Five things Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said before Duke game
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to reporters for the final time before the No. 11 Fighting Irish (4-1) take on on No. 17 Duke (4-0) in Durham on Saturday. Here are five things Freeman said Thursday.
On the psyche of Notre Dame players following a crushing loss to Ohio State
“You evaluate a couple things. Are they practicing with intentionality that you’re looking for? We’ve had two really, really good practices. Spirited practices. Attention to detail and those things that we look for that tell you if we are lacking focus, it will show up at practice. I’m really pleased with the way these guys have focused on improving the way we practice and improving our overall team.
“That’s what the message has been. Every week we have to get better. How do we get better? Understand where we’re at and what we have to do to get better and then go do it on the practice field. And the other part is us continuing to preach the right message, continue to say the right things to them. There is noise everywhere. We have to make sure the noise we’re saying and the message we’re driving as a coaching staff is so loud that our players really focus on that and understand it instead of paying attention to other things.
“I feel really confident going into Thursday of where the mindset of this football team is.”
On sophomore Gi’Bran Payne being Notre Dame’s best short yardage back
“The biggest thing about Gi’Bran is that he’s so dependable. Very few errors on his part. He is a guy who’s consistent and all those things that build a lot of trust in coaches. He’s done an excellent job building that trust and really doing exactly what coaches want you to do. A lot of times in short yardage situations, really important moments, you’re going to put guys in there that you truly trust.
“That’s not saying we don’t trust the other guys. I think that’s just more credit to Gi’Bran and the job he has done in practice and really being detailed in terms of his job assignments.”
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On Notre Dame being without veteran wide receivers Jayden Thomas, Deion Colzie and Matt Salerno
“With Jayden being out, [Chris Tyree] has had an increased role this week. A guy who can play outside if we need him to. Those freshmen have all done a good job of progressing. Rico [Flores Jr.], Jaden Greathouse and Braylon [James], from where he started to where he’s at now, has done a really, really good job.”
On what makes Mike Elko such a successful defensive coach and having a plus-five turnover margin
“They’re really sound in terms of what they do defensively. The ability to have eyes on the quarterback and eyes on the ball. When you’re sound in what you do and the players truly understand what you’re asking of them, they can really study routes and study splits and those types of things. They’re a really good group.
“I think you look at that turnover margin, one it’s a credit to their offense not turning the ball over a lot. Two, the defense plays really hard. When you play really hard and you’re sound, those opportunities really come your way.”
On linebacker Nolan Ziegler returning to practice following an absence for mental health
“It was really great to have him back out there. He’s progressing into some scout team and individual drills. He’s on a track to return… With Nolan, we’ll see at the end of this week how he continues to progress. He is really trending in the right direction.”
