Quick hitters: What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about Xavier Watts not walking on senior day

During his weekly Monday news conference, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media for about 25 minutes. Freeman spoke about safety Xavier Watts not walking on senior day, the program’s deal with NBC, his relationship with future director of athletics Pete Bevacqua, offensive line coach Joe Rudolph and adjusting the team’s practice schedule.

Here is what Freeman said.

On Watts not walking on senior day despite him being on the Notre Dame football roster for four years:

“He’s not a senior. He was a guy I talked with — a lot of those guys that might be going into their fourth year — I had a conversation earlier in the year, ‘Do you want to be considered a senior this year?’ He was one of them that did not. 

“I don’t know what he’s going to do in his future. I’m sure that’s what this question is pertaining to. I don’t know. He hasn’t made a decision (on declaring for the NFL Draft), but he didn’t want to be considered a senior.”

On Notre Dame football extending its television with NBC and using that in recruiting pitches:

“It adds to the value of what Notre Dame provides, right? And that’s the ability for us to go sell that in recruiting. You’re the only college football program with its exclusive network. To me, it’s that Notre Dame value, the value this place truly provides you. 

“Credit to (director of athletics) Jack (Swarbrick) and his team, and (eventual athletics director) Pete (Bevacqua), and the ability to get this deal done. But it will definitely be beneficial for us in recruiting because people want to know they’re special. I believe when you get a chance to play at Notre Dame, you realize how special it is.”

On his relationship with Bevacqua:

“Pete’s been great. Pete’s been excellent in his transition with Jack. I think he’s kind of like me last year, just figuring it out, right? Figuring out what it is to be a college athletic director, but he has been a great supporter, teammate and sounding board at times. So I’m excited for the future of Notre Dame athletics with him. 

“I’m also going to follow that up with obviously respect and admiration for what Jack Swarbrick has done for Notre Dame athletics. It’s just mind-blowing some things he created for this athletics program. He is leaving this place way better than he found it.

 “I judge people based off —  our seniors, Jack Swarbrick — is this place better than you found it? I say with a whole certainty that it is. So, a lot of respect for Jack, and I’m going to enjoy these last however long he’s going to continue to be around here with him because he is a dear friend, dear mentor and a person I have a lot of respect for.”

On Rudolph’s ability to plug and play guys:

“Coach Rudolph is an excellent teacher. And I’ve seen that even as a player. I talked about that before, even as a defensive player at Ohio State, the ability to see somebody teach is something that was implanted in my brain as I went into last year looking for an offensive line coach—a lot of respect for him. 

“Our coaches are really judged off the performance of their rooms, right? So, when you see two first-time starters perform at a high level, that, to me, is a reflection of their coaching, right? Their ability, but their coaching. Coach Rudolph has done an excellent job with that entire offensive line unit to get them ready and to get them to perform at a high level.”

On adjusting this week’s Notre Dame practice schedule to account for road losses:

“I plan on changing a little bit of the structure. Not the overall how we’re practicing, but maybe the structure and having some more competitive periods early in practice so that it’s just like a game. I don’t want to go through stretch, and then individual and group work and then team. That’s usually how you kind of structure practice. You go from part to whole, right? Individual, group work, team. 

“I’m probably going to start with some team good on good situations early in practice just to get them in the right mindset of, ‘Okay, whenever we say go, it’s go.’ I’m gonna try to do that in practice.”