Marcus Freeman shares what makes Drew Pyne 'unique and special'

Notre Dame is already without its starting quarterback in Tyler Buchner, and backup quarterback Drew Pyne also briefly left last week’s win over UNLV. He came back in, and Marcus Freeman acknowledged the toughness he showed.

That said, he has a message for his new QB1: Protect yourself.

Freeman told reporters he admired Pyne’s toughness he showed when he scrambled to the goal line and took a hit to the head. He left for evaluation, but came back after consulting with the doctors. Freeman said Pyne’s ability to improvise is part of what makes him dangerous, but he has to make sure he doesn’t get himself hurt.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“You never want to see your quarterback get hit like that, the one he scrambled,” Freeman said. “You want to tell him to go down, but he’s also trying to score a touchdown. That competitive side of Drew Pyne is what makes him unique and special. The improv stuff, I mean, go through your progression — one to two to three — and make a decision. He can, obviously, extend some plays with that improv that he has.

“But you’ve got to protect yourself. And I’m not worried about as much as the depth as much as Drew, you’ve got to protect yourself. He’s not a 6-5, 230-pound football player like the guy we’re about to see. He’s a smaller guy that, really, can’t take a whole bunch of those blows even though he probably thinks he can. I don’t want to see him do it, especially as somebody that cares about him as the head coach, but go through your progression, one to two to three, make a decision [and] let’s go.”

Marcus Freeman shares update on Drew Pyne injury

It was a scary moment in the second quarter Saturday as Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne took a big hit from a UNLV defender and left the game. Pyne returned, though, and Marcus Freeman shared what went into that decision after the game.

Pyne took the ball 21 yards to the one-yard line, where he was met by a defender and appeared to take a hit to the head. He departed for the next play — a Mitchell Evans touchdown run — and true freshman Steve Angeli came in at quarterback to start the next drive. However, Pyne returned after a few plays once he got cleared to play again, Freeman said.

“[Pyne] tried to stay in the game,” Freeman said. “The doctors pulled him out to make sure they evaluate him and then after that series, a couple plays, said he was ready to go. He wanted to keep going, but the doctors said, ‘You’re out.’ They did the evaluation and they gave him the thumbs-up to go back in the game.”