Five things Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said before Clemson game

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media Thursday for the final time before the Fighting Irish take on Clemson on the road Saturday at noon ET. Here are five things Freeman said.

On Notre Dame freshman corner Christian Gray

“It was a huge step for Christian to play those meaningful reps, obviously more than he’s ever played on Saturday vs. Pitt. We believe that he’s been a guy that’s gotten better throughout the course of fall camp and throughout the season. Taking those reps against a meaningful opponent, you don’t really know what they do at all times.

“I guess what we learned from Christian is that he’s going to be really, really good. He confirmed what we believed. We believed he was going to be a good football player when we needed him out on the field. I guess that was confirmed. Christian Gray, his ceiling is high. I don’t know what it is, but it is high. I really look forward to the future in terms of what he’s going to bring to this program and defense if he continues to get better.”

On the obstacles of preparing for a noon kickoff

“I don’t think it’s obstacles. The logistics, the timeline in terms of when do you go to bed, you move your meetings up a little bit earlier on Friday to try to get them to go to sleep a little earlier Friday night. And then you wake them up and you have to make sure there is not this progression from when you wake up to finally getting to play like you do maybe with 3:30 games or night games. It’s we wake up and we have to stimulate our body. We have to get going to get downstairs. We’ll still have a little walk through that we usually have for noon games. But the mindset when you wake up is, ‘We have to get ready to roll. We have to get ready to go.’

“I think throughout the week you have to find ways to get more rest because you are going to lose a little bit of that rest time that you usually get from a Friday to a Saturday. We hope that our guys got a little more rest at certain times of the day. But the mindset had to be we wake up Saturday and it’s time to go.”

On Jayden Thomas and Eli Raridon coming back from injuries to be a part of the Notre Dame passing game

“With a soft tissue injury like Jayden had, it’s more of a physical thing. You have to physically build up the reps to callous that body that you can go and play at a high level for an extended amount of time. So that to me is the physical part with Jayden whereas with Eli, it’s continuously building on the details of the passing game.

“When you’re out for so long with an ACL, it takes time to continue to work on the details. So I think it’s probably a little more mental than physical with Eli. He’s physically ready to roll. Now he’s got to get the confidence that it takes with reps and time to really be able to perform at a high level. I think he’s getting it. He’s gotten more reps this week with [Mitchell Evans] being out. So I’m excited to see the progression of where he performs on Saturday.”

On taking more shots on offense because the Notre Dame defense is playing so well

“When you have a defense that isn’t playing at a high level, you have to do things offensively to counteract that. You have to make sure we are playing complementary football. Fortunately for us, our defense is playing at an extremely high level which gives our offense and our team a lot of confidence to be aggressive, to take those shots, knowing that you’re not going to hit every one, but if you happen to struggle on a series offensively that your defense usually will be able to get you the ball back. So I think it’s really important. It’s confidence for both sides of the ball that truly plays into the complementary football aspect that we look at.”

On the importance of Devyn Ford on special teams and as a blocker on offense

“I did not know he was going to be as much of an impact player for our team as he’s been. A lot has to do without having the football in his hands. I told Devyn last week, he is a true impact player in the special teams game. And now what he’s showing the ability to do on the offensive side of the ball, not having the ball in his hands, it’s a huge piece of what we’re doing.

“Obviously, it takes being an unselfish football player. Running backs want the ball in their hands. But he’s being effective in ways that has nothing to do with having the ball in his hands. That is the greatest example for our team of a guy embracing his role and thriving at it and making our team better. He is an important piece for our team to have success. I told him that week after the Pitt game. I’m excited to continuously see it throughout the end of the season.”