Marcus Freeman addresses series of foot injuries throughout offseason

Notre Dame football is snake-bit with lower leg injuries at the moment. Not an ideal development at fall training camp just ahead of the start of the season. But, in order to ramp up for actual games, practices have to become more physical as August wears on. More physicality at practice ultimately means more opportunity for injury. Football’s a dangerous sport, though, and health is often the price.

So the Fighting Irish are already dealing with a series of foot injuries this summer. Is there supernatural phenomenon behind these injuries? According to new ND head coach Marcus Freeman…

“No, (it’s) just what happens, I guess, with working out and practiced,“ said Freeman, before noting a player who recently suffered a major injury. “The foot injuries, I mean, Jadarian Price, that’s an Achilles injury that’s gonna happen no matter what.”

Tough break for the true freshman RB. Freeman also mentioned a foot injury that senior receiver Joe Wilkins suffered in the spring.

“We had a Lisfranc early in the summer, but those are injuries that happen across college football. I mean, every year you see a guy with a Lisfranc or a foot injury. I mean, it’s a part of this game. It’s a tough, grueling game that the only way to prepare your team is to make it hard and to work at it.”

Not much luck of the Irish below the ankles for Notre Dame football. Marcus Freeman knows, though, that at this time of year, it’s time to put the pads on in practice. And that increase in intensity can lead to injuries.

“If we didn’t have to go out there and bang each other and work really hard and play on September third, we wouldn’t do that, but we know as a coaching staff that this is what’s necessary to prepare your team to play a grueling 12-game season, guaranteed 12 games. It’s what it takes and until somebody tells me otherwise, you have to trust the preparation and your process to getting your team ready.”

Wise words from Marcus Freeman, who knows the price of playing high-level, high-intensity football at Notre Dame.