Hey Horka! How will Marcus Freeman tangibly improve in Year 3 at Notre Dame?

In this week’s Hey Horka! Blue & Gold message board mailbag YouTube live stream, hosts Tyler Horka and Jack Soble go through a six-player snake draft selecting “now or never” candidates from the 2024 Notre Dame football roster. Each host comes away with three “now or never” selections.

Watch the video via the integrated player on this website or by visiting this YouTube link to see who Horka and Soble picked, plus a deep dive on the subject of this article’s headline — how will Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman tangibly improve in his third season on the job?

Before answering those questions, the hosts touch on Notre Dame Stadium getting ranked as the No. 21 toughest college football venue to play at as a visitor — and Texas A&M coming in at No. 1 on that EA Sports hierarchy. Darrell K Royal — Texas Memorial Stadium at No. 19 and Notre Dame Stadium were separated by Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium at No. 20.

“I think Notre Dame and Texas (No. 19) would both like to share the company of, I don’t know, Sanford Stadium, Beaver Stadium, those are five and six on the list,” Horka said. “Ohio Stadium, No. 4. But I put it on the Blue & Gold message board, Texas and Notre Dame kind of have a little bit of a wine and cheese type of environment. Everyone makes a lot of money, they come in, they watch a little football, they get out. It is what it is.”

“I know that a lot of people had problems with it,” Soble said of Notre Dame’s placement on the list. “Off the top of my head, two stadiums I’ve been to, Jordan-Hare [of Auburn] and Memorial Stadium for Clemson are criminally underrated. Jordan-Hare is really, really good. We sit right behind the student section in the Clemson press box, so we kind of get an up-close and personal look at how crazy that can get. That was pretty crazy that Saturday afternoon in early November.

“But yeah, Kyle Field. It’s a tough place to play, particularly in August when the Texas heat, as you know all too well Tyler, is coming down on you. But I am not surprised where Notre Dame is at.”

After the “now or never” and Freeman discussions, Horka and Soble answer the following Notre Dame related questions from Blue & Gold subscribers…

-Which non-quarterback will have the biggest impact on Notre Dame’s season?
-Who plays nickel if Jordan Clark for whatever reason?
-What surprised you the most about entering the Notre Dame scene from outside places?