Marcus Freeman reveals offensive line backups standing out to him

Notre Dame has won four of its last five games and first-year head coach Marcus Freeman appears to be settling in. Particularly up front on the offensive line the Fighting Irish are clicking, though that’ll be put to the test against the top two teams in the ACC Atlantic the next two weeks.

Freeman is thrilled with the work his starting group on the O-line has put in, to the point he’s really focused on tweaking the normal development plan for the backups since they haven’t been used in games as much.

“If you’re able to get a big enough lead, yeah, you want to get some of that second group in there,” Freeman said. “But we’ve been really intentional about having more meaningful reps with those second-team guys in practice.”

Freeman singled out several players who have caught his eye in practice, essentially outlining the depth chart behind the starters.

And the starters have been good of late.

Notre Dame averaged just 3.27 yards per carry and 117.7 yards per game on the ground in the first three games of the year. In the last four, those numbers have gone up to 5.05 yards per carry and 223.5 yards per game.

Still, Freeman was able to single out the guys on the second-team unit who have impressed him.

“(Andrew) Kristofic has played some this year,” he said. “He’s probably the next guy at guard. Rocco Spindler‘s done it well, good job. Pat Coogan at center has done a good job. Tosh Baker‘s playing some tackle. Trying to think, right tackle, (Michael) Carmody‘s right tackle.”

Offensive line backups getting different work regimen

Interestingly enough, Freeman explained how he has tinkered with the normal in-season development plan for his backup linemen.

While the starting group is firing on all cylinders right now, he knows the backups need to be ready in case of injury. Three of the team’s remaining five games are against ranked opponents — two of those currently top-10 teams — so the going’s about to get a lot tougher.

“They’re almost on like a different plan in terms of they’re getting extra work in the weight room,” Freeman said. “Usually guys that have a chance to go in the game you’re very limited on what you do in-season lift wise. We’re working them extra in the weight room, we’re doing extra stuff on the field with those guys. They’re still finding ways to develop.

“We’re getting them more reps. When we do some team periods, we’ll do more reps with the twos at times at the end of practice just to continue to get them those reps that they need that maybe they’re not getting in the game.”

That will be the continued plan of attack for the Fighting Irish going forward unless and until there’s a need to change it.

“Rolling those guys in practice, but right now the consistency that that first group has we don’t need to roll them,” Freeman said. “They’re healthy, they’re playing well. Let’s continue to keep that core unit together.”