Quick-hitters: Marcus Freeman on QBs, practice emphasis, message to draft entrants

Notre Dame is diving into bowl practices after spending early December on the road recruiting and meeting with players about their 2023 plays. The Irish’s staff is back in South Bend. A few players have made their decisions on the NFL Draft and the transfer portal. The focus on Gator Bowl opponent South Carolina will ramp up over the next several practices.

Marcus Freeman met with reporters in person for the first time since the regular season ended. Here are some topics he discussed.

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On the emphasis in recent practices

“We had a really good practice today, our third practice. Still focusing on development. I want to develop the middle and lower half of our team. We have guys who played over 500-plus reps in games. We need to continue to develop the middle and lower portions. We’ve had a big emphasis on that part, getting a lot of young guys some reps today.

“We haven’t had a chance to game plan much. Coaches have been on the road. We had maybe 10 minutes today to focus on South Carolina. The main focus was us and how do we continue to improve. It’ll be similar tomorrow. As we get back next week, we’ll be ready to truly focus on South Carolina, bowl prep and opponent prep.”

On the quarterback plan for the bowl game

“We haven’t defined what exactly the quarterback situation will be. Both guys have gotten reps with the ones between Steve [Angeli] and Tyler [Buchner]. Tyler has practiced the majority of the practices. We’ll sit down next week and say, ‘What’s the plan’ as we start focusing on South Carolina. Right now, I want those guys getting reps and rolling.

“Tyler hasn’t played football in a long time, so get him in there with a bunch of different receivers and O-linemen and let him get acclimated. He has looked good.”

On Tyler Buchner being in contact situations before the bowl

“It probably won’t happen. You can’t take a chance of your quarterbacks getting hit in practice. Not at this point of the season. There wasn’t one point where I lived up the quarterbacks [for contact] in fall camp.

“You can’t take that chance of getting your quarterbacks hurt in practice. I know he hasn’t taken a lot of live reps. You get bumped enough when you’re in the red jersey. Sometimes the D-Linemen might get yelled at for touching the quarterback, but you’ll get bumped. We’re not going to live them up. There’s no way.”

On balancing winning the bowl with getting a look at younger players

“You’re only focus as you get closer to this game is to win this game. Right now, being 20 days away, you still have time to truly go into game planning and your focus being on game planning. That’s the great part about playing in a bowl game. You’re going to get 10 to 15 extra practices, and for us, you’re not going to spend 15 practices on one opponent. It’s no different than fall camp. You’re spending part of fall camp developing your roster.

“That’s what we’re doing now. Part of that is giving those guys who have played a tremendous amount of reps to this season time to recover. Keeping them still integrated in what we’re doing, but being smart in terms of how many reps they get in practice. This is crucial development time for young guys, and that’s why we’re focusing on them right now. We’re slowly integrating into South Carolina.”

On his conversations with Notre Dame players who entered the portal or could enter after the bowl

“You’re very honest and very clear of your expectations. If there are questions of, ‘What’s my role in the bowl game,’ I’ll go back and give you a specific answer, but I can’t make any promises. That’s what we can’t do. That does a disservice to our program and to that kid. If you start making promises that you don’t know you can fulfill, you lose that trust factor between you and that player.

“You have to be as honest as you can. That’s what I tell our coaches. We have to be honest with our players.

“I love Drew Pyne. But part of that love for him was to say we’re possibly looking to the transfer portal to take a quarterback. I could have not told him, lied and said we’re not going to take a quarterback or waited until after the game to say we’re looking for a quarterback. But that’s now what we’re built on. We’re built on real authentic relationships and having those honest conversations.

“Drew made the best decision for Drew. I say it’s the best because he made it. I love him. We’re so grateful for what he did for our program this year and I wish him all the best. I’ll never go back and regret the conversation we had about our plans moving forward. I can’t wait to see him thrive and do great things in college football this upcoming year.

“We all have to continue to move forward. My job is to make decisions and continue to evaluate what’s best for our football program.”

On his final message to Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey

“Thank you. I wish you the best and I’m always a huge fan. My job as the head coach is to always give you my opinion. I think I give these guys my honest opinion, wanted or unwanted. But when they make a decision, I tell them they made the right decision because they made it. Look back and this will be something that stays with them the rest of their lives.

“You want to support them 100 percent. Michael Mayer, I love him. I would love for him to come back and play in the bowl game. I’d love for him to come back for a senior year. He made a decision to go to the NFL. I hugged him, told him I loved him and I can’t wait to watch him do great things. Same with Isaiah Foskey.

“That’s how those conversations go. You give them your opinion, let them dwell on it, let them talk with their support group, which you hope you’re part of, and make a decision. You support them and say, ‘Let’s go.’”

On using Jack Coan’s success at Notre Dame as a grad transfer quarterback in recruiting the portal

“That might be something [offensive coordinator Tommy] Rees does when he’s having individual conversations with them. I like to be able to use that example that we had success with Jack Coan.

“I wasn’t here when we recruited Jack Coan. I can’t speak to what that process was like. I was here when he was doing great things for our offense and our program. My job is to let every recruit know my vision for this program and my vision for them if they come to Notre Dame. Then continue to tell them things I believe will help them.”

“You want to be a quarterback here. Sell Tommy Rees. He’s going to help you develop. He’s going to help you maximize your abilities. How? Talk to Tommy Rees. That’s his expertise. Same thing for every other position.”

On if Notre Dame would welcome back transferring players who want to return

“If that decision comes, we’ll look at that situation if it comes up in the future. We’ll look at each situation independently. If that happens, we’ll look and see if it’s best for our program and that individual on an individual basis.”