Live updates: Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman pre-Florida State press conference

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is set to address reporters for the final time before Saturday’s game vs. Navy. The Irish take on the Seminoles at 7:30 p.m. ET in South Bend, and the game will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.

Here are Blue & Gold’s live updates from Freeman’s Thursday Zoom press conference, which begins at noon ET.

**Keep refreshing this page for real-time, written updates from Notre Dame’s Zoom press conference.**

What Freeman is saying

• Asked about how he and Loren Landow are keeping the team fresh down the stretch, Freeman said it’s about managing each individual player’s load, which the sports performance team (including sports science) determines through a wide variety of data.

“It isn’t like we changed drastically what we did during the first bye week, but there’s certain loads and numbers that we’d like to hit.”

• On Florida State’s defensive line: “I think their defense is extremely talented. It’s led by their D-line. They got four-plus guys that can cause a lot of disruption. … Our guys have their work cut out for them.”

• Tyler Buchner has returned to his normal role of signaling and playing wide receiver after being the scout-team quarterback for Navy week, Freeman said. “He loves this place,” he reiterated. “If that means spending time with Riley [Leonard], if that means playing wide receiver, he’ll do whatever it takes.”

• On Xavier Watts, Freeman said he’s improved at tracking the ball and making tackles. “The thing I love about X the most is his communication. He is a vocal leader. … He is a problem-solver. That’s the area that I think he’s made the biggest jump at.”

• Asked about the young defensive tackles, Freeman said Cole Mullins had suffered a knee injury earlier this season and has slowly been returning to his normal practice mode. Brenan Vernon, Devan Houstan and Sean Sevillano have been playing scout-team D-line, but Freeman made the comment to the coaching staff that “this might be our best scout-team D-line I’ve been around in a long time.”

• That will do it for today’s (relatively short) press conference.

More on Notre Dame football: Jordan Faison earns Burlsworth Trophy nomination

Notre Dame wide receiver Jordan Faison entered the game against Louisville last season and promptly scoring a lengthy touchdown was one of the seminal moments of the Fighting Irish’s year, even if it came in a loss. It was truly something for a walk-on to have such a debut.

Key words: walk-on. Faison is being recognized for his former status this season.

Wednesday, it was announced Faison is a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is given annually to the most outstanding football player in the nation who began his career as a walk-on. The two-sport star who won a national championship with the Irish lacrosse team has been hampered by an ankle injury for most of the year but he has still made an impact.

Faison caught 4 passes for 52 yards for the Irish in a 51-14 win over Navy two weeks ago. Both were team-highs. He has 8 catches for 81 yards this season and is still searching for his first touchdown of the year. He had 4 scores in 7 games last season to go with 19 catches for 322 yards.

Freeman said this week as Faison gets healthier, he’ll start putting up those kinds of numbers. It’s just a matter of time.

“He’s a huge part of this offense now and will continue to be a huge part of our team moving forward,” Freeman said. “He’s a valuable member to this program.”