and so we've made sure to uh truly work on developing our twos and our threes you know our twos don't have a lot of game experience um and so that was something that I kind of challenged the coaches with it's it's easy to always rely on those guys that have played a lot of ball they know what they're doing but what we need to do is develop the depth of our team and so I've challenged the coaches like I want twos in there with ones like let's see what they can do against the best players we have and then the same thing with the threes we stay after practice every day and we have our own session of what we call Basics with the threes and it's all for development you know as we get ready to get closer to Navy like we're going to have to have some Scout teams but we're gonna need the twos we're gonna need depth throughout this season and so we have to develop that now on Camp and then Coach O'Leary the other day was talking about his cat reps and dog reps and the safeties made it clear they don't ever want to be on the cat rep and so um I'm wondering how much does that uh speak to the competitive nature that you program yeah I don't know a lot about cat and dog reps and um you know I don't spend a whole bunch of time in O'Leary's room um but that's a unique way of creating competition it sounds like to me then I'll have to ask them about that when I get back to the office about the cat and dog reps but it sounds like you want to be a dog right yeah that's probably it's it's a good description so listen I hope the coaches uh give off the vibe of the competitive Spirit we're looking for you know we need that man this there's there's a truly tactical aspect of playing a game of football right we have to be intelligent you have to make sure your schemes um um are are good enough to help you win but I've challenged our players and our coaches like we're going to be best when our great players play great so that's the challenge how do we get our great players to play great if if it's so you have so many different schemes offensively and defensively like that they're they're not playing fast well your great players aren't playing great right and so it's a challenge of the coaching staff to see what can this group handle that they can play fast because our great players will play great when they play fast and when they play fast when they have Clarity in what they're doing hey Marcus um you mentioned sort of transitioning into Navy now so with two weeks to go do you have you know at the top of the depth chart the starters how close are you to at least with the starters do you have a lot of jobs that are still open right now no I think we have a good idea of who going to be the the guys that will play a lot versus Navy um it isn't like we haven't done maybe you know uh I've been working with the Navy scout team the entire fall camp we do it at night you know me and a couple of gas and I think the Navy scout team were ready to go um today we started the scrimmage off with five full speed live one defense versus Navy scout team and uh I thought it was good just that our defense could get a feel for the speed um that we're hopefully going to be practicing against I'm not ready to say who's going to be the starters on the defense versus Navy um that's still to be determined but we have a good idea if the guys are going to be counting on for that game well then offensively I think um the one that we've heard about especially the most in the last week is your left guard position Pat Coogan and and Billy Shroff what has maybe kind of differentiated and separated those two um you know it's a great competition you know and and Coos has been getting more reps with the ones and and he's done a really good job man he's going to be a good player for us um I love the competition that we have going on at the guard spot you know Rocco spindler's been doing a heck of a job had a really good camping and Billy has too so you want to have four guards right and and I think right now we feel really good about three going in there um and and I look forward to evaluating today's scrimmage with Coach Rudolph and the offensive staff and saying okay who's going to be the the fourth the third and fourth guard that we say can go in a game at any point but man I love the the competition that they're having you know nobody's comfortable with those guard positions and I think we all know what the tackles are going to be and you all know who the center is going to be and so to continue to create that competition um is something that you love as a coach not row far right Eric Hansen hey coach I'm gonna take a stab at the injury question here hopefully I won't I've been waiting on that huh so we we've seen a lot of govira Bauman and KK on the bike we already mentioned KK was out yeah it kind of until maybe October but how about Aiden go Byron KK Smith I mean and and Bauman and then also is there anybody else that probably is not going to be ready for Navy Bowman partially tore his ACL again so uh he'll be out for the season and uh goodbye were the same thing he tore his ACL so he'll be out for the season both of those guys will be gone to season ending injuries uh KK as you said he's still the expected to return at some point during the season after his shoulder surgery um other than that there's no guys that we say will be out so so Eli's coming along he thought he'd be ready about her yeah and we're still on that same timeline we're just continuing to phase him into more and more practice the other thing I want to ask you was about the linebackers it's really interesting to see all the different roles and different people do you do you anticipate a wide rotation with those guys and then kind of where do Kaiser and Leah found fit in with the camps that they've had I mean we know what Mayors can do and we know what Kaiser can do right and they are they can play multiple positions right they can play true linebacker uh Maris is a guy we we can use to rush off the edge we use them last year to rush in passing situations um you're going to need three guys for sure if it weren't nickel to start at two positions you're gonna need that rotation and all three of those guys could play either position uh in the linebacker room and they go in your other part you got to be able to have some depth Jalen sneeze got to help us Jalen Snead is going to give us um really depth at linebacker in in rushing situations like he did for South Carolina and the other guy that's really showed you know there's two young guys Drake Bowen is has really ran with the twos um for the most part of of fall camp and done a really good job especially being a Freshman in Jaden Alsbury too you know I think those two guys are both freshmen that you're gonna you're truly gonna count on um and uh you know we'll see what zinner ends up doing as the season progresses but we're going to need a lot of people out of that linebacker room to play multiple positions as you said Turkey um how close are you to naming captains do you have an idea when you'll do that and any idea of what the number will be yeah I own an uh upcoming days uh I would like to be able to name captains pretty soon um could be in next 24 48 Hours uh the numbers to be determined that will be based off of um the results of the voting by the players and we haven't had a chance to talk to the receivers yet that's coming up and I'm curious in terms of the young guys you've got a lot of freshmen of the program who who is starting to to flash in your mind as a guy that you might be able to count on soon yeah I think you you got to expect to see Jaden great house Enrico Flores both play for us this year um I don't consider a Tobias a young guy even though he's only going into a second year here uh but but those two young guys I would see having to help us immediately and um they've shown the ability to do so um in practice you know Braylon James has had a good camp but but I really we'll see how that progresses with Braylon but I really think we'll see great house and Flores going back to last Saturday's practice that was maybe as a saw you pre-practice in your second year now how how have you been able to maybe find that balance of when to push these guys and to pull back a little bit I don't remember where was La it was last Saturday the night practice grass the grass fields um really a few Choice words in that yeah I can't remember what happened um you know there there's moments as a coach you have to have a feel for what your team needs right and and there's certain guys that I can really walk into a team meeting and look at and say I feel like I know what this team needs today our standards will never change our demands will never change but the the pressure you put on him to reach him can change they don't need motivation today it's a scrimmage we say there's a winner and loser today and so the winner gets the blue jersey so that's all the motivation they need I had to be clear on the expectation here's what I expect to see out of this scrimmage but they didn't need it maybe that day they they were dragging they need push they needed some intensity um and some days you need to be able to calm your team down and I think that's one of the great challenges of a head coach is you've got to have a feel you and this doesn't change the standard the standards are the standards what you say this is the standard of the way we practice or or the way we perform will never change but what that group needs in terms of maybe motivation for that day can change depending on what the day is and now that you're through quote training camp what do you know about this team that 14 17 days ago you you maybe didn't know or were waiting to see it's a physical Bunch it is a competitive physical passionate Bunch um that that we are still pushing to reach its full potential you know and that's just been I've constantly tell them that's the challenge that we have to focus on is is every day continuing to improve to reach our full potential right the result of that is the result of that as I said today like I know it's a jersey scrimmage and I said what's why are we playing why are we having a jersey scrimmage what's to get the blue jerseys but earning a blue jersey is a result of winning the interval is what we say right and that's got to be their focus don't worry about blue jerseys and all those different things focus on doing your job on his very first play with the effort attitude that we demand and so um that's kind of what I I'm just pushing this team to continue to focus don't don't don't worry about not we're not even at to the point we're playing Navy right now let's continue to focus on today and really improving and fixing the issues that we have with urgency so that when we play Navy on August 26th this group is as closest to that full potential as they can be front row on your lock job syllable Marcus uh last time last time we talked to you mentioned the need for a fourth corner to step up behind Morrison Hart and Mickey looked like Christian Gray was getting a lot of those second team reps Tuesday's practice what have you seen from him in the past few weeks he's had a really good camp you know chance Tucker's been down with an Achilles a little bit he's you know practice a little bit then we pulled him back um and so it's gave Christian valuable Reps versus really good white Alton and uh I've seen him perform and so he's really um developed some trust in coach mickens and myself to say okay hey I can be the fourth corner and then again moving inside of that nickel Corner position I have either Thomas or Clarence separated themselves or they both can play a lot both of them are going to help us and uh I don't know who's going to run out there first yet but both of those guys are going to play a lot of ball for us and both of those guys have had a great camp Mark as you talked about sort of developing depth and choosing the threes I was interested in a quarterback how you specific camp for Angeli and minchi not just to give them work but as a staff you have to get a good evaluation of them now because at the end of the season you sort of know you got to know what you have there so I was curious how that process went what you feel like you learned about both of those guys yeah when you have a a quarterback um in certain positions especially in the threes that need evaluation of valuable reps you have to script the reason there and that's something in the past and I've said all right we're good on the three easily hey we'll get them later we'll get them after practice we've had a lot of reps with our threes because we have not of them just at the corner position we have guys at the d-line the o-line that have to be able to show us what they can do and we got to give them a chance to develop and so I've seen a lot of good out of Steve and Kenny you know I think coach Gino gadulli and Jared have done a great job of of getting those guys to understand what the scheme is really how to perform both of them performed really well today really really well you mentioned sort of I a couple weeks ups and downs offensively are they are the UPS consistently up and down consistently down it's curious if you feel like you know what the strength of the offense is or or does it sort of Change by the practice Yeah I think sometimes I can do opposite of maybe what I tell the players all the time is like don't be so outcome driven and if if I'm standing back there and I feel like the defense is winning a drill um you can feel like it's an up and down day for the offense but as I've gone back and evaluated it um they've truly just continued to progress and um you're not going to win every drill right you're not going to win every team competition but they have truly progressed and today they peeped they peaked today um they really performed at a high level in The Run game and and object didn't practice today right we kept object out and uh jadarian price he came out after the first series so you saw him perform in the Run game with Jeremiah Love um uh Devin Ford right uh jadarian price guys that haven't proven it so much here yet and you saw them perform in the Run game protection for the past game uh today was a great Peak but I hope this ain't a peak for what we're going to see in the future down in front on your left thyroid workout Marcus we talked to Spencer Schrader a few days ago and I'm just curious when you were made aware of some of the stuff he's done off the field playing soccer in Brazil I started a couple companies do you know about that stuff yeah what do you think about that and then how impressive is it to see him do what he does on the field you know in combination with that stuff yeah I think he's going to be a great weapon for us um he's been as consistent as anybody in Fall camp and has a has a huge Lake you know he is definitely a a huge enhancement to our football program um as far as off the field I got to learn a lot of those things as we were recruiting them as I got to visit with them um you know when he was being recruited he's a unique uh really unique mature individual that is thinking about life beyond the game of football and and I think that's part of what attracted him to Notre Dame he could have went to a lot of different places but he understood this place right and that's what I told him in our meeting like if you have interest Beyond this game of football I understand this is one of the most powerful networks there are there are in in all of college all of college education so you can maximize your off the field interests as well as playing football here at the highest level recently learned that Notre Dame and Under Armor are going to be paired for the next 10 years I'm curious in the couple years that you've been here what you've what your relationship was has been with Under Armor I guess and what you've thought about the partnership and then maybe where it can go in the next 10 years as these apparel deals become more and more like Frontline information if that if that makes sense yeah uh I've been weren't under armor since my time at Cincinnati we were under armored school when I was there and um you know throughout this entire process of um the apparel deal I've been in communication with Jack and and I trust Jack swarber right and he's going to do what's best for Notre Dame and um that's exactly what he's he's done I have no I love Under Armor I've been wearing it for a long time and we got a lot of Under Armor clothes for our children at the house that I I would like to be able to keep you know and so um it's it's been great man and and Jack's never going to put our athletic department um in a bad situation and that's when he asked me Jack listen I have no problem with under I love our Under Armor and I know you're going to do what's what's right for our players and for our athletic department and that's what he did to your right third grade Temple Valley coach we've had only seen Snippets but the defensive interior especially that quartet plus they really if they exceeded our expectations if that matters did they meet or exceed yours and Coach Washington's it seems like a very active violent group that you have yeah they're they take after their coach I mean wash is I mean that's a passionate dude man and um he's a lot of fun to coach with I remember when we first coached together at uh Cincinnati I had known Al from my days in college and uh but to coach with him he is he is a energy provider he's a great football coach but an energy provider and so when he had a chance to hire him um it was without hesitation and I wanted him a part of our staff and I think what you see is that our D line is reflecting their position coach and um it's a huge credit to him and what he's done with that room the passion the effort the fundamentals that they play with I wish I I could take credit for it but he's done a a really good job with that room and you got some young guys that that haven't played a lot that are performing well in Jason Anya and uh um Gabe Rubio and some of those guys Donnie heinous he's I told him I said you'll remind me of another 41 that played here when I was a defensive coordinator I mean he's showing up and um it's been really good to see I feel Nolan Ziegler do you expect him to be able to rejoin the program at some point this season yeah he's here he's he's here with the program he's just um dealing with some off the field issues but he is uh he's a part of our program and uh he was at practice today yep all the way in the back with the cameras um Leo golden hey coach obviously each preparing for each game comes with its set of challenges but for this one you guys are doing a lot of travel um I know that you have a plan in place to make sure that there's no jet lag no anything like that when you guys at the field Saturday what can you tell us about the preparations that are going into that yeah I just we have a great team um Ron Paulson Olivia Mitchell and in some of our operations team John waggle uh who's director of sports performance we we've kind of got together in the summer and and came up with our plan and you can talk you talk to as many people as you can have done it I mean NFL teams do it weekly all right and so we came up with our plan that what we think is going to help our players ultimately feel the best Saturday night um in Dublin time and uh that's what we're going to do but we'll leave out here Wednesday and get there early Thursday morning and got a great plan once we get there you're about to enter into your second season so how are you are you any different this year entering in than you were in your first season yeah you you have a year of experience you know and and that's what I like to tell people last year um I had a blueprint based on other individuals experiences as being a head coach right I gather my own ideas and but I've never done it this year you can make enhancements based off your own personal experience and that's kind of what been it's been what I've done really is say okay what things did I learned from being a head coach last year what ways can you enhance and give your players a better chance to perform at the level we need them to and so there's no substitute for experience and guess I'm gonna be better next year than I was this year because I'll have two years of experience and so that's just that's to me more valuable than anything as you're finishing up this training camp here this last week has there been any differences that you've taken from last year and adjusted the train camp this year yeah I think the intentionality of how we practice um has been big I've been I've spent some time with John waggle uh and just kind of evaluated the total output of of all the practices and hey what are we trying to get out of this practice and there's certain products like there's certain practices like today that won't change like we had to have a jersey scrimmage we had to play a hundred plays how do I make sure I can tweak the practices before this to try to perform at the level I want them to for this practice and so really kind of just utilizing some of the feedback um in in making small tweaks to the plan that we've Set uh to ultimately again it's all about making sure for those 12 guaranteed opportunities that we have that we can perform at the highest level like nothing else matters it really that's a total code this is about everything we do is to give our players the best chance to succeed so if we're not doing that then shame on us all right and so that's what we got to continue to focus on we all might have different opinions in terms into how to make sure this team's prepared we we utilize our our thoughts and opinions but ultimately everybody in that room um we want to make sure our players are able to form at the highest level possible on those 12 guaranteed opportunities that they have and then our last question today coach I don't want to get your thoughts on what's your first question you ever asked I know right I want to get your thoughts on the uh mentorship or accountability from the older guys I've seen cam heart kind of holding Michael Bell accountable and the same with 90 with Jason Anya kind of on emotional established and also with uh Sam Hartman and Angeli I think it just speaks to the Brotherhood that this program has um there's a level of respect that you have to have to be able to take accountability from a peer but there's also a level of humbleness that you have to have and I think that's the the biggest thing we have to understand is that our guys that have experience our leaders um they have to hold the young players accountable because that's going to make them better young guys you have to embrace that accountability because it's going to make you better and so if everybody understands that this isn't personal attacks this is everybody trying to improve which ultimately is going to help Notre Dame football improve um I think everybody's going to be more willing to do that and so you try to show them examples I showed them Aaron Rodgers and uh Zach Wilson we showed them the first episode just part of the first episode of Hard Knocks and you talk about a guy that was two years ago I think the second overall pick right in the humility he has to take the coaching of Aaron Rodgers one of the best to ever do it and and Aaron Rodgers come in and said you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna help this young guy grow because he's got a chance to be special I mean and so we showed it to our players like this is what it's about it's about understanding the roads where you want to go is Bumpy but embracing your role and embracing your road all right thank you guys

Channel: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Views: 13,190

Keywords: university of notre dame, fighting irish, college, university, sports, acc, notre dame, football, ncaa, notre dame football news today, notre dame football, marcus freeman, fall camp, football camp, press conference, presser, media availability

Id: o8xC42Wq7nQ

Length: 30min 15sec (1815 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023