Quick hitters: What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about players deciding to transfer

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman addressed reporters during his weekly news conference Monday. He spoke to the media for about 30 minutes. Freeman put the finishing touches on the No. 14 Fighting Irish (6-2) beating Southern California, 48,-20, on Oct. 14, while recapping the bye week and previewing this Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh (2-5).

Here are six key things he said: From players to transfer from Notre Dame to the emergence of freshman vyper Boubacar Traore.

On facing former Notre Dame RB C’Bo Flemister and LB Shayne Simon and players choosing to transfer from Notre Dame: 

“It hurts when you see people leave that don’t get their degree. That’s what really hurts. When guys are able to get their degree from this place and go on and look for an opportunity to play more elsewhere — I’m so happy for those guys. 

“Both of those guys got their Notre Dame degree. I’m proud of what they’ve done here at Notre Dame and what they’re doing at Pitt. I look forward to seeing them perform on Saturday.”

On the conversations of Notre Dame players potentially transferring during the bye week:

“I think you have those conversations every week, right? And you don’t save those for a bye week. To me, I’ve always challenged our coaches to continuously have a relationship with the guys in your room so you know, and they know, exactly where they stand and why they stand there, right?

“And I think it’s important you don’t wait until bye week to have that conversation. So, I take a lot of pride in making sure all of our players understand where they’re at and why they’re in that position—and having that dialogue with their position coach. So again, now we’re going on to Week 9. So, guys that want a chance to redshirt, that chance is probably already over in terms of playing more than four games.

“But again, I think we have to have those conversations every week, right? It’s so important that our kids understand exactly what we’re thinking. ‘Here’s why I think you need to improve.’ We have to have that open dialogue. There is no blind obedience anymore. There are honest conversations that aren’t always pleasant to have, but they must happen so our kids understand why they’re in a position they’re in.”

On the description of a Pat Narduzzi-coached football team: 

“I think of tough, I think of physical, I think of aggressive — especially his defense is something I’ve studied for years, going back to my time in Cincinnati. Even his time at Michigan State when he was defensive coordinator, I remember studying him. I think I was at Purdue at the time. 

“Again, they’re really sound. They always have good corners — able to play man-to-man with their corners, and load the box and say, ‘Okay, try to run the ball.’ And we have to be able to do that. We can’t just become a pass-first team. We have to find ways to run the ball versus a loaded box that you’re going to see, and they’re going to run pressures — those hot pressures that you see over and over. So, we have to be good up front. 

“But I also believe we have to be good with our play-action shots. We got to take some chances downfield and make some plays. So, it will be a game of physicality, right? And that’s what I think the challenge for our group is: we have to exceed their physicality.”

On Notre Dame’s scouting report of Pittsburgh’s changes on offense:

“Obviously, with the new quarterback, you really look at what they’ve done all season to now, it’s a similar offense. But I think the packages might be tailored towards what he does well. They’ve been able to run the ball. Obviously, we know C’Bo (Flemister) really well. And he’s been running the ball really well the past couple weeks. 

“They have some threats on the outside. So, it’s a team that I see that’s continuously getting better. That’s what I’ve seen, is especially in these past two weeks; this team has gotten better from what they were at the beginning of the year. So, we got to understand the challenge that will be presented on Saturday.

On the status of Notre Dame’s starting offensive line and the possibility of reshuffling game reps:

“No, we’ll stay with the five we have. They’ve all been healthy and practiced well. It was good to see some of those young guys — Billy (Schrauth) and Ashton Craig and some of those guys — get a lot of meaningful reps in practice (last) week.”

On freshman vyper Boubacar Traore playing a larger role: 

“Boubacar (Traore) is a really good pass rusher and is continuing to develop trust in the coaching staff. It’s great to see him go out there and make a huge play. Obviously, in that two-minute situation. We all know what happened after that. But more importantly, man, it’s good to see him put himself in his position to make that play for sure.”