Five things Marcus Freeman said before Tennessee State vs. Notre Dame

Notre Dame has its home opener Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET vs. Tennessee State. Here are five things Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said Thursday in his last media availability before Notre Dame kicks off against the Tigers.

On Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon’s availability

“Eli will not go this game. He hasn’t been fully cleared yet. He’s still working his way back. We hope in the next couple weeks he’ll be 100 percent cleared. He’s just, it’s just being cleared to truly play in a game. It’s a progress for him from where he’s at now to being game ready. Hopefully in the next few weeks he’ll be at that point.”

Raridon has not played for Notre Dame since treating his ACL in early October last year.

On playing Tennessee State, an HBCU

“The opportunity for these two institutions to play a football game that has never been done before is tremendous. It is a tremendous step in both of our institutions. It’s great for college football to have an FCS school come to Notre Dame Stadium and play a game and the first HBCU ever to play here. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity, a great experience. I’m looking forward to being across the field from Eddie George. I said that to you guys in [Monday’s] press conference. He’s somebody I looked up to as a young person from Ohio. It’s going to be a great opportunity for the both of us to compete against each other.”

On how practice went coming back from Dublin

“I took maybe one or two periods off the entire practice. I did not take away from those scout team periods that we need to be prepared for a game, I think the overall value for the game. I think we saved maybe 10 minutes Tuesday and five minutes on Wednesday.

“But again, that doesn’t take away from the preparation for Tennessee State. I feel like our guys truly have bounced back. We had a really spirited Tuesday practice. I challenged us all as players and coaches, I want Wednesday to be even better than Tuesday in terms of the execution, the urgency that we have to have on the field. I told them after practice, man, that was probably the best Wednesday practice we had here in a while. I was really pleased with those two days of physical work, and we have to have one more good one today.”

On Notre Dame wide receiver Tobias Merriweather

“I think he’s been really good in practice. He’s, to me, been dying to have more of a role after last season. He has done a great job in the preparation. You know what, I know he didn’t score a touchdown but he did some really good things in the game. Sometimes a stat sheet doesn’t show that. We were pleased with what he did in the game and we really look forward to him having another great opportunity to have a big game this week.”

On Notre Dame defensive end Jordan Botelho

“Jordan, to me, the word I would use is maturity. When I was the defensive coordinator two years ago, velocity was never a thing Jordan had a problem with. Jordan was a guy who was violent. He plays the game fast. But maturity is into the details of playing the position we’re asking you to play. You can’t just go as hard as you can and play with velocity but also not understand the details of the position. That’s where I’ve seen the most growth; his understanding of what exactly we need him to do at his position within the defense.

“That has built trust between Jordan and coach [Al] Washington and coach [Al] Golden. He’s really practicing at a high level. And he’s performing at a high level in the game, the one game we played this year. What I really like about Jordan is that he’s practice with a sense of urgency and maturity that he hasn’t really practiced with in the past.”