Media roundup: Why Marcus Freeman praised Notre Dame CB coach Mike Mickens
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, when he was the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, liked a player in the 2019 class named Ahmad Gardner, who called himself Sauce. He thought Gardner was a good player, but not as strongly as the Bearcats’ cornerbacks coach did.
Freeman recalled Gardner’s recruitment on Good Morning Football on Friday morning. He, along with quarterback Sam Hartman, offensive tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, running back Audric Estimé and cornerback Benjamin Morrison, went to New York City for the weekend and used the opportunity to conduct a media blitz of sorts.
“I gotta give a shoutout to our corners coach, Mike Mickens, who’s now with us [in the same role] at Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “He was the guy that stood on the table for Sauce. … Mickens was the one who said, ‘This is the guy we gotta go after.’”
Gardner, of course, started for three years at Cincinnati and never allowed a touchdown. After only one season, many believe he’s the best cornerback in the NFL.
Freeman had another story about Gardner. The young corner showed up to Cincinnati in the summer and introduced himself as Sauce, to which the current Notre Dame coach took exception.
“I will not call you Sauce,” Freeman said he told Gardner. “You have to earn that nickname around here.”
Freeman called him Ahmad until the fifth game of the season, when the Bearcats faced UCF. Gardner flipped the script of that game with a pick-six, at which point Freeman finally conceded.
“I said, ‘From now on, I’m calling you Sauce,’” Freeman said. “He was a lot of fun to coach.”
Hartman, Alt join Bonjour! Sports Talk
Alt and Hartman went on Prime Video’s Bonjour! Sports Talk show and discussed, among other things, what being each other’s teammate is like.
“Joe is the epitome of a Notre Dame man,” Hartman said. “His academic prowess — this guy could probably build one of the buildings that we see behind us, in the backdrop. He’s probably one of the smartest people I know that’s an All-American, and also is an All-American off the field.”
Alt, speaking about his new starting quarterback, praised the dedication he’s shown since he entered South Bend.
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“This guy is in the facility eight hours a day,” Alt said. “He is breaking down film, he’s going through opponents, he’s looking at defenses and how we’re gonna handle it. He cares so much about the game, but to back that up, he cares so much about us as players. He’s probably the best locker room guy I’ve been around.”
Morrison, Estimé talk preparation for the season
Estimé and Morrison went on Sports Talk Game Breakers, also on Prime Video, and talked about Notre Dame’s preparation for the upcoming season.
“It’s just a lot of hard work,” Morrison said. “Coach [Matt] Balis [Notre Dame’s director of football performance] pushed us to become the best version of ourselves. It’s just a lot of the mental strength, pushing yourself in ways you’ve never been pushed. That’s the biggest thing for us, just getting us over that hump.”
As anticipation for the season builds, the Irish are eager to show off the strides they believe they’ve made since December.
“I’m really excited,” Estimé said. “We’ve put a lot of work in. It’s time to show what we’ve been doing.”
Alt goes on food tour
In the most fun piece of content this weekend produced, Alt walked around downtown New York City, trying and rating the best street food he could find. The 6-foot-8 Notre Dame offensive tackle sampled a traditional New York hot dog, a chicken kebab, a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a cinnamon-raisin bagel and a bubble tea.
Alt rated the bagel sandwich an 8.2 out of 10, the kebab a 6.8 and the hot dog a 7.3.
