Marcus Freeman believes Notre Dame has 'one of the most talented rosters' of his tenure

Notre Dame will be entering the third season of the career of Marcus Freeman this fall. It’s a big year with new opportunities in South Bend and one that the head coach expects could be the best out of the trio thus far.

Freeman spoke about the Fighting Irish’s next campaign during his press conference following the Blue-Gold Game on April 20th. He started by saying that he hopes he himself is better as he goes into year three on the job.

“Yeah, I think, you know, obviously, through experience, hopefully I’m a better head coach today than I was the first two times I was up here,” said Freeman.

However, Freeman also anticipates the roster to be their best yet. Considering what you need to have a whole team that can contend, he thinks this group has as much talent as any of the three that he has had.

“Every year, you look at what do you need talent-wise to really mold it together, to make a run? I believe this probably is – I would want to say – one of the most talented rosters we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Freeman said.

Now, from here, it’s on him and his staff to work together to make the most of their team. They have as much in front of them as the players, if not more, in order to help them be where they want to come kickoff.

“Now it’s our job to build that talent. Mold that talent and make sure we teach that talent to get to where we want to go,” said Freeman. “We have a new offensive coordinator, a couple new coaches. So we have to really continue to grow as coaches to develop that talent that we have.”

Notre Dame is 19-7 combined over the pair of seasons under Freeman. They improved by one game in 2023 at 10-3 after going 9-4 during his debut in 2022. They been ranked well in the AP Poll in both and won both of their bowl games but have been well outside of the picture for the College Football Playoff with no rating better than 15th.

Still, with a 12-bid field for the playoff in ’24, this year could be a new one for Notre Dame. That provides a lot of energy and interest to look forward as they go into the summer and prepare themselves for the start of what could potentially be a great season for them based on the team that they’ve built.

“I’m excited. I’m excited for this group. I am excited for the build that we’re creating right now. We’re building towards that first game we have in College Station,” Freeman said. “I love where we’re at. We have to really make some strides from now until summer. Then, when they get back for summer, those six, eight weeks? We’ve got to make sure that they’re really efficient.”

“We’re learning but I really love where this group is progressing to,” said Freeman.