Marcus Freeman reveals plan for redshirting players

Notre Dame entered their last game versus Navy with four guaranteed games left in the season, since they captured bowl eligibility in their upset victory over Clemson. Freshmen can play in four games and still maintain their redshirt, which allowed head coach Marcus Freeman to play some of his freshmen on Saturday versus the Midshipmen, which included linebacker Jaylen Sneed and running back Gi’Bran Payne. This week Freeman was asked about the importance of getting his freshman involved in their final games of the season or if it was overrated.

“No, I think it’s important if you can, and for those two guys they can play in the last four games and still redshirt and that was something we kind of took into consideration now that you have four games left,” Freeman said.

Freeman pulled back the curtain and dove into the thought process of getting freshman playing time down the stretch along with balancing the idea of redshirting them.

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“They haven’t played yet this year and they have the ability to help us and it’s always that double-edged sword early in the season,” Freeman explained. “Yeah they could help us, but are they gonna play enough where you wanna burn their redshirt? And if we can hold them, let’s hold them, and so now we don’t have to hold them.”

Freeman spoke more about Snead and his debut for the Irish, as he recorded the first collegiate tackle of his career playing in a relief role to starting linebacker JD Betrand who was a late scratch in Saturday’s matchup.

“Sneed had a very specific responsibility and a role for Saturday, I don’t know if JD wouldn’t have been hurt exactly how much Jaylen would’ve played, if he would’ve played, but with JD being down we found a great opportunity for Jaylen Sneed to go in there and have a specific role, and he did a really good job,” Freeman said. “Sometimes you just let those young guys get out there and play and he showed up and did some really good things.”

Payne also got some playing time for the Irish for the first time in his career, playing on special teams in place of wide receiver Joe Wilkins who recently entered the transfer portal.

“Same thing with Gi’Bran, Joe Wilkins leaving we needed an off-returner for kickoff return and he has been a guy back there catching kickoffs and even catching some punts. And so we’ve been holding him and now with four games left, you can play him and still get his redshirt,” Freeman said.

It’s always fun to watch young players make their debut, and it will definitely be interesting to see what other Irish freshmen could potentially touch the field for Notre Dame as the season nears the end.