Urban Meyer praises Marcus Freeman's 'phenomenal' maturity as 'secret sauce' to Notre Dame's success

Urban Meyer sang the praises of Marcus Freeman following Notre Dame’s three-point victory over Penn State on Thursday, which secured the Fighting Irish a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Evidently, Meyer believes Freeman’s maturity and leadership is what’s helped bring Notre Dame back to the forefront of college football, claiming it’s the Fighting Irish’s “secret sauce” for being able to defeat some of the top programs in the nation.

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“I think it goes back to the way he was as a player at Ohio State,” Meyer explained, via The Herd. “He’s always had that reputation of doing things the right way, being unselfish and an extremely hard worker. I think that’s what he is. As a position coach for Luke Fickell — Luke Fickell is one of my guys, so I know Marcus Freeman very well. I followed him — I actually called him, I saw his press conference after they lost to Marshall, and he looked exactly like you thought he would look. He looked like, ‘What in the world just happened? Where am I, and what am I doing?’ I remember Mack Brown reached out to me when I was at Florida and was in a similar situation. I was a little bit over my skis, and you’ve just become overwhelmed. I talked to him quite a bit. I stayed in touch with him.

“His maturity of a coach is, I don’t want to say it’s unprecedented, but it’s phenomenal, what he’s done. He’s got a good roster. Not a great roster. He does not have, you know, the two rosters playing tonight are better than Notre Dame’s, but they’ve got something very special in that locker room. Their leadership, their toughness, and they refuse to lose. That game was almost out of hand in that first half against Penn State, and they — you’ve got to give Marcus Freeman and his coaching staff credit, but also those damn players, man. I was there. I watched them. They refused to lose, and just toughed it out. That was a great win for them.”

Ironically, Freeman could end up facing his former team if Ohio State is able to secure a victory over Texas on Friday evening. It’s not guaranteed, but it would certainly make for some fascinating storylines throughout the college football world.

Regardless of what happens moving forward, Freeman has proven to be the right man for the job, and he’s becoming one of college football’s premier coaches. He has the respect of Urban Meyer, and the rest of the college football world is following along, as well.