Marcus Freeman shares what he wants to see by first game

Notre Dame is expected to return to its historic excellence in 2023 under second-year head coach Marcus Freeman.

During an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday, Freeman revealed how he expects his team to progress through the rest of the offseason based on what he’s seen so far after an up-and-down first season leading the Irish.

“We’re at a different point now than we were in in the spring and then the things that our players can do in the summer, you don’t have to start back over,” Freeman said about the offseason’s trend. “But it’s the ability to make sure that you get everything checked off on your checklist and not just say that you did it in practice but that we perfected.

And that’s going to be our challenge, is to make sure that over the course of four weeks of training camp that we’re prepared as we go into Dublin, Ireland for our first game against Navy, we take these situations we know, we talked about and we perfected them in practice and really defined what the culture of this team will be. I have a vision as a head coach of what I want to see from this football team, but we’re gonna see over the course of this training camp really who we become.”

The way last season ended up is why Freeman is looking to tie up the loose ends during fall camp. Falling to Ohio State on the road for the Irish’s season opener 21-10 is one thing, but for Marshall to come into South Bend and essentially control Notre Dame and walk out victorious was unacceptable.

Notre Dame would go on to win eight of its next nine games afterward, essentially righting those early season wrongs and ending the season 9-4 after a thrilling 45-38 win over South Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.

In 2023, the Irish have multiple opportunities to earn that signature win that eluded Freeman in his first season as head coach. Having Ohio State and USC at home, as well as taking on Clemson in Death Valley, gives Notre Dame a chance to notch wins over the potential Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC champions.

As long as Notre Dame doesn’t bite the dust in any of the other matchups, a College Football Playoff berth could be in the Irish’s near future.