Quick-hitters: Marcus Freeman on QB announcement timeline, scrimmage, WRs' development
Notre Dame held the game before the Blue-Gold Game Saturday. The Irish staged an offense vs. defense closed scrimmage inside the stadium that lasted about 90 plays. The winner earned the right to keep the blue jerseys for the last week of practice and the spring game.
The offense won a tight game that was a two-point contest (with an unconventional scoring system) heading into the final possession, head coach Marcus Freeman said. Quarterback Sam Hartman ran for a touchdown at the end. Running back turned wide receiver Chris Tyree had a “probably a 20-yard” catch on the final drive to all but clinch a win. The offense took a big lead early before the defense created a few negative plays to tighten the margin.
“It was really encouraging to see 88 plays, 90 plays battling, guys stepping up and making big plays,” Freeman said. “We try to create this environment where it’s almost game-like. You can’t get 80,000 fans in here, but you try to build this thing up like, ‘Hey, this is for the jerseys.’”
Freeman met with reporters afterward for the first time since the opening day of spring practice. Here are some topics he discussed.
On the communication between Notre Dame’s new-look offensive staff
“It was good. I was concerned, because we didn’t use play clocks many practices before today. There were times in practice before today where you’re like, ‘We have to be aware of the play clock even though we’re not using the play clock right now.’ There was no play clock issues. That was good. The quarterbacks had great awareness.
“The communication from Coach (Gerad) Parker down to the signalers was really clean, just from my perspective. We have to go back and watch film, but it was good to see the communication form the press box down to the signaler to the quarterback.
“Sometimes we huddled, sometimes we didn’t. We did a lot of different things. It was really good to see.”
On the tempo he wants to see from the offense
“All I encourage is to vary the tempo. I don’t want to be a 100 percent tempo team. I don’t want to be a 100 percent huddle team. There are different ways to vary the tempo that can keep the defense off-balance. They have done a good job of running some tempo. They have done, as you saw last year, hurry to the line of scrimmage and scan over to the sideline. We huddle if we need to. The ability to have multiple tempos is what I want.”
On a time frame for naming a starting quarterback
“We’ll name a starting quarterback when we’re confident we have one starting quarterback. I think both (Hartman and Buchner) could be starting quarterbacks for us right now. They’re both improving. They’re both getting better. If you can have a competition where two guys are getting better, that’s what you want. They’re both getting better and both practicing at a high level.
“We’ll name a starter at some point. I know we have to. I don’t plan to let this thing go into the season. But at some point, we have to name a starter, and we will.
On what he wants to see from the Notre Dame wide receivers going forward
“Just development. Precision. Exact details. What happens when you’re precise in your alignments and when you’re exact in your route running, [that will] build trust between the quarterbacks and wideouts. A lot of times, you see our quarterbacks – we’ve gotten tremendously better over 11 practices – but at times are waiting to see them open before they throw it instead of trusting exactly where that wideout is going to be.
“They have developed a tremendous amount. Coach (Chansi) Stuckey has done a tremendous job with that room. Those three freshmen are all practicing at a much higher level than when they came in. As you see this progression get in to August, just continue to improve. How do you improve? Not just your skill set, but the exact details of the position. Then that trust is built between the receiver and the quarterback.”
On how LB Jack Kiser’s versatility helps the defense
“It gives others opportunities. If Jack Kiser is a one position guy, you know [he’s] going to be on the field. If he’s a one position guy, the guy behind him who might be a younger guy isn’t going to get an opportunity to get on the field as much. But if you have a guy like Jack who can play multiple positions, you can give those inside guys a break and get a younger guy or inexperience guy on the field.
“The guys on the field have to do their job, but a guy that can do multiple positions creates an opening for another guy.”
On DE Jordan Botelho’s scrimmage performance
“I saw him out there. He did some good things. There wasn’t a whole bunch of sacks. There were a couple. Those guys weren’t live (taking contact) – the quarterbacks – for the most part. Sam and Tyler (Buchner) weren’t. Steve (Angeli) was a little bit. Kenny (Minchey) was a little bit. He seemed like he was out there doing his job. We’ll have to go back and watch the film. I don’t have a great evaluation of where Botelho was at, but defensively it was good and offensively it was really good.”
On what he saw from the offense in the scrimmage
“We had one fumble on offense. It was the only turnover in the scrimmage. You go 90 plays and one fumble, that’s really encouraging. No pre-snap penalties. Those are the little things that say that you are progressing as an offense. You’re doing the little things efficiently. That’s good to see.
“There were no interceptions thrown. Guys seemed to be executing at a high level. I have to go back and watch the film to say, ‘This guy screwed up or this guy screwed up,’ but to pull back and say there were no pre-snap penalties, one turnover that was a fumble by a running back, that’s encouraging.”
On his thoughts on allowing recruits to take unlimited official visits and if it impacts Notre Dame
“No. They can only take one official visit to Notre Dame. That’s all I’m concerned about, what kids can we get to take an official visit to Notre Dame? The more opportunities we have to do that, the better. I don’t make the rules. I follow them. You always have to be able to adapt and adjust to the rules that are set in place.
“Our job no matter what is to make sure if there’s five official visits, one of them is to Notre Dame. If there are 100 official visits, one is to Notre Dame. That’s what matters to us.”
