Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in final presser before NIU

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media Thursday for the final time before the No. 5 Fighting Irish (1-0) host the Northern Illinois Huskies (1-0). Here is everything Freeman said.

On Notre Dame defensive end Jordan Botelho

“Jordan is a guy with God-given ability. He has a lot of natural talent. What I’ve seen him be able to do in my four years here is turn talent into an actual skillset. That is because of preparation and the work he’s put into it. Being in year three of coach Golden’s system and understanding exactly what is expected out of him and what’s expected out of him in each defense that we call. Really, it shows in the game.

“Yes, Tyler, he has great talent. He’s a very talented football player. But talent and skill are two different things, and that’s what you’ve seen Jordan be able to do, develop his talent into true skill that is now becoming production for this defense.”

On Mitchell Evans and the rest of the Notre Dame tight ends

“I think Mitch played around 10 plays vs. A&M. He’s increased the practice, really, the amount of practice plays that he’s been able to do. He’s not a finished product yet. He will continue to increase the volume that we’re asking him to be able to do for us on Saturdays. I expect to see a greater amount of plays than 10 but also, again, understanding that he’s on a progression to truly becoming the best version of Mitch.

“I’m really pleased with where he’s at now, where he’s progressed to, but also we have to be smart in terms of what are our expectations with a guy that missed a lot of fall camp— without being able to fo everything. He practiced in fall camp but wasn’t able to do anything. I don’t know how many plays he’ll play. He’ll play a good amount. But at the same point of view we have to continue to be on a process to increase his level every single week.

“I’m really pleased with the tight ends group as a whole. Coach Denbrock has done a great job with really developing some of those other guys, Cooper Flanagan and Eli Raridon. They played really well in what they were asked to do. Obviously, they had some mistakes as everybody does. But I was really pleased with how they played on Saturday and pleased with their progression as football players. In blocking, even in the pass game, they’re really owning the technique and the part of playing tight end that includes blocking. I’m excited to see what they do on Saturday.”

On Notre Dame wide receiver Beaux Collins

“He has a great work ethic. Beaux is a guy who, his body can handle a lot. He practices at a really high level and he played at a high level. It’s so hard playing that position sometimes because you can do exactly what you’re supposed to do and you always don’t get the reward in terms of maybe getting the ball or getting the stats you want. But Beaux is a very consistent team player. He’s been a leader for the wide receivers room by example and vocally. He’s been a great teammate. He’s really came here and bought into the culture we already have in place here and has enhanced the group that he’s with.”

On Notre Dame’s passing attack taking the next step

“I don’t know if I can say one specific thing. It’s progression. We got to be better from Week 1 to Week 2 at every position. That’s the challenge I’ve had as the head coach to our coaches and players. There has to be growth as a football program from Week 1 to Week 2. You want to see mental errors decrease. You want to see pre-snap penalties decrease. You want to see all of those things that we evaluate decrease from Week 1 to Week 2. That’s, to me, what we’ll focus on as we look at the overall play of the offensive line.

“As far as the pass game, we got to continue to be efficient. We’re not going into this game saying ‘we got to take this amount of shots’ and ‘we got to throw this many deep balls.’ We have to be efficient in what we do. Whatever that means in terms of what the defense presents, that’s what the game will dictate. All I continue to talk about is continuing to improve our execution and we’ll see what the stats say maybe after the game.”

On avoiding a letdown after the Texas A&M game

“There is no lack of motivation because all you have to do is watch the game and evaluate the plays. We as a group see the work we have to put in. We have a lot of work to do. As you look at the outcome of the Texas A&M game, that’s what we want. But when you evaluate, you evaluate every play. There’s a lot fo different areas and plays specifically we have to make sure we’re improving at as a unit on each side of the ball but that’s also as individuals.

“We pushed them really good Tuesday and Wednesday in practice. Long, physical, tough. Sometimes getting back here at 4 in the morning and lack of sleep of times can have a trickle effect, but we couldn’t let up. We pushed them hard. I told the coaches we can’t pull off the gas pedal. They probably were wondering if we were going to pull back because we had a big win, but they knew right away that we doubled down. It was two really good days of practice and now we have to fine-tune some things because we get to Saturday.”

On Collins’ being stoic but revving up on the field

“That goes across the board for a lot of competitors, off the field or between plays, in between series, you have to be stoic, you have to be truly even-keeled. But the competitive side of you, that passion, it comes out when you’re on the field and going against an opponent. What we got to do is make sure we just keep it contained. We don’t want to lose our minds and cost our program 15 yards, our team 15 yards, but at the same time that emotion is good. That’s what makes competitive people successful. You can really utilize that emotion, that competitive spirit in the right way.

“Beaux is a competitor. In between the white lines, he competes. He is never OK with losing. He is a constant worker, and I love that because when you have that mentality you realize the work you have to do. If you don’t have that ,mentality of being neutral you might not be able to evaluate your play in the right way. Beaux is just a great young man. A talented football player but a guy that’s striving for perfection and constantly trying to improve.”

On Miami (Ohio) … (reporter meant to say NIU)

“Man, we haven’t started preparing for Miami yet, Andrew. We got Northern Illinois coming in here on Saturday. As I said in my press conference on Monday, they are going to be a confident group that has history of being really competitive in beating power four schools. We’re looking forward to a team coming in here confident and being ready to roll.

“Offensively, they do so many different things that are going to present a great challenge to our defense. Personnels and motion and all of the different things they’ve done offensively has really been a challenge for our defense to prepare for. And defensively, last year I think it was the No. 1 pass defense in the Group of Five and maybe top five or six of all FBS defenses. They do some really good things. Third down, they are exotic on their defense. Our team understands the challenge and is really putting in the work in terms of the physical preparation. We have to continue to make sure our bodies heal up and we don’t stop with the mental preparation of what this opponent, the challenges it will bring.

“Looking forward to it. A great opportunity against a really good football team. Our first chance to be at Notre Dame Stadium with a great crowd and great atmosphere.”