Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Week 7 press conference

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman speaks to the media Monday afternoon after a week off for the Fighting Irish’s first bye of the season. He’ll be previewing his team’s home game against Stanford on Saturday.

The Irish (4-1) come out of the bye as the No. 11 team in the Week 7 Associated Press Poll. Watch Freeman’s press conference live at 12:30 p.m. ET via the YouTube video player below and/or follow along with real-time, written updates from Blue & Gold at the bottom of this page.

WATCH: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Week 7 press conference

What Freeman is saying

**Keep refreshing this page for real-time, written updates of what Freeman is saying from Blue & Gold.**

• Freeman says Jeremiyah Love, Xavier Watts and Max Hurleman were the Notre Dame players of the game vs. Louisville.

• Freeman says Josh Burnhman and Christian Gray are expected to play vs. Stanford. Sam Pendleton is good to go, too.

• Marcus Freeman says freshman quarterback CJ Carr injured his elbow recently and is going through some minor rehab.

• Gabriel Rubio, Billy Schrauth and Cooper Flanagan are questionable for the Stanford game, Freeman says.

• Freeman says with injuries spiking across college football, the Notre Dame sports performance team is always looking for what the root causes are. He says injuries happen and they’re a part of the game, but the Irish are always looking for ways to minimize them.

• Freeman says there is no magic formula coming out of a bye week. Every case is different. Notre Dame is undefeated out of bye weeks in the Freeman era. He seems to push the right buttons.

• Freeman says Notre Dame learned to do the things Riley Leonard is good at against Louisville, and that’s the emphasis for the Irish offense and quarterback coming out of the bye week — leaning into what he does really well.

• Freeman says a big thing for the Notre Dame offense coming out of the bye is making sure the Irish don’t get behind the sticks after first down. Freeman wants much more first-down success in the second half of the season.

• Freeman says Stanford head coach Troy Taylor is “a creative offensive mind.” Irish are preparing for anything, especially with some Cardinal injuries that leave personnel decisions up in the air.

• Freeman says Notre Dame freshman left tackle Anthonie Knapp has gotten better every week since he got his first career start at Texas A&M in Week 1.

• Freeman says Tosh Baker is ready to go if Notre Dame needs to rely on the veteran offensive tackle.

• Freeman on freshman offensive tackle Guerby Lambert: “He’s very smart. He’s very athletic. And he’s going to be a great football player for this team when the time presents itself.”

• Freeman reiterates that Burnham is the only defensive end cross-training at both positions right now.

• Freeman on Leonard: “He’s a threat with the ball in his hands. He gives our offense a chance to have success running the ball… He wants the ball in his hands. He’s a competitor. We’ll continue to run him.”

• Freeman on Jadarian Price, who fumbled against Louisville then did not play again: “There is so much confidence we have in him and giving him the ball, he’s going to great things this weekend.”

• Freeman gives Chad Bowen credit for finding walk-ons who can help Notre Dame on a weekly basis, whether in games or on scout team in practices. He mentions Max Hurleman, Justin Fisher and Jordan Faison as those types of guys. “The walk-ons at Notre Dame have been so crucial for the success of Notre Dame football. I hope it’s something we don’t lose because it’s invaluable to our success.”

• Freeman says it takes time to come back from an ACL injury. We’re seeing that with Mitchell Evans. Freeman says Evans is getting better all the time, though, and this bye week was probably just what he needed to get more practice reps and gain the confidence needed to be the All-American type of talent he was through eight games in 2023.

• Freeman says Loghan Thomas came from a college-style defense in high school. It hasn’t taken him long to pick up an actual college defense that plays like an NFL defense. Notre Dame is confident he’ll be just fine in his elevated role.

• Freeman on Notre Dame freshman corner Leonard Moore: “This is just the start of what’s going to be a special player for our football program.”

• Freeman on Jordan Clark head-butting the Louisville player who allegedly spit on him during the game: “Sometimes people test your manhood, but you still have to put team before me… Nobody is worth 15 yards.”