Five things Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman said on 'The Hard Count' with J.D. PicKell

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman appeared on ‘The Hard Count’ with On3’s J.D. PicKell on Tuesday morning. He and PicKell covered a number of interesting topics.

Blue & Gold covered two things Freeman said extensively earlier on Tuesday: His thoughts on the Notre Dame quarterback situation and his thoughts on former Tennessee signal-caller Nico Iamaleava, who left the Volunteers over a contract dispute.

Freeman also discussed the 2024-25 season, new defensive coordinator Chris Ash, whether Notre Dame has more recruiting juice following their run to the national championship game and more. Here are five things he said on PicKell’s show.

Full video:

On why Notre Dame was constantly found a way in the fourth quarter last season

I think No. 1, it’s a belief. It’s a belief that no matter what the situation is, that we’re gonna find a way to make a play, we’re gonna find a way to achieve the outcome that we desire. I think that’s most important. You have to believe in some of the most difficult situations that we’re going to find a way to overcome this. Unfortunately, two games last year, time ran out. I look at it like that. Even though we lost sometimes, it’s just that we ran out of time. And what can we learn from those lessons that only losses sometimes teach you? There’s valuable lessons in winning and losing, but I think losses teach you so many more valuable lessons that truly help you throughout the course of your career or your life.

On if Notre Dame has any extra recruiting juice after the College Football Playoff run

One thing is, young people look at Notre Dame football — we haven’t won a championship since 1988, right? Maybe their parents have understood the magnitude of Notre Dame football, but I think for us to be on that national stage and go on the run that we did was important for the younger generation to say, ‘You know what, I can go to Notre Dame and I can compete for national championships and I can be developed for the NFL,’ and that’s important. I think ultimately, what’s most important is the relationships that we developed with those guys in recruiting, with the guys we have in this building. Because at the end of the day, young people desire relationships and that’s what’s going to get them to say yes.

On the hiring of new defensive coordinator Chris Ash

I think one [reason] was the person. I knew Chris Ash through history. When he was at Ohio State, I got a chance to know him and know people that worked with him hand-in-hand and heard great things about him. And then I followed him as he went to Rutgers, and when he was out the year at Rutgers, he came down to Cincinnati and spent some time with us there. And I got to know him and the X’s and O’s, that standpoint and how he sees defensive football, and he leaves and goes to Texas and in the NFL. And I was attracted just to his background, to his history, but when I started to interview him, it was a process of saying, ‘How can you kind of pick up where we’re at? We got a really good defense, and enhance it and make it better.’

I was really pleased with the things that he viewed in terms of what it takes to have successful defensive football. And so, I didn’t wanna start over. I didn’t wanna bring a new defensive scheme. I think that’s a challenge, always, when you — no matter how good the defensive coordinator or how good the former defense was, when you start from ground zero, it takes time to get that group to where you want it to be. So I was pleased. He’s come in here, guns blazing. He’s done a heck of a job of really cultivating a relationship with our staff, really developing a relationship with our players, enhancing the things that we’ve done previously and I’m pleased with where we’re at after those 12 practices.

On how Notre Dame’s offense will look different without Riley Leonard

I think our core principles of what we do offensively won’t change. The beliefs we have in being able to run the football and being able to take vertical shots and RPO at certain times against what a defense is gonna do to take away what you do successfully on offense. Those won’t go away, but at the end of the day, you gotta fall in love with what you guys do well. Very similar to Riley Leonard in terms of, it was a progression to figure out what Riley does really well. And what we had to do was tailor our offense toward that, call it in a way that we felt comfortable, execute what we called.

There’s people that have wonderful offensive plays, but if your players don’t understand the what and the why and the how, guess what? It’s not gonna be really successful. So we’ve gotta make sure that again, let’s tailor what we’re doing to the strengths of our quarterbacks. I think they all do similar things well, but they also all have a little bit different strengths in certain areas. So depending on who the starter is gonna be, we’ll tailor the offense to fit that guy so we have success. But again, the core of what we do offensively won’t change.

On what’s next for Jeremiyah Love after cross-training at wide receiver again this spring

In those wild dreams that he has, he might think he’s a receiver. But he does a really good job in the backfield. Our job is to find as many ways as possible to get the ball in his hands. And if that means putting him at wideout, maybe we’ll do that. If that means motioning him from the backfield or back into the backfield, we’ll do that. But 4 is a playmaker, and I think he’ll also be the first one to tell you with the ball in his hands, he’s as good as those guys in front of him.

We have a lot of confidence in our offensive line. We got five guys that have all started for us that are coming back, and that will be the strength of our offense. There is no ball carrier that’s great without a great offensive line. And so, we love Jeremiyah. He’s gonna do some wonderful, wonderful things this year. But we love the strength of our offense, which is always going to be our offensive line.