Marcus Freeman stresses need for depth with lengthened college football season

Coaches have consistently had to adapt in recent seasons, including to the elongated schedule that comes with making a national championship run. That was an experience that Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman experienced for the first time last season and will now be one he leans on as he tries to get the Irish back to the College Football Playoff.

Freeman recently appeared on Always College Football. There, he stressed the need for depth amid the lengthened season.

“I think it’s a reminder of the depth that you need,” Marcus Freeman said. “I think you can’t ooze into this season, especially with the schedule we have. We have Miami, the University of Miami, Florida, that very first game and we’ve got to be ready to go. Now, how you structure your summer conditioning, how you structure your training camp, to me is always being adaptable. How do we find healthier ways to do things, but also make sure we’re prepared?”

Injuries did become a major issue for Notre Dame in 2024, particularly along the line of scrimmage. However, as Freeman pointed out, most of those didn’t come from practice. Those practice injuries, without sacrificing any performance on gameday, are a major key for Freeman to continue to prevent.

“I think as we look back at last year, it was probably the healthiest in terms of practice injuries that we’ve had since I’ve been the head coach,” Freeman said. “But, also, we practiced probably 14 to 15 percent more than we ever have, and so we’re always looking for ways as a sports performance staff to evaluate how we practice, how we train, to make sure that we’re ready to go but also to prevent as many preventable injuries as we can.”

Notre Dame played in 16 games last season, making it all the way to the championship game while not playing in a conference championship game. The eventual national champion, Ohio State, had the same path. Others who lost their conference championships but made the CFP, like Penn State, faced a potential 17-game season.

Previously, the longest possible season for a team was 15 games in the four-team CFP era. That, itself, was already a much longer season than the BCS era and other previous instances of the college football postseason.

That all gives more time for injuries to occur and room for stretches where depth becomes more important. At the same time, this comes when maintaining depth is harder than it has in the past thanks to player movement in the Transfer Portal. So, finding a way to avoid injuries, as Marcus Freeman is looking to at Notre Dame, is becoming even more important.