Quick-hitters: Marcus Freeman on Notre Dame spring practice, early enrollees

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is back on the practice field.

He’s back at the podium too.

Freeman held his first press conference of spring ball Thursday morning following the Irish’s first practice. Here are some of the topics he addressed.

On the first day of practice

“I told the guys I was extremely pleased. It was the little things for me. I didn’t see a lot of guys on the ground, maybe one or two young guys. We didn’t have any fights. That’s not an issue here. It’s not a competitive issue. I’ve been in places where you try to initiate fights where we have to see how tough you are. We have to be able to practice together under control, be competitive but be under control.”

On his impressions of the early enrollee freshmen

“Those four linebackers, I watched them because I recruited them and have a connection with them. I want to see how those guys are doing. They’re all doing a great job between [Joshua] Burnham and Junior [Tuihalamaka] and [Jaylen] Sneed and Nolan [Ziegler]. It’s trying to get those guys reps. It’s not easy.

“Then you have the corners, [Jaden] Mickey and [Jayden] Bellamy. Both of those guys looked pretty good in winter conditioning. I saw Mickey a couple times bat some balls down. Those young guys, I want to show them what their future is like. You’re young, you come from being this five-star, four-star and you dominate. Then you come here and just in winter conditioning, there’s grown men here. Then you add trying to learn an entire new playbook.”

“I want to say just don’t lose confidence, because all those guys were you guys at some point. The guys who are able to become guys who can count on, we’ll see how fast – some guys will be guys we can count on sooner than later. I just don’t want those guys to get frustrated when they see grown men who have done it over and over in front of them.”

RELATED:

• Notre Dame spring practice No. 1: Instant observations from the defense

• Notre Dame spring practice No. 1: Instant observations from the offense

On the open strong-side defensive end spot

“We’re going to figure it out. NaNa [Osafo-Mensah], Rylie [Mills], Alex Ehrensberger. There’s going to be a great competition. We’ll figure it out through the course of 15 practices – who’s our best four D-linemen to start the game? We’re going to use eight guys, I’m sure, but we have to figure out the best four to start a game. It’s tough with [defensive tackle] Jayson [Ademilola] being out for spring, but we know what Jayson can do. We have some young guys we’ll be able to evaluate.”

On his role in practice

“Still a work in progress. There are certain drills I like to be part of. I love going with our running backs and quarterbacks, being able to listen to them. When everybody is doing individual drills, there are two ways I’m going to go. I’m going to be with the linebackers, which is my comfort zone. And quarterbacks, because they have the funnest drills. I told Tommy there will be a lot of times I’m coming to the quarterbacks just because it’s fun.”

On his first day of spring practice as a head coach

“Not yet. I think at some point I will. Like any kid or coach, practice one of spring or practice one of fall, it’s overthinking things. That’s how I always was, even as a player. Today wasn’t my first time as a head coach in practice, so I got right back into it.

“At some point, you will. Right now, you just focus on go, go, go, recruiting, developing this staff to continue to become closer, develop this team. We have to focus on becoming a team. For so long, I’ve felt it was just about offense vs. defense. No, this is about team. Everybody wants to be successful, but at the end of the day, we’re never going to achieve the goal we want unless we’re a team. But at some point, I’ll be able to reflect.”

On the staff cohesion

“I love our staff. It’s exciting for me to hear them teach. It’s exciting for me to listen to them. I told them I’m not coming into your meetings and drills to evaluate as much as I am to learn. I love hearing them teach. What I want to see is some of our players take over that leadership role. Our coaches right now are driving the leadership, pushing our players. When your players start to push each other and hold each other accountable, that’s when you know you have a special team.”