Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after second fall camp news conference

For the second time since the start of Notre Dame football fall camp began on July 31, Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media on Saturday.

During his about 15-minute news conference Freeman fielded questions pertaining to the offensive line, Riley Leonard, Tyler Buchner and more. Here is everything he told reporters.

Opening statement:

“It was a really good scrimmage. I don’t have the total number of plays. I’ll get that at some point. But we wanted to get around 100 (plays) between the ones, twos and threes. I know we were close. We might even have went over that a little bit. The offense ended up winning 40 to 42. Again, it’s a unique way of scoring. Nobody really knows how it’s scored — they just kind of look at the scoreboard.

“The keys to victory in the jersey scrimmage is — I challenge the group — It’s the opening drive. ‘Can I get a first down and keep the drive going? Or if the defense is able to get a three and out?’ Which is really hard to do. But you know, the offense was able to establish nine first downs on that opening drive and the defense stopped them — had three, three and outs.

“Then the other key is turnovers. And the defense forced two turnovers. But the positive part is, it wasn’t the ones or twos, right? The threes. So we’re going to need everybody. So I don’t want to make it like it’s not important, but man, it was really the best jersey scrimmage I’ve been a part of to see two groups really competing throughout the entirety of the scrimmage. 

“Again, not everybody played. Some guys got a couple of reps and got some live reps (then) we pulled them, but it was really good to see. I told our coaching staff, ‘Man, that’s the most prepared group I’ve been a part of — both sides of the ball.’ Really competing, really executing, not trying to trick each other, just doing what you’ve been doing. 

“It was a great scrimmage. So, I’m very pleased. (I) look forward to going back and watching it and finding ways that we have to improve.

“Chance Tucker got injured. I don’t know the extent of his injury. I think they said it was a lower leg/knee. But I don’t know the extent of it. But other than that, we stayed healthy.” 

On where he has seen the most improvement on offense:

“I think the elimination of mental errors, pre-snap errors, formations — like the clean from practice one to practice 15 — you’ve seen it become clean. Like, it’s an explosive offense. They do a lot of different things, a lot of motions, a lot of shifts. They utilize a lot of different personnel. And when you do that, it takes time to get clean, right? 

“What I say is, ‘When there’s clarity, then you see velocity.’ You see guys playing with speed. That’s, to me, the biggest positive is that, ‘Man, the execution, the way you eliminate pre-snap penalties, is really been pleasing to see.”

On the offensive line’s development since losing Charles Jagusah and if they have a starting five set:

“We’ll have discussions about who’s going to be the starting offensive line, probably after tonight, tomorrow, as we get into Texas A&M prep. We’ve been using multiple guys at the tackle, at the guard positions. But we know at some point we got to make a decision, and say, ‘These are going to be our five guys moving forward.’ We haven’t made that decision yet.”

On what he’s seen from Riley Leonard and if he’s comfortable naming him the starting quarterback:

“Yeah, he’s been with the ones the whole time. That was the goal. But the best thing is, he’s taken care of the football. He’s been in red. We know he can do some things with his legs, but we’ve kind of forced him, ‘Hey, we know you can run the ball. Let’s continue to watch you progress in the passing game, making checks, being able to put the offense in great situations.’ 

“That’s what you’re most pleased about. But he’s taking care of the football, and that’s what we need at our quarterback.”

On what he has seen from Tosh Baker and liked how he’s handled the opportunity put in front of him:

“Tosh is a guy that’s been out there, has game experience. He’s an older guy that has a lot of talent. He’s a leader in that room, right? And elevates those around him. I’ve been pleased with what he’s done since the injury of Charles Jagusah.” 

On what he has seen from O-linemen Anthonie Knapp and Sam Pendelton to give them first-team reps and if they have been named the starters:

“We have not named a starting offensive line yet, and we will at some point. We have too soon. But what they’ve done is they’ve created a lot of confidence in the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach with what they’ve been doing with the reps. I don’t care if it’s been with the ones or the twos; we want our guys to know that we’re evaluating everything you do. 

“Now the challenge is, when you’re young, and you’re doing a really good job with the twos, we’ve got to put you with the ones. We got to see what you can do versus our best. And that’s what we’ve done, and both of those two have done an unbelievable job.”

On hiring Anthony Treash as the director of analytics and his function on game days and non-game days:

“Obviously, the director of analytics will be a guy that helps you out using the book, during the game, but also, again, a guy that can evaluate trends of prospects, trends of your current team, looking at numbers. I think he’s a guy that’s going to be very beneficial to the addition of our recruiting and our support staff. 

“It was a position we felt that we didn’t have, that we needed to have to really be able to maximize this football program. He’s only been here a couple of days, but I think he’s going to be a valuable asset.”

On the challenges of playing five linebackers:

“They’ve been wonderful. We got five guys that can be in at any time, and we have a lot of confidence. I think that creates a little bit of unity. Like, ‘Hey, whoever’s in on the field, they’re representing the entire room.’ We’ll find ways to get them all on the field. 

“We demand you play with an effort that I don’t know (if) we can only play with two or three linebackers the entire game. The effort that we demand the guys on defense — on our entire team play with — it’s really hard to just have one group out there. We’ll find ways to get all five of those guys on the field.”

On non-starters who have stepped up to be third-down pass rushers:

“Man, it’s hard to name just four, but Boubacar (Traore) has done a good job of really rushing after the passer. You utilize — it’s not just defensive line. You can utilize linebackers — what you saw Jaylen Sneed do last year. 

“I really like our pass rush package in terms of who we’re able to get on the field, but it’s a deep one, right? We have some guys who can rush the passer, and I know Coach (Al) Golden will have those guys on the field that need to be on the field.”

On how he balances experience versus upside on the offensive line going into a rough environment at Texas A&M:

“We take all those things into consideration. Who has experience, the ceiling of the individuals you have in that room. Really, where will they be week one versus where will they be week eight? That’s something that you even saw last year as we progressed throughout the season — you had a couple of new guys that ended up starting. So those are just all those things we have conversations about, and we take all those things into consideration. 

“At some point, when we say, ‘Okay, let’s name the starting five offensive line.’ But you do — you have some experience, and you have guys that aren’t as experienced or have zero experience but are really talented football players. At some point, you just have to make a decision based off all those facts you mentioned and be confident who you’re going to have out there on week one. 

“What we decide on is best for week one, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the best for week five or six. That’s something we discussed as a coaching staff. But we got to figure out what’s best for week one.”

On if there has been a vote for captains, when he will announce them and if there is a limit for captains: 

“There has not been a vote yet? I want to do it here soon. I’ll just say soon. 

“No, that will be based off of really the voting. We will give them the opportunity to vote for who they feel are the captains, and then I’ll get a final say with the numbers. That’s always based off to me, ‘Hey, like, what does the team view as captains?’ Usually, it tells you there’s a clump. There might be one captain, there might be two captains, there might be five captains. It’s going to be based off the voting.”

On having Tyler Buchner back and his progression at his new position: 

“​​He’s done a great job. It’s good to see him back. It’s good to see his face. There’s a level of comfort, obviously, I have with him being a part of this program, but he’s owned his role. Obviously, he’s in the wideout room. There’s some different things we’re going to have him do to help our program, but that’s what he wanted to do. 

“He said, ‘Coach, all I want to do is help this football program. Whatever I can do, whatever you guys ask me to do, I’ll do it.’ Every once in a while, I’ll see him throwing balls in the wide-out drills, which I think he just wants to have an itch to throw the football. But he’s been a great teammate, and that’s all you can ask out of him.”

On where Buchner fits into a talented wide receiver room and how that group is meshing going into the fall: 

“I don’t know if he’s pushing right now to be a starter. But he’s embraced his role. 

“I’m really pleased with the job Coach (Mike) Brown has done with that wideouts room. We’ve said we want to play six to eight wideouts. I can think of eight to nine right now that have shown us that we can depend on them to be on that field. So, there’s been a major progression. They’ve been healthy. They made some big plays today, and they’ve been making big plays all fall camp. 

“So, that’s a trust of the coordinator. It’s a trust of the quarterback to throw those balls, but also they’ve earned that trust by the ability to make them.”

On when he felt the offense had a handle on the pace of the offense and the inclusion of motion: 

“I think they’re always going to try to find ways to make it better. The one thing I said today was it was clean. There wasn’t any pre-snap penalties, and the one that we did have a delay of game, we probably didn’t restart the clock when we needed. 

“But that’s the point I was asked about earlier. That’s what I’ve said has really been the most impressive thing from the start of camp till now — the way we’ve cleaned up our offense. It’s clean, it’s crisp. You don’t see pre snap penalties, and that’s a sign of a team that understands exactly what’s expected of them.”

On how much DL Howard Cross III and TE Mitchell Evans played in the jersey scrimmage on Saturday and the work they need before A&M:

“They’ve gotten plenty of work in practice. They’re both back practicing. We held both of those guys out, along with a couple of other guys. So they didn’t play today. But they’ve both practiced enough that, I mean, I think if we had a game today, both of them would be able to go. We felt like we didn’t need to put them out there right now. But they’re expected to be back for sure.”

On his plan to keep the team from melting at Texas A&M:

“I think sometimes you can overdo it. We can’t control the weather here. We’ve had some hot days. We’ve had some not-so-hot days. I think as we change to the afternoons — our practice schedules to the afternoons — you’ll have more heat. But I think the thing we got to continue to remind our guys are how to replenish your body. How to make sure that you’re fueling the right way in between practices, in between series, in between plays. 

“Like, that’s important. It’s not just, ‘Hey, before the game, you got to make sure you hydrate.’ There are things that we’ve really been practicing during practice now. Like, ‘How do you refuel yourself?’ So, other parts, it’s a mentality; it’s gonna be hot. Yeah, it’s gonna be hot. We’ll be fine. We’re hydrated, we’re well conditioned. Our strength staff has done a great job. Don’t let things that shouldn’t distract you, distract you.”

On how much of a factor depth becomes in dealing with the heat at Texas A&M:

“The depth is going to be important, right? That’s with or without heat. I think that’s just with the way we play, the tempo on offense, the way you demand, how hard you demand your guys to play — the effort. We spend a lot of time watching our effort. 

“Do we play through the whistle? When we say win the interval, that’s five seconds, that could be nine seconds. So, if we’re demanding that type of effort, we have to have guys that are able to roll in there.”

On Jayden Thomas comparing Leonard to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson:

“Man, I’m no quarterback guru. JT’s (Jayden Thomas) opinion is JT. But he is a physical, good-looking dude, man. I don’t know how big Josh Allen is. I don’t think he’s Lamar Jackson, you know, the NFL MVP, but he’s exactly what we need.”

On how much of a resource sports psychologist Joey Ramaeker is:

“Joey’s our sports psychologist. He can meet with our guys privately, and he’s also been able to just talk to our guys about ways to refocus. That’s something we’ve been preaching about, how we make sure we win those 170 minutes that we’re not actually playing. And Joey has really given them some tools.

“But to me, it’s a greater example of our whole sports performance team. We have great individuals, from Loren Landow to Rob Hunt to Alexa Appelman and Joey Ramaeker and all these guys that work together along with me to say, ‘Okay, how do we best give our guys a chance to have success?’ Part of it is sports psychology, is nutrition, it’s in the weight room. Joey’s done a terrific job in executing his role within our program. That team has worked really well together.”

On the Notre Dame men’s swimming program being suspended for one year:

“I think it’s a great reminder for you as the head coach to make sure your student-athletes, your coaching staff, everybody, a part of your program, understands the rules and the expectations. This is in football, and this is the example you’re mentioning: we have to learn from the mistakes of others. 

“We can’t always depend on the mistakes we make to learn from them. We have to be able to utilize the mistakes that other football teams make, other sports programs, other students, other adults — we have to utilize those opportunities. So this is another great example of that.”