Four things Marcus Freeman said before Notre Dame football vs. Wake Forest

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media Thursday for the final time before the No. 19 Fighting Irish (7-3) host Wake Forest (4-6) on senior day in South Bend on Saturday. Here are four things Freeman said during his press conference.

On the Wake Forest defense, especially on third down and in the red zone

“They have a talented group. Their corner, [Caelen Carson], is a good player. [Malik Mustapha] is a safety that sticks out, makes plays in the run game and pass game. Then they have the defensive end, [Jasheen Davis] who has done a really good job. But those players really impacted a lot of games. I think they do a good job of mixing up what they’re doing. You’ll see different types of fire zones, some cover one, some quarters, two high stuff, stemming up front and keeping you off balance.

“As I told the offensive staff, a lot of teams have changed up what they’ve done the last few games previously on film to what they’re doing in the game. So we have to be prepared to see a lot of man coverage, to see a lot of press. If they continue to do what they do, we have a plan. But we also have a great plan for adjustments if they don’t do what they’e always shown on film.”

On the way he breaks down film

“You always look at why you called it and what worked and what didn’t work. And, why it didn’t work. And then the follow up to that — hey, are we being predictable? Is there something that teams have a better idea of, we’re going to run this defense or this offensive play based off of tendencies? You always want to self scout in terms of tendencies, tendencies of run-pass.

“As a defensive coordinator, was it a tendency of pressure in certain situations, downs and distances? At the end of the day, you do that in terms of your preparation. But then as you go back and evaluate, you got to say, ‘OK, why didn’t this call work? What is the execution error?’ If we don’t have the answer for it, we probably shouldn’t call it.”

On quarterback Sam Hartman’s stint at Notre Dame

“He’s been so consistent in terms of his approach to the game. He does some really great things for our football program in terms of not just on the field but off the field in terms of how he’s really elevated the preparation and the play of the quarterback room. His ability to meet with the wideouts to make sure everybody’s on the same page, he’s just brought a lot of things to our program that sometimes you just don’t always see on Saturday.

“As far as what we’ve done for him, I hope the ability to know another offense. The ability for him to learn a new system, a new coaching staff, adapt and adjust and get out of his comfort zone a little bit, is something he will be able to say, ‘Hey, Notre Dame provided for me.’ And another way of running a program. I don’t know the ins and outs of how Coach [Dave] Clawson runs his program, but it’s going to be different just because the head coach at a place is different.

“But listen, we’re very grateful for having Sam a part of this team. We’re grateful he chose this program. We’re going to miss him tremendously. We got a couple games left with him, and we look forward to having these next three.”

On cross-training Notre Dame’s wide receivers

“That’s the common theme of conversations I’ve had with the offensive staff, is that because an individual is suited for a certain position that we have depth at, we have to be creative and find ways to get those people on the field to have success. What are their skill sets and how can we utilize them in different positions?

“Maybe I’m not a tall, long receiver you usually look for on the outside, but if they have a skill set that we feel like they’re one of our best then we have to find a way to get them on the field at the same time but then ask them to do the things that they’re suited for. That’s, to me, always the challenge.

“You don’t have a system that you fit this certain individual into that position. It’s OK. Get your best 11. How can I find ways to put them in different positions? Shifts, motions — offensively and defensively. But get them on the field and create a system or a structure that has the best players on the field. That’s the great challenge in coaching.

“Going back to my defensive coordinator days, I didn’t like the idea of recruiting to a position. I liked the idea of recruiting to talent level and adapt whatever I was doing as defensive coordinator around that talent level because you can’t have your best player on the sideline because they’re three-deep at one position. To me, you got to be creative and to put those guys on the field and realize what their strong suits are and put them in a position to be successful. The best coaches find a way to do that.”